In this episode, you will learn 10 FACTS about Narelle, what age she would like to go back to and what advice she would give herself at that age! We also talk about the main causes of body image issues, how they come up and how she overcomes them. And we discuss what aging means to her and to her body.
You can READ the interview transcript HERE
GALLERY
10 Facts About Narelle
(at the time of the project)
1. 57 years old.
2. Narelle I'm into mixed martial arts, boxing, wrestling kickboxing. She goes to the gym, five mornings and five afternoons a week. It is a gym in Tempe which is called The Fight Lab. They do mixed martial arts, boxing, wrestling, Kickboxing and cardio as well.
3. Narelle owns a rescue Greyhound, which she walks every morning.
4. 10 years ago Narelle did weight loss surgery and lost 55 kilos. From 130 kilos to 75 kilos. She is so much fitter now and can do more. She can lift heavier weights, jump higher, kick higher, run faster.
5. Narelle is also a breast cancer survivor.
6. Narelle was born in Marrickville. And she is an adopted person as well. Her parents weren't married in the 60s, so they gave her up.
7. She has been married for 34 years.
8. She has 2 children - a daughter in Queensland who's 32 and her son here in Sydney who just turned 29. Narelle’s daughter has got a degree in psychology and she's working towards her masters.
9. Narelle has ticked quite a few boxes on her Bucket list, but still has to see the Eiffel Tower in Paris.
10. But whatever it is your passion, - she says -.Just do it. Whatever it is. Don't frighten yourself off from doing something.
INTERVIEW TRANSCRIPT
(auto-generated):
Hi, you're listening to the My Body, My Story podcast.
If you want to do something, doesn't matter what it is, whether it be mountain climbing or running or jumping out of an airplane or whatever, go ahead and do it, you've only got one life.
This is the 45 over 45 chapter where we celebrate Rule Breakers and role models, the women who inspire us to live life our way and to show their sensuality beauty, soul, and true essence. Here we talk about what it's like to be 45 Plus, adjusting to the changes that come with time, and we listened to the stories about participants. If you have an interesting story, we'd love for you to participate. You can email us at info@aleksandrawalker.com That's Aleksandra spelled with a K S. Or visit our website aleksandrawalker.com
Hello, everyone, and welcome to the my body My Story project and today with us in the studio Narelle. And while she's sitting in the makeup chair and Chitra is doing makeup for her. I'll be asking her a few questions. Welcome to the studio.
Thank you. Thank you for having me.
Let's start and tell us 10 facts about yourself.
Okay, I'm 57 years old next month.
I'm a breast cancer survivor. I own a greyhound rescue Greyhound, which I walk every morning. I'm into mixed martial arts, boxing, wrestling kickboxing. I compete doing kickboxing.
I go to the gym, five mornings and five afternoons a week.
Wow. Twice a day?
Yeah, twice a day.
Where were you were born.
I was born in Marrickville. And I'm an adopted person as well. My parents weren't married in the 60s it was frowned on to have children before you were married. So they gave me up. Oh, okay.
Have you found your parents after?
I have, but they're in WA and they're, they eventually got married and had two more children, two daughters. And they're not interested. They're just you know, they don't want to beat me because they're frightened that I'm going to disrupt the family and you know, their daughters will disown them and blah, blah, blah. But anyway, they lost not mine.
And I trained at a gym in Tempe. It's called the fight lab. And we do mixed martial arts, boxing, wrestling, Kickboxing. We do cardio as well. Personal Training.
Yeah. So you're the trainer?
No. just trained, just trying to Yeah.
So what do you do? When you don't train? Twice a day?
walk the dog. I, up until recently, I've been studying in doing a marketing course.
Oh, wow. Interesting.
That sort of got old really quickly after my cancer diagnosis. I thought I can't I've just got to get through this next little bit and get over this cancer. And so I just discontinued by my course last year, and who knows what, whether we'll go back to it or not. Interesting.
Is there anything else you want to share with us?
I've been married for 34 years. It's October.
Wow. Congratulations,
a daughter in Queensland who's 32 and my son here in Sydney who just turned 29 And he actually works for us harvest. And my daughter in Queensland, she's got a degree in psychology and she's working towards her masters.
Oh, that's interesting. Yeah. Excellent. So what's your favourite place in Australia?
Probably the Gold Coast.
I've just recently come back from Athens. So my coach was competing in a competition over there. So I went over to sort of help run things over there. I was in Greece for a week. Probably the Acropolis in Athens place beautiful.
How is the weather now?
Oh, it's beautiful. It's warm. So we went through everything, but it wasn't cold.
Excellent. So let's move to the subject of our podcast, which is ageing and body image. And my first question here is what does ageing means to you?
Well, I think we should, rather than bemoaning the fact that you're getting older, I think we should be thankful that we got this far. I think, you know, the, the older, the older I get, the less I care about what other people think. I just want people to, to look at me and say, oh, there's that lady with the purple hair. You know what I mean? You know, she's having a good time. You know, I wish I could be like her. Yeah. When I was a lot younger, I had a lot of self esteem issues, and you know, worrying about wondering what what other people think, you know, I was a little bit different from everyone else at school. So I got bullied, you know, that sort of thing. Now, I'm older, I just don't care anymore. You know,
so you mentioned that you have the low self esteem. And what do you think are the main causes of body image issues of this self self esteem issues, connected to body image?
Good question. I was a lot bigger than the other girls at school. So they used to tease me and, you know, call me names and that sort of thing. All I wanted to be all I wanted was to be the same is the same as everyone else. Not realising now that I'm older, you don't have to be the same as anybody else, you could be yourself. And, you know, other people don't have to like it, and that's okay.
But the causes of self-esteem, I don't know being adopted may have had a little bit of a, you know, feeling unwanted. So I knew it from we're wondering, wondering why they didn't want me wondering why. You know, they went away, and they left me like they did, so on and so forth. And then you know, other people, you know, having the attitude towards me, oh, well, she's, you know, looks different. So we're gonna bully her just for the, for the hell of it, you know?
You are saying that it's a combination of trauma and social influence?
kind of, kind of thing.
But did you know that you adopted from the beginning, your parents?
Well, I was very young, when my parents told me. No, might have been five or six? Oh, they told me.
So, you know, I feel like I've always known
If you could go back to any age, what age it would be? And why? And what advice would you give yourself at this age?Like, imagine that you have a time machine, you can go back to any age of yours
I would go back to my probably my 20s. I was 25 when I had my daughter, and 27 when I had my son. I would tell myself, not to worry about what other people think that other people's opinion of me has no relevance.
And if you want to do something, just go ahead and do it. You know, whether it be skydiving, rock climbing, running, you know, eat the ice cream, buy the cake, you know, wear the shoes, you know, you've only got one life. And I was so insecure when I was younger. And now that I'm older, I think you know, we'll I don't know why what I was so worried about. Yeah, because really, nobody cares. They're all worried about you know what you think of them. Its only taking me 57 years to get into this.. slow learner.
That's why we're doing this podcast. So hopefully some younger people, if they listen, they can make wise decisions earlier. Not wait for the 40s 50s
Hopefully I can make a difference.
I think we all do make difference, just not to everyone, but people we meet in the life. And there's reasons for that. And imagined that if your body could talk, what do you think it would ask you will tell you?
Thank you for having the weight loss surgery! I'm so much fitter. Now I can do more, I can lift heavier weights, I can jump higher, I can kick higher, I can run faster.
My coach is fond of telling me that I'm better that you're better than you think you are.
So you mentioned that you did the surgery. And how much you lost ?
I was 130 kilos when I first the night before I had my surgery. And I am now 75 kilos.
Oh, wow.
So 55 kilos I've lost.
Wow. And you said you did it in 2000..?
2012 Yeah.
So it's like 10 years ago, and you feel that this was the best decision?
Absolutely. Absolutely.
Do you believe that negative body image can affect the relationships and how?
Oh, absolutely. Absolutely. For so long. I pushed people away. When all they wanted to do was help. You know, I didn't think I was worthy of, of certain friendships or certain relationships. And, you know, I lost a lot of friendships over that. Because because I just didn't feel worthy, you know. Now that I'm older, I've got, I've settled in some into some really nice friendships now.
Isn't it interesting that self confidence is the basis for all their healthy things like good healthy friendships, healthy relationships? Healthy Life?
Absolutely. So once you realise that nobody's looking at you, nobody's, you know, nobody's thinking, you know, oh, look at her. Yeah. You know, there are worried about what other people think of them. And really, nobody cares.
Yeah, everyone thinks about themselves. So um, I know that you said you happy with your body image now. But probably like any of us from time to time you feel kind of low on that. Maybe some insecurities pop in from time to time. So what are the….how do you overcome that? So what's your ways to bring yourself back to the shape you want? Like, I know, you said, you did the surgery and you're in the perfect shape. But if you feel oh, like, what's your goal, to bring yourself back to feel that you are in a good shape?
I use exercise as a method of doing that I'll go for a run or I'll get on the exercise work at the gym, or I'll do a planning session or whatever. You know, because ultimately, it's up to me how I feel. And as much as I've got the right people around me, I can't rely on them to do it for me. Yeah, I've got a you know, I figured out you know, if I keep I suffered from postnatal depression, when my son was born, it was his baby. And I feel like that's what I'm running through. You know, that's why I run that's why I exercise. That's why it lifts my mood. And I figure if I stopped trading, if I if I stopped trading, the black dogs gonna get me know what I mean? so forth. If I stopped running, yeah, it's gonna come and get me. Yeah. So has it changed with age or would like to do do it always did this way or no way. I only started exercising in my 40s.
So how was your dealing with your body insecurities are bringing back to shape when you were younger?
Oh, no, I used to I I've only just acquired those skills in the last few years. I got very depressed, I got very anxious. I used to eat a lot, which probably didn't help my weight, but whatever.
So comforting yourself
comfort food. My mum used to say I'd fall over in the street or whatever. Like as kids do, or I fall off my bike or whatever. And my mom would say, are they there they go, go. Let's have a cookie.
So I learned Because of myself by eating, now I choose to comfort myself by go for a walk, or walking the dog or going for a run or physical activity.
Excellent. So my last question is do you have any favourite quote about being a woman or saying, or maybe a thought? Or maybe your own thoughts?
What is that Bill Holman to be a woman super is who you are, you know, if you want to, if you want you to do something, doesn't matter what it is, whether it be mountain climbing, or running or, you know, jumping out of an aeroplane or whatever, go ahead and do it, you've only got one life, you know, if you waste the life that you've given, I used to be so anxious about a lot of things, you know, walking down the street would fill me with anxiety. Meeting new you go into a party where I'm where I know, nobody would would make me anxious.
A lot of things would would make me depressed, you know. So I've decided now that you know, I've been given a second chance at life after my cancer diagnosis. So grab the grab hands, grab the lifeboat by two hands and go for it. Just do whatever. That's your life. You need to, to, you know, do what you want to do.
So what's your number one on your bucket list? Or number two, number three.
I've done the Colosseum. I've done the Acropolis.
I've done Disneyland.
I've done Athens, which I did a couple of weeks ago.
I'd like to go and see the Eiffel Tower in Paris.
Any jumping from
I've done indoor skydiving. Which is a lot of fun.
Yeah. I think they have it. Definitely they have it in Melbourne. I probably they have it in Sydney as well.
I did it on the Gold Coast, where my daughter lives. That's a lot of fun. That was sort of you know, I'm still not quite sold on jumping out of an airplane just yet.
I like how you said just yet.
But you know who knows? Yeah, I might go mad one day and decide to do it. But whatever it is you whatever it is you passion. Just do it. Whatever it is. Don't let yourself yeah, don't know don't frighten yourself off from doing something.
Excellent advice. Thank you Narelle. Thank you very much for sharing your story. Welcome and hopefully it will be inspiring for the listeners. And I hope you will enjoy the rest of your day in your photoshoot. And looking forward to see your pictures.
If you have an interesting story, we'd love for you to participate. You can email us at info@aleksandrawalker.com That's Aleksandra spelled with a K S. Or visit our website aleksandrawalker.com
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