Happy 2026! May this year bring you an abundance of happiness, health, love, and laughter.
On one hand, I love the fresh start of a new year, but there's also a dark side to the first weeks of January that people usually don't talk about. Maybe you feel it, too? This intense focus - pressure! - to make New Year's resolutions has been bothering me a lot this year, and here is why:
Everywhere we look, we are being told to fix, shrink, or optimize our bodies. Lose 20 pounds, build up muscles, stop overeating, start healthy habits, sleep more, stress less, etc.
It’s the time of year when the cultural noise is loudest, telling us that our bodies are a problem to be solved. Or a burden to be managed. A ticking time bomb, ready to explode right under us eventually.
I can definitely relate. In fact, I know what it means to feel betrayed by your own body.
In 2018, I heard my Doctor say something that hit me like a ton of bricks. “Miss Gordon, I am sorry, but you have invasive breast cancer.”
WHAT? I had always been "the healthy one." I was 100% sure I would never get cancer. When I saw the results, I couldn't believe it. My own body had grown invasive tumors. It felt like the ultimate betrayal.
Similar to what a diagnosis of infertility (yes, according to studies, the diagnosis of infertility is as stressful as a cancer diagnosis), autoimmune diseases, or heart disease can feel like.
And what are we usually told to do in such a situation? Go to war.
In the cancer world, the language is almost always violent. We are told to "fight a battle," to "go to war," and to visualize "soldiers" exploding the rogue cells.
But as I sat with that terrifying news, I had a realization that changed everything: I cannot heal a body I am at war with.
If I directed hate toward those cancer cells, I was directing hate toward my own flesh and blood. Instinctively, I knew that hating on my body was the wrong thing to do. My system didn't need a battlefield; it needed a sanctuary.
So, I did something radical. I sent love to my CCs—my cancer cells.
By choosing love and compassion, I wasn't being "soft." I was being biological. I was putting my body into the parasympathetic nervous system state. This is the "rest and digest" mode, the only state in which the human body can truly relax, repair, and heal.
Did I rely only on love to heal from cancer? No. I opted for two surgeries, one of which was the double mastectomy, after the first surgery showed even more cancer cells than anticipated.
But I came through and healed from these surgeries quickly, because I stopped seeing my body as a traitor and started seeing it as a partner that needed my love more than ever.
This journey of shifting from betrayal to partnership, is the foundation of what I call Younger With Age. It is about learning that our bodies are not our enemies, no matter what the diagnosis or the mirror says.
Reversing and healing infertility, auto immune diseases, or other ailments is only possible with love and compassion for ourselves and our bodies.
So if you make any resolutions for 2026, how about learning how to fall in love with your body?!
I recently shared the "how-to" of this philosophy on the TEDx stage. In my talk, "Age well, age in reverse," I dive into the Mind, Body, and Soul pillars that allow us to step out of the "war" and into a state of healing.
Watch my TEDx talk "Age Well, Age in Reverse".
Of the three pillars—Mind, Body, or Soul—which one feels like it needs a "small act of love" (rather than a "resolution") from you right now? Let me know in the comments over on YouTube, I read and respond to all the comments there.
Let’s stop the war. Let's start the healing.
With love and respect for your journey,
Bettina
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