Health Harmony & Happiness with Cathy
From learning to use your body’s rhythms and the rhythms around you to optimize productivity and avoid burnout to living sustainably, I give you tools that help you discover how to live and feel your best no matter what season of life you are in. I’m Cathy Struecker and I love to connect others with ways to cultivate health, harmony and happiness in life.
Join me as I reveal what has worked for me on my path towards more conscious living and talk with other experts about their own personal take on what creates health, harmony and happiness. Through my journey with cyclical living, yoga, anxiety, parenting, and entrepreneurship, I bring you various perspectives that will help you navigate self-care, work-life balance, mindfulness, spirituality and much more.
Health Harmony & Happiness with Cathy
#93: A Century of Wisdom: Revealing the Secrets to Living a Long Life, Part 1
This is the first in a 2-part interview with Christa Belknap, a beautiful soul who has lived her 104 years leading with love. In our conversation Christa uncovers some of the key elements of a long and fulfilling life. She shares her wisdom and life experiences, attributing her longevity to love, faith, exercise, and letting go of things no longer serving her.
From physical to spiritual self-care, Christa shares wisdom on living a long and beautiful life. One of the earliest "fitness" models (as we might know them to be called), Christa even modeled for the newspaper in a column called "Do Not Grow Old" back in the late 30's/early 40's. She has certainly let that element ring true as the years have passed.
Christa shares various aspects of what her life has been like, including about her family, beliefs, and the importance of staying adaptable and leading with love. The conversation highlights the significance of slowing down and being present in life and how love and connection can bring people together.
Resources:
Daily Rhythms Journal
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Everyone wants the secret to a long life, and although there may not be just one, we do uncover some of those key elements in today's episode. Join me as I sit down with my 104 year old friend, Krista Belknap, to glean some beautiful wisdom from her. Welcome to Health, Harmony, and Happiness with Kathy. I'm your host, Kathy Stricker. I'm a state patrol wife, mama to three lively kiddos, a yoga teacher. Certified NLP coach and an energetic rhythms expert as an energetic rhythms coach. I help action taking women use their body's rhythms and the moon cycle to optimize productivity and avoid burnout without letting their desire to remain in control, alter their focus. And this podcast is all about doing just that and perhaps a bit more so that you can create your own path. So come along with me and may this episode serve as a nudge to discover tools that could help you on your path towards more intentional living. Enjoy the show. Hey friends, welcome to episode 93. Hey, if you are sick of waiting for things to change in your life, feeling like you're constantly pushing through life, thinking you just have to try a bit harder, or maybe try a different approach, or like, there's got to be a magic pill out there that you can take to just make life feel easier, or to make your body feel better, the wisdom of your body might actually be trying to tell you something. And perhaps it's time to start listening. One of the best ways I know to do that is to actually start taking a realistic look at how you're really doing and what you're doing to might. that might be making you feel that way. Being able to actually see how you're doing on paper is one of the best ways to get an accurate observation of what your inner guidance may be trying to tell you. That's one of the reasons I created the Daily Rhythms Journal, also known as the Daily Rhythms Tracker, to start to track and see the rhythms in your life so that you can start listening to what your higher self may really need instead of going 100 miles per hour. 100 percent of the time to get started with the daily rhythms journal. Click the link in the show notes or visit cairnyogawellness. com slash rhythms tracker and download your copy today. Today's episode is a long awaited one for me back in December. I sat down with my friend Krista Belknap to talk about the secret of life. Krista is 104 years old and still living and loving. Life, she lives at home, still attends regular meetings with philanthropic organizations she's involved with, as well as church gatherings and her beautiful outlook on life, her compassionate nature, her adaptability and desire to continue learning are just some of the qualities that I believe have helped her live such a long life. I asked followers on Facebook a while back, what kind of questions they might have for someone with this kind of wisdom and the questions that were submitted were. Plentiful. And because of that, I've created two episodes out of our interview because we did have to divide the interview session into two sessions because we were talking so much. So that next episode will be part two of our, so the next episode will actually be part two of our interview. Grab all the show notes at Cairn Yoga Wellness slash podcast 93 and enjoy the show.
Cathy:Christa, thank you so much for being here today and for taking the time to sit down with me and chat. I have so many, um, questions for you that have come from not only myself, but from other people who. I have invited to be in on this process, so I'm excited to hear what you have to say.
Christa:Well, I thank you for asking me.
Cathy:Absolutely. Absolutely. It's, it's fascinating. My friend Krista Belknap is, um, a dear friend and I think I've known you Krista for probably over 10 years, at least. Um, and you've got a lot of raving fans already, like I said, because I put this out on social media and said, I'm going to be interviewing my friend who just recently turned 104. And if you could sit down and ask questions to someone who's 104 years old and still living in their own home and doing things on their own, what would you want to ask? And the response was. Amazing. I've been blown away by the amount of people who want to ask you questions and want to just get to know almost even what your secret sauce is, what the secret to living such a long and beautiful life is. So I'm hoping that you might be able to shed some light today. On how you've lived your life and maybe some of those things that, um, that are just nuggets of wisdom that you can give us who are, who are out there still kind of wondering and filling our minds with, with all the things and talking too fast, just like I usually do. And you, you kind of commented to me a moment ago that you've now slowed down and you probably don't talk or think that fast anymore. But I was, I was chuckling because that's just how fast my brain goes sometimes. And uh, I think it's beautiful that you've allowed yourself and been able to slow down as you've aged. And as, as wisdom has. friend. Um, and so I'm just curious and I want to know a little bit more about that. Are you okay with sharing some of your thoughts and insights with us today? Sure.
Christa:Anything you ask, I'll try my best. Maybe my best is either slow, slower or slowest.
Cathy:I think that's beautiful. You know. So Krista, that in itself is a lesson that we all need to learn. And it's a lesson that I'll tell you has been one of my main messages in my business for so long is how to slow down, slow down so that we can be more mindful so that we can see the small things in life and zoom out and see the big picture. And I think we get that way. The more we practice slowing down. So I have been blessed to know Krista, like I said, for, um, over 10 years. And I love that my kids now also get to be a witness to you and to your life. So if you wouldn't mind, would you just tell the listeners a little bit about yourself and you don't have to tell your whole life story, but just kind of tell some of the highlights of your life. So we get an overview of who you are, and then I'll go into some other questions.
Christa:Well, first of all, I think I've been exceptionally blessed. Even God was. Watching out for me when I was born because I'm an adopted baby and my parents always made me feel like I was just the best thing that ever happened to them, which gives you much of confidence as a child. And as an adult, we lived in Des Moines, Iowa, and, uh, I went to school, uh, at East High and graduated at East High. I married a man whose dream was to have his own jewelry store, and we were able to accomplish that. And that's what brought us to Knoxville, was to start a jewelry store here. And we were in the store for 35 years
Cathy:together. Incredible. Now, where was Jack from?
Christa:Jack was born in Nashua, Iowa. Okay. His father How did Go ahead. Go ahead.
Cathy:You go.
Christa:His father also was a jeweler, and he, uh, early on recognized that Jack had that aptitude, and so he set up a place in their home where he could, uh, bring watches to him and let him practice on them. So that was
Cathy:Fascinating. Yes, yes. Now how did the two of you meet then?
Christa:Actually, uh, we met in Des Moines. He had moved to Des Moines and was a stranger there, but lived in our neighborhood. And so we, uh, happened to ride on the same public bus, you know.
Cathy:That's right, that's right. I remember you telling me this. Uh,
Christa:and asked me for a date, you know, and I said, I don't know you from Adam. You said what? I don't know you from Eden, but I'd like to get appointed. I invited him to come and meet my parents, you know, before I said yes to a date. I thought, let's see if he's serious, you know. Yeah. He was three years older than I, which, uh, when you're 23 seems like a lot of years, you know?
Cathy:Yeah. Yeah. Well, it sounds like you just had an amazing relationship with your parents to, to be that one of the first things that you wanted to, to do before you said yes to going on a date with someone, to have them meet him. And see if he was serious. What a beautiful, beautiful way of
Christa:living. Oh, thank you. Yeah. I thought it was common knowledge.
Cathy:Well, maybe it was. It's certainly not the way it is today, is it? No. Things are quite different. Very
Christa:different. Things are very
Cathy:different. Yeah. So, if you're 104, what year were you born in? 1919. So amazing. So amazing.
Christa:Sometimes when, uh, I fill out some kind of, uh, well, at the hospital, for instance, you know, when they ask you, uh, your age, and when I say 19, 19, those young girls don't think 19 existed, you know, if it doesn't have a 20 on it, they don't.
Cathy:It confuses them a little bit, I would imagine.
Christa:Right,
Cathy:right. Oh my goodness. Okay, so you, you, um, met Jack? You got married. You, did you get married before you moved to Knoxville or did you move to Knoxville?
Christa:We, we, this is a little bit of a long story. Jack saw an ad in the Des Moines Register. A man in State Center, Iowa wanted someone to run his jewelry store for him. He was an insurance person, but he bought a jewelry store. As was everything in it, you know, but didn't know what to do with it after he part. And so Jack answered the ad in State Center, Iowa, which is about 15 miles from Marshalltown. Yeah. So when we were married, then we moved to State Center from Des Moines. We moved to Des Moines. I always thought it would be fun to live in a small town instead of a large town like Des Moines. But anyway, we were there two years. His grandmother lived in Knoxville and she kept telling him that we needed a jewelry store in Knoxville. He said we have two jewelers, but they're both quite old and they're ready to retire. I think you should move to Knoxville. And we eventually did. Oh my goodness. 1941, just before Pearl Harbor.
Cathy:1941. Wow. Wow. So you've been in Knoxville ever since.
Christa:Right. So I know a lot of them.
Cathy:You sure do. You sure do. My goodness. And I think you've, you've lived a pretty beautiful life from what I've heard and what I've experienced. And, um, it's just amazing that you're still able to share. Your wisdom and share your light with the world because you have a light, Krista, and you are sharing it every time we get to see you every time. Every Sunday when I see you, every time I see you in a meeting, every time I see you out and about, you make my heart smile because sometimes I'll see you when you're coming out to get your hair done and I'm at the studio and I'll look out and I'll see you. Or when you would go to the dentist, maybe I would see you across the way and I would There's Krista and she just makes my heart smile because she's still getting out and getting around. Um, so thank you for that. You, you inspire people in more ways than you, you maybe even are aware of.
Christa:Well, yes, that's true. I was not aware. And you were watching me,
Cathy:not in a weird stalker way or anything, but it's kind of like a God wink I'm not always up and looking out the windows, but just occasionally I'll just happen to look out the window and there you are. And I'm like, Oh, Hey, there's Krista. So, I don't know. I don't know. It's just kind of a nice little connection. I think that God says. Hey, remember this, remember this, live more like this woman. And speaking of that, um, what are some of the roles that you played over the course of your life? So mom, um, what, what were some of the things that you did in the community? You were a mom, you were a wife. What are some of the other things and the roles that you played?
Christa:Oh dear. I'd have to think about it. I think I belong to four organizations. Which for over 50 years, you know, incredible, like PEO and then a study club. And I've been active in my church all these years and love that. I've taught Sunday school from, uh, teenage years. Some people didn't like to try the teenagers. So teenagers, you know, and I, I had a class of newlyweds. One time, which was lots of fun.
Cathy:This is through church and you worked with them or taught them? Beautiful
Christa:church. I
Cathy:just said, that's beautiful.
Christa:Oh, thank you. Yeah, I had a den of Boy Scouts when my son was in 3rd, 4th, and 5th grade is when, when they are Cub Scouts, and even yet today, when some of those boys come home to visit their parents, why they will either come by or call me, and I feel very Blessed, you know, that there's my den mother. I went to a birthday party and he recognized me and he said, well, there's my den mother.
Cathy:That's incredible.
Christa:I know how teachers feel, you know, uh, when, when five years after they left school, they go by their house and wave at them, you know, that's, those are some of the. Ideas of, of living in a small town rather than living like a boy or Chicago or St. Louis, for me anyway.
Cathy:Yeah, that's beautiful. Very fulfilling. What do you think the most fulfilling role is that you've played? in life, or that you've had.
Christa:Being active in my church, that's the most important. I love it. And the church helps you be the kind of person that you want to be. I still enjoy my adult Sunday school class. I think there are a limited number of people that enjoy, still enjoy a class. I have always enjoyed my Sunday school class. What do you
Cathy:enjoy most about it?
Christa:Probably the teaching. You know, we've been so fortunate, uh, right now our teacher is a psychologist, and so we get. Um, psychology mixed in with our Sundays, you know, and, and it's fun and I enjoy it. And I love one of them in my class.
Cathy:That's beautiful. That's beautiful. You get some different perspectives then, and, and I suppose as you have different teachers. Different teachers bring different things, right, and different elements, and it helps make us more well rounded, and opens our eyes, and opens our hearts to new things and new ways of being.
Christa:Right.
Cathy:So, here's a question. How do you spend your time now?
Christa:Pretty much the same, but just not as often, you know, for instance, uh, I have three ladies who help me, like one person does shopping for me, one lovely, lovely lady volunteered to take me to church on Sunday. She's
Cathy:a pretty incredible lady, isn't she?
Christa:Yeah. When she volunteered, I'm sure she didn't think I was going to live for 10 more years.
Cathy:Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. And she's right, she's right here in the, she's right here in the, in the interview as well. So Kay is just, what a blessing. What a blessing. Yes, she is. Krista, you were driving until you
Christa:were in your late nineties. Oh yes.
Cathy:Yeah, let that be known. How old were you when you stopped driving? Do
Christa:you remember? Must've been 98. 98. 98. But I decided myself, my kids didn't have to tell me that I should quit driving. You know, some people are just frantic because they have to give up their car. I've never felt that way.
Cathy:It's our ability to have freedom. It's our ability, you know, to, um, I mean, that's what we, that's what the mind ties it to is that ability to have freedom and to, to be independent. Right. Um, so yeah, I think it is hard for a lot of people. I think. Why wasn't it as difficult or challenging for you?
Christa:I really don't know, but I felt when you try to load a walker into the back seat of a car, and then walk up to the front seat when you have bad leg trouble, you know you're just asking for a fall. And I didn't want a fall. And I thought, well, it's not worth taking a chance. So I would rather Depend on other people who can drive cars rather than I'll be in the hospital and so on.
Cathy:What a beautiful perspective. What a beautiful perspective. Yeah, and it's probably a little cumbersome to have to, um, load things like that into a car. So make it a little bit easier on yourself. Right.
Christa:Right. Your third person
Cathy:helps. You said shopping and driving and your
Christa:third person. That would be your helper
Cathy:that comes in and on
Christa:Saturday and helps. Ruth. Oh, Ruth. Yeah.
Cathy:Okay, and then you have someone who comes in on, on Saturdays to help you. Yes.
Christa:Uh huh. She helps me with That's beautiful. Gower first. She's a retired nurse, registered nurse, retired and had worked in various hospitals, you know, for probably 40 years. Sure. She's 80. She's 80. Oh
Cathy:my gosh. Oh
Christa:my goodness. Something like that. But anyway, then she's willing to stay and, uh, like, what are my flowers that I can't reach? I'm short, you know, and too many things I can't reach when I'm in the wheelchair. And so, she's willing to stay and she's a lovely, lovely person.
Cathy:God has really filled you up in so many ways. And, and made sure that you're supported and cared for, and that you can still doing the thing, do the things that are caring for others and giving back to others. That's right. Right. So incredible. What brings you the most delight or even joy every day? And how has that changed over the years or has it changed over the years?
Christa:In some respects, yes, but, uh, I have a son and a daughter and they have been always my life. They've been a joy and still are. My son calls me every day in the evening after he gets home from work. You know, and then the daughter, uh, we are in constant contact because we email and talk on the phone. You know, my family, you know, have been probably the greatest joy in my life. And then friends, friends that I make, you know, uh, have made my life feel very fulfilled.
Cathy:That's beautiful. That's beautiful. And your son and daughter are pretty amazing people. I know I've gotten to meet them a few times and spend a little bit of time with them, but it's so cool that you connect with them and talk over email and you talk on the phone with them every day. And, uh, that's just what a beautiful relationship that your parents taught you to have and to cultivate. And then you were able to pass that down to your children. And it was one of compassion and love and tenderness. And, um, were there times in your life when your kids kind of wanted nothing to do with you when they were teenagers or when they were, you know, was that, was there a time in your life when they. Kind of pulled
Christa:away. I really was not aware of that if it happened
Cathy:So what how did what did you how did you parent them? So that that didn't happen. I
Christa:think just with love Honest love and I think was because they always felt like well I felt with my parents that they were the most important thing in our lives You know, and they still are, they still are, yeah. Gosh,
Cathy:that is a beautiful message. That is just a beautiful message. For anybody out there who is raising kids. And, man, cause it's hard. It's hard. It's a lot of
Christa:work. It is. A lot of things that you don't imagine ahead of time, you know. Yeah,
Cathy:yeah. And they are busy. You know my kiddos. And you know Lulu. And Lulu is fire, and she's a little busy person.
Christa:She is something else, that's true.
Cathy:Oh boy, she's going to do great things.
Christa:Both of my children were, uh, Amazed at her, you know, how she gets what he wants, what Lulu wants, Lulu gets. Oh my gosh.
Cathy:And we try, like we put limits and we try to stop that, but like she is one determined little booger. She is, she is going after what she wants in this life. That's for sure.
Christa:It'll be interesting to see how he develops, you know, as you, yeah, they're so fast, they
Cathy:are, they are, and she's been doing, I've just noticed in the past few weeks that she has started to, um, respect boundaries a little bit more and she's really starting to like. Okay, well, if, if we say no to something, she's starting to grasp like, oh, okay, well, maybe we can do it next time. Yes, maybe we can do it next time, you know, and I'm, I'm so glad that, knock on wood, knock on wood, I'm so glad that she is starting to be a little bit, um, more adaptable in those ways.
Christa:It appears to me that you are a wonderful mother. Well, thank you.
Cathy:Thank you. Okay, so we're going to switch gears just a little bit out of parenting. And, um, like I said, everybody that I talked to about this kind of really just wants to know what your secret for living such a long and healthy life is. So if you've got the quick and easy answer, then please Please share. We'll share it with the world, but if not, then if you could reflect back on your life, what are some of the things that you attribute to living such a long life? I know you've mentioned God. I know you mentioned family. Um, what are some of the other things that maybe you can attribute? to how you cared for yourself or how you, um, you managed your health to live such a long life. Well,
Christa:I think medical people will tell you that, uh, heredity has something to do with it, you know, and of course Know nothing about my parents since I was adopted. Yeah. The doctor said to me, uh, in the beginning, when my first child was born, she said, no, Since we don't know, you know, your heredity, uh, you watch your children, and if anything comes up, you know, that's serious, you be sure to let me know. Uh, well, nothing ever did, and my children, evidently they both, you know, inherited an easy life.
Cathy:Yeah, doesn't that, but I wonder also, yes, genetics play a role. And also we know that nurture plays a role too. And I wonder if there's some sort of link or connection to the fact that you really led with love and led with connection with your kids for their entire lives. And it just makes me wonder if. On a cellular level, that amount of love and compassion can bleed into a person and, and change their genetic outcome or change, change, you know, so that their energetic level rises up to meet that, which they are being nurtured with.
Christa:Well, I think you're right. I think that probably fits into the equation. But I think, well, first of all, I think I was I know I was, uh, in probably seventh grade when I began to take my But to be really serious about what I, how I felt about God, you know, and I want a relationship with him. And, uh, also I, I think how you, well, for instance, I decided long, early in my life, There wasn't going to be no smoking and no alcohol, you know, I think my teachers had such a effect on me. Uh, both school teachers and Sunday school teachers, both, you know, I remember being in the third grade. We had what was called hygiene class in third grade. And I remember, you know, just being fascinated by it. What the teacher would tell us about white corpuscles and red corpuscles and that sort of thing. And, and, and at church it was emphasized that your body is a temple of God. You should take care of it. You shouldn't do, destroy your body deliberately, you know. Never was tempted to smoke or to drink. And of course, a lot of people think, you know, how can you have any fun without one or the other or both, you know, but I think it had something to do with my health. Yeah, I know my husband, my husband smoked and, and I really feel like he would have lived 10 years longer if he had never ever smoked, you know, sure.
Cathy:Did he quit smoking at any point in time over the course of your life with him?
Christa:Yes. Yes. Yeah. He began to be afraid that maybe he was getting lung cancer or something, you know, coughed up. Yeah.
Cathy:So he did add years to his life just by quitting smoking for sure. Yeah. But yeah, that would have been interesting to see.
Christa:It was interesting because within three weeks after he quit, I heard him talking to our next door neighbor at the lake. We were at the lake fishing and I heard him trying to talk her into giving up smoking. He told her how much better he felt, you know, and he was trying to talk her into giving up smoking, which. Wow. It amazes me, you know. Yeah.
Cathy:But I do think He kind of became an advocate then for it.
Christa:I do think the other adults in your life, besides your parents Have, have a great effect on how you take care of yourself, you know, and how you live your life and, and how you react to other people's love, you know. Yeah. Krista, when you
Cathy:worked at the newspaper in Des Moines, You were
Christa:the model for exercise pictures. Yes, right. Do you want to
Cathy:tell about that? Please do. Oh my goodness, I have not ever heard this story.
Christa:Yeah, I, after I, uh, graduated from high school, it was all, and the depression had a great effect on everybody's life. You know, everybody that I know. I suppose there were people who weren't affected by it. But, but, uh. All of our friends, everybody that we knew, their life changed greatly because of the depression. But, so I graduated from East High School and then I looked for a job. And I got a job at the Des Moines Register and Tribune in the syndicate department. And the syndicate department, uh, had all the people that can, that contributed to the paper, but didn't That were not on the staff, you know, and maybe it came from various places. But anyway, uh, there was a woman, I think her last name was Lauman, and she had a piece in the, regularly in the paper called, uh, Do Not Grow Old. I believe it was called. This has been a long time ago. I haven't thought about this in a while. But anyway, uh, along with the things that she wrote about taking care of yourself, there were pictures of. Somebody exercising, and I had always exercised all my life. I was a little bit like Lulu, you know, I think I, if there wasn't anything else to do, I was out in the backyard doing cartwheels. And I've always liked to exercise and I was still exercising in Knoxville. three times a week, uh, at the pool. I like to go to the pool and so I exercise three times a week up till 95. That's incredible. Yeah, uh, the lady that was in charge of seeing that that Peace got in the paper every day, uh, asked me if I, if I would, I was the youngest person in the department. And she said, would you pose for exercises? I said, sure, I'd love to do her exercises, the lady that wrote it, you know. So that's how it happened. It was a part of my job.
Cathy:That's incredible. What year would that have been, or when, when would that have been? What years, maybe?
Christa:Well, I graduated in 1939. Oh, 37. I graduated in 37, so it would have been 38, 39, 40. That is incredible. I was like 20. Twenty two.
Cathy:I mean, when you think about it, exercise was not a big thing back then, was it? I mean, not, not nearly as much, obviously, as it is now, but people did so much more manual labor, so I feel like it wasn't, it almost wasn't as necessary, right?
Christa:Well, correct, yeah. It wasn't advertised as much. But I always, in high school, we had a pool. Not every high school has its own pool. We had a pool. And so part of your phys ed was, to me, so many weeks every semester you had to go to the pool. And of course, a lot of girls, you know, oh, they didn't want to get their hair wet. They just, so on. But I, I loved it. I love going to the pool. I love my physical class. You know, I never lie to get, to get exempt. You know, some people would
Cathy:lie. You don't want to get sweaty in the middle of the day. You don't want to, yeah, I get it.
Christa:Oh, you know, yeah, you go back to, you go back to a class with your hair all wet. You know, don't look your best, you know.
Cathy:Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. I get it. I get it. Oh my goodness. Well, that's something we have in common. I didn't know. PE was probably one of my favorite classes for most of my life. And I loved, but that's why I went to school for exercise science because I loved the human body and how it could move and how you could, how you could just feel the energy when you moved. And, and, you know, I didn't know that at the time that that's what I was doing was moving energy and shifting things around. I just knew that it made me feel really good and I liked moving and I liked being active. Um, that's
Christa:beautiful. And you, you are still that way. I noticed when you were sitting on the floor, you had one foot clear out there.
Cathy:Absolutely, absolutely. Um, were you there at church the day that I did a cartwheel down the aisle?
Christa:Now say it
Cathy:again. Were you at church the day that I did a cartwheel down the aisle?
Christa:Oh, no, no,
Cathy:no. I wish. Oh, Krista. I wish you would have been there. We might have to find that on, on YouTube. It was the day we turned, we're turning in pledge cards and, um, Pastor Jamie was asking us to like dance basically down the aisle. And we had talked about this months ago. He was like, it would be great if you wanted to do cartwheels. So of course. I didn't cartwheel down the aisle, I guess. I just cartwheeled in the front of the church. Oh boy. Yeah. That's one of my goals in life is I still want to be doing cartwheels when I'm 60. So I just got to keep doing it.
Christa:I think that too, I think if I, if I do this every day, you know, till I die, I'll still be able to do it, but you get too involved in too many things, you know, you don't get the everyday.
Cathy:That's right. Sometimes you go through seasons where you just have to do what you can, right? And even if it's just a little bit, um, a little bit of priority time for yourself every day, it's better than, than nothing, right? And priority time looks a little bit different. Sometimes my priority time is just the time that I'm spending with God and I don't have time to, to move my body as intentionally as I would like to. Um, sometimes it's sitting and journaling. Sometimes it's getting together with friends and socializing. But most every day, my priority time also involves some sort of intentional movement. What about you? What are the things that you do or have done over the years to connect with yourself and to make nurturing yourself a priority?
Christa:Well, I think maybe my, just my desire to attend church regularly, you know, and, and to study my Sunday school lesson and enjoy the conversation that goes on. Between people who are serious about their relationship with God, you know, yeah,
Cathy:yeah, what's the hardest belief that you've had to let go of in life? that ended up maybe helping you the most. For instance, you used to think this way, but when you finally realized you needed to let that way of thinking go and start thinking another way, it ended up helping or changing the course of your life dramatically.
Christa:I would have to think about that a while.
Cathy:It's a tricky
Christa:one. Uh, it is. It is. Maybe I give up things easier than some people, I don't know, just like my car, you know. Maybe I don't become as attached, but I think I'm that attached to my home. See, I'm fighting now to keep my home and not have to go to a nursing home. And I still do simple exercises. I have to do them in bed. You know, I can't get up and down on the floor, but exercises in bed and I do exercises because I have arthritis and I'm not able to do the kind of exercises I used to do, but I still do exercises night and morning. So still,
Cathy:still taking care of
Christa:yourself. Well, I had to give up going to the pool, see. Uh, but I realized there was no way I could do it from now on, you know. I, I was 95 when. When my, when my knee just would not support me anymore and it wasn't anything surgery could correct. So I had to be in a wheelchair.
Cathy:It sounds like you're just such an incredibly adaptable person and you have been able to realize that just as much as we want to be able to invite new things into our lives, we also have to let go of things that are no longer serving us. And it seems like maybe that's a quality that's come fairly easy to you over the years.
Christa:Evidently. It's beautiful. You know, it just happens and you really don't know, you know. Yeah.
Cathy:That's beautiful.
Christa:But I think I'm, I'm a happy, I tell my kids I'm a happy camper, you know.
Cathy:That's good. That's good. So what do you believe your purpose is or was in life? Do you still believe that you have a purpose? Yes. Yes.
Christa:Well, love, I think, I think maybe love is of everything, you know, nature, which God has provided. Um, our, our attachment to our friends, neighbors, uh, relatives. I just, and, and trying to, trying to remain a cap, happy camper with whatever life has chosen to throw in your way. Just to be able to accept it, you know, I think it's important.
Cathy:Yeah, I think so many times it can, it could be easy to get stuck and to dwell on. Either what we don't have or how things are changing or, um, keeping something that we really desire or really want. But it sounds like you're saying part of that secret is to be able to trust the process of life, to be able to surrender to this, um, higher energy force, which we call God and trust his plan. over our own plan. And it sounds like you really were able to embrace that thought and idea from a young age so that it could lead you into your life and, and help you go with the flow even more. Well, thank you. Yeah. What a beautiful quality.
Christa:I hope that I impressed people that way.
Cathy:It's just incredible to me, Krista, how you have just led with, with love over the years. And in doing so, it has brought so much togetherness instead of division in your life. And I want to thank you for continuing that purpose on in life and sharing your light with the world because it's a light and a message that needs to be heard right now. We are in such a world of division and everybody wanting to be right in their own way. And you bring this message and this beautiful light that says let's look at all sides. Let's just lead with love and, and it brings people together. So thank you for that. Oh, thank you. For
Christa:reminding us. And I think you're well on the way to, to being the kind of person you want to be.
Cathy:Thank you. Thank you. Okay, friends. That's all I've got for you today. Part two of our interview will be coming out. In just a couple of weeks. So stay tuned because Krista has so much more goodness to share with you. I hope that you have enjoyed listening to her as much as I enjoyed just sitting in and slowing down and being still to, to listen. To what she had to say, I know she's got a lot of stories to tell. And part of my reason for doing this episode or these episodes is because I want to preserve that. I want to be able to preserve some of this beautiful woman's journey through life and be able to share that because as we said in the podcast, so often we forget to slow down, we forget to be still and we forget to just tune into what's really important, what's really essential and that's family and that's taking care of yourself and not overdoing it, not burning yourself out. But instead, tuning in to what your body's wisdom can tell you, tuning into what you need the most. That's all I've got for you today. I will see you next time. Stricker and you've been listening to Health, Harmony, and Happiness with Kathy. Cheers to cultivating a global impact through health, harmony, and happiness.