Jody's Story

For decades — even at her thinnest — she never felt like she was the “right” weight.

“My friends, my mom… no one was ever happy about their weight. How long are you going to keep that going on?”

But now that Jody has lived through her 50s, she has learned that by accepting and celebrating who you really are, you can start to let go of all those negative expectations.

Video Transcript:

Jody Prusan. I am 59 years old. The shoulds become less, and the no's become less.

And it's really...it's about being...saying yes, and showing up, and accepting this body, and my niece calls me a goddess, and the first time that she said that, she said, "Aunt Jody, we're all goddesses."

And I said, "What?" And then I thought, "Yes, I'm a goddess." And I have to tell some of my friends that we are goddesses.

I think there's a time to celebrate one's age and to not deny it, because you got here with all of those years of experience behind you.

It's what makes you, you. So I'm not about denying it.

I think for my entire life, there was always that "Oh, I need to lose 10 pounds. Oh, I've gotta lose...oh if I could lose 10 pounds, this will happen."

And what's hilarious to me, but in a funny ironic way, is I'm a different size today, but the point being is that at every decade it always seemed like, "Oh, if I could just lose 10 pounds."

So it's one thing for health, not a problem to be fit, and do what's right, because it's...your body's your temple and you gotta love that.

But this thing about, "Oh, when I lose this weight, then I'll do that," no, this is it. If I wanna do something today, this is it, this is the package that you get.

This is the gift, I'm the gift, let's go to the party.

And whatever size you are, that's who you are. And sure, if you wanna, you know, trim up, or do whatever, but it can't be about, "When I get to this weight, then I'll do that."

So I would say that even that my thinnest, it was never the right weight, and all my life that's what I would hear from my mom, my mother's friends, my friends, no one was ever happy about their weight.

Well, how long are you gonna keep that going on? I think the thing about anything that can wear you...weigh you down, literally, bring you down, that's gotta be the first thing that goes.

Okay, maybe pizza, a little too, but I think it's this negativity. It's the negative thinking that weighs people down, that's the burden.

I mean if there's a spare tire of emotional angst, that should be let go. Well, that does not happen overnight, I think it happens through living life.

I think it happens from, I mean, accepting and celebrating who you are, and really being grateful for this opportunity to be alive, and to take all of these experiences, it's the age, and the wisdom, you can't manufacture history.

And if you've lived at least when you're in your 50s, if you've come this far, you have stories to tell, you have history. And that has...that's what gives, I think, the power and the confidence to forge ahead.

I'm really, really basic. I mean soap, water, go. I have added the moisturizer and cleansing.

I like things that are simple. I like to put on a shirt that doesn't have strings or zippers, or lots of buttons, I just like to roll and go. And when it comes to cleansing products, and makeup products I just like to be simple.

So I like the BOOM! products for that, I just wanna be able to like wash my face, put on a little moisturizer, have a little bit of a highlight, and a little bit of lips, makes me feel pretty.

Well, I think there's...we've kind of become full circle that when I was like probably 19 or 20, I really knew everything.

I did, I did, I knew everything, and no one could tell me anything because I really did know it all.

Then, around in the 30s, or maybe 20s or so, it started to occur to me, "Oh, yeah no, not so much."

And then I think the 40s come around, and I was like, "Oh, a little chip here, a little chip there," and started to lose some self-confidence and became more cautious.

And then I'm telling you, turning 50, it was like, "I'm closer to the end than in the beginning. I gotta do all of this now. I can't be looking back, only looking forward, and just embracing everything and celebrate it."

It became more of a celebration to me being in this decade, and being 59, and being a woman, and knowing that I've had dear friends who never got to see this birthday.

So knowing and being, and remembering my friends it's almost a homage to the women who've come before me, who didn't get to have a 59th birthday, and I really believe like I have to go for it, and...because they came before me and I don't wanna waste another day.