#58 My Body My Story 45 Over 45 - Annika

In this episode, you will learn 10 FACTS about Annika and what she thinks about perfect body image, positive changes and challenges of 45+ women, what is it for her to feel good and look beautiful, and what advice she would give younger women and 30-year-old self!

 

10 Facts About Annika

(at the time of the project)

 

1. 60 years old.
2. Annika was born and raised in Stockholm in Sweden.
3. When she was 21, she came out to Australia with a girlfriend to do some traveling.
4. On the first day Annika arrived in Australia, she met her husband. And they've been together since then.
5. After about 12 months together, Annika and her husband (then still a boyfriend) traveled together to Cape York, where he did his motorbike race. And then they ended up driving all the way around Australia. They spent nine months together on the bike.
6. Annika has two sons and a daughter. The middle son ended up staying in Sweden with two daughters, the other son is in Australia and the daughter is still traveling.
7. Annika gets bored easily and is a bit restless. She’s had a lot of different jobs and lived in different places, but it's been pretty good.
8. Annika is passionate about travelling and took it from her dad. Her dad, who was a policeman, and worked in different places, took Annika to a lot of places and on camping trips. She’s been to a lot of places, but she’s still got a long bucket list. South America and Iceland are at the top of the list.
9. The biggest challenge at this age – “Physically your body has changed, you can't really do what you could do before. I do really, really miss high-heeled shoes.”
10. Positive change with age – “I feel that I've mellowed a lot when I get older. I think that I'm really happy with my age now.”

INTERVIEW TRANSCRIPT

(auto-generated)

Hi, you're listening to My Body My Story podcast.

So we arrived here the first day I met my husband.

This is the 45 or 45 chapter where we celebrate rule breakers and role models, the women who inspire us to live life our way and to show that 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 will listen to the stories of our participants. If you have an interesting story to share, we would love you to participate, you can email us on info@aleksandrawalker.com or visit our website, www. aleksandrawalker.com

Hi, Annika, welcome to the studio. Welcome to the project. And let's start and tell us a bit about yourself.

Well, thank you so much for having me here today. My name is Annika, I turned 60 this year. So I decided two years ago on this project. I was born and raised in Stockholm in Sweden. And when I was 21, I came out to Australia with a girlfriend to do some travelling. And I left a fairly miserable relationship. So I had no intention to get into, you know, other relationships. So we arrived here the first day I met my husband. His friend wrote at the airport and custom and we got friendly with him. And then we've been together since then.

Wow.

Yes, bit of a funny story. But anyway, we stayed here for six months, my girlfriend and myself and then she went back to Sweden. She didn't really like it. And I was in love and all the rest of it. So I stayed. After about 12 months, when we've been together, my husband or boyfriend said to me, I'm gonna go up to Cape York. And he was racing motocross. So he said to me, do you want to come with me? And I said, Yeah, I'd love to. So he bought a big motorbike. And we travelled together to Cape York, which is North Australia. And he did this race. And then we had no other commitments. So we ended up driving all the way around Australia. We spent nine months together on the bike, and that was fantastic. It was the Yeah, it was really exciting. We were young and in love them was really good. Yeah. Then we have since then, we've been back and forth to Sweden. We raised a family. And the last, but 12 years ago, we had a bit of chaos in the family. So we decided to go back and stay in Sweden for a wall. So we have two sons and a daughter. And the middle son ended up staying in Sweden. So he's living there with two girls, two daughters, and the other son came back here and the daughter is still travelling. She's still undecided. We know she's on the 26th year she's moving around everywhere. Yeah, I'm, I've had a lot of different jobs. I get bored easily. And I'm a bit restless. I've had a lot of different jobs. We lived in different places, but it's been pretty good. Yeah.

So what's your favorite place in Australia?

I loved Alice Springs. It was really different. I thought coming from Europe where everything is just very congested and pupillary way I thought that was really really good. Did we stay there for a couple of months and we worked. We used to go camping in the desert on the Oasis and yeah, it was fantastic. Yeah. But I love to my husband and I thinking as to when we retire to do the bio motorhome and do the same trip again. So nearly 40 years later. Yeah,

that's great.

Yeah, it's such a great country is just got everything. So it was really good for me because I not sort of count from here and to just explore the whole place and I'm really new, or the, you know, Paul Bloom and Darwin and Tasmania and everything. So yeah. Australia good.

So but do you feel yourself Australian or still think that you're international person?

Yeah, I haven't asked you that. But I, I do feel Australian. Because I mean, I lived here most of my sort of adult life. And I've worked and got on network friends and family and all that. So I do feel Australian. Yeah. When I come back here feels like I come home. Yeah, but I do not want to go back to Sweden as well. Or feel that I belong there as well. It's sort of funny failing. But it is it is a good feeling as well.

That's great. So what are you most passionate about?

Well, I'm passionate about a lot of things. But I think the top of the list will be travelling travel. Yeah, I did inherited that from my dad, my dad, we used to travel quite a bit. When I grew up. My dad was a policeman and he worked in different places. He took us to a lot of places caravanning and camping trips. I've been to a lot of places, but I've still got a long bucket list. To go, so I am really looking forward to do some travelling,

what is on the top of the bucket list?

Top? Well, it's the top of the bucket list is South America. Because my girlfriend when we arrived in Australia, intentionally we're gonna stay here for about six months. And then we're going to go back to Sweden and then go to South America. So I tell people that I'm still on my way to South America just a little bit longer. 40 years. So I would like to go to Costa Rica, Argentina, and maybe chill. Yeah. So and then I also want to go to Iceland. Do some horse riding. And I also want to climb. I do a lot of hiking. So I would like to climb a couple of mountains. Maybe Kilimanjaro. Wow. Himalaya. That's yeah, their dreams. Maybe they won't come through. But you got to have your dreams there for more like you say, Yeah, that's right. Yeah.

I agree. So interesting, too. Were your jobs connected to travel industry? Or like, how did you manage your passion and you every day?

Well, funnily enough, it's not. And that's one thing I'm thinking about. Because I've had a lot of different jobs and a lot of different industries, but I've never really managed to get a job what travelling was involved. I'm quite adaptable. I, yeah, I'll get a job. And I need to Yeah, I'm not sort of scared of doing some hard work to me when I was young. I used to just go around pick fruit or work in a restaurant or cleaning hotels or whatever, just to finance it all.

so you keep travelling for fun.

Yes, I do famine, exploring, you know, the country. I tried to not so touristy like I'll probably maybe can stay in this suburb or try to be, you know, fit in with where I am sort of thing.

Try to imagine being a local.

Yeah, exactly. Exactly. Yeah.

Okay. So you have a lot of plans and things to do. And you mentioned that this year you turned 60. Do you see any positive changes that come with this age?

I do think with cars, you go through life and experience different things both really good and really bad. And if you learn and embrace Sara think you sort of come to terms with things when you get a little bit older. And I think that's a good thing. I got fairly fiery personality. And I feel that I've mellowed a lot when I get older. I'm not sure if that's physically with hormones, or if it's because I'm content that I've done a lot of things in my life. But I think that's I'm really happy with my age now. I think it's a good age. I'm sort of embracing it, which is good. I think that's positive. Yeah.

And what is the biggest challenge at the moment?

Well, the challenge at the moment, I guess, is physically your body changed, you can't really do what you could do before you can run so fast or lift so heavy things or your body is changing. But I think by now, you just gotten accepted. And sort of, I'm pretty comfortable in my body. I do really, really miss high heeled shoes. I'm not you. I can't I can't wear high heeled shoes. And I used to have really good high boots. And are real. I look at them now think, you know, no way. No, I cannot wear them. And I think putting dresses on really nice clothes. If you don't have good shoes to go with it. It's not the same. I really miss that. I have to admit. But and these shoes you have to wear now. They Yeah, they're not as attractive. And sometimes we got and I look at these young girls or young women, I think, ah, you know, who were these really high heeled shoes. I wish I could do that again. But so I think that that's really challenging. Yeah.

It was just a couple of days ago, I threw away all my high heels

there's no choice. I mean, you don't have any choice. It's just the way it is. But I do. I do find a very challenging accent actually. Issues.

It's an interesting challenge. I haven't heard that before. Yeah, I like it. So what would you say is your greatest accomplishment so far?

Well, I guess. I haven't made a big career in an industry or anything, not that. I think coming to the country to Australia, I was really young. And even though I had a partner or a boyfriend, it was quite. When I came back the second time as a resident, and we were sort of going to stay here I was it took a long time to settle in and I was really homesick. And I think my mother in law, she really took me under her wing, which was really good. My house, my counsellor and pretty big family. So I was sort of 111 in the group. And that made me really secure. And that but eventually, you know, you sort of fit in the bracket or make it so I didn't make it. My husband, I raised a family and I've been working and we've you know, bought a house have sort of embraced it. And that is a pretty for me a big accomplishment. But I've also managed to kid my, like a cape, everything and suede and my girlfriend's a family. I'm really close to my family. And we have also established a bit of a life there. So I think, yeah, it's, it's, it sounds a bit like a see you, I'll move over there and move over here. But it's you got to keep things. It's not easy. It's not easy now. So I think that in my life has been accomplishment.

That's great. Yeah, it's tough to establish life in two countries. Yeah, like active life, which is you can be functioning properly both countries.

Yeah, I understand what you mean. But I think also nowadays with social media and Facebook and Skype, and that has made it really a lot easier. And when I first arrived here in 1983, it cost me like $7 a minute to make a phone call. It was you know, my my mom and my telephone bills were around us was now you can dislike getting on the Skype computer I put it up at when we had dinner and we had dinner the three of us and my mom was God. Amazing, you know, so and with Facebook and and all the social media, you can share photos and you know what your friends are doing and so that has a made it actually really good. So that's a pretty good thing.

Excellent. Yeah. But if you could meet your 30 year old self, I love this question, then what would what advice would you give her? What would you tell her?

But I would tell myself, Yes, I would tell myself to trust my instinct. And to use my intuition, intuition really well. And just trust myself. Yeah, that's what I would say.

That's a good advice. Yes,

Yeah.

But we learned to trust ourself a bit later in life, I think it's to do with the quiz see that? We didn't listen intuition, our intuition here. Yeah. And it happened, or did listen and hear like, you know, just seeing that. It actually, woman's intuition works.

Exactly. Yes.

So what advice would you give younger women who will eventually undergo this age changes and rich, our age bracket?

Yes. I would give them the advice to stay healthy, both physically and mentally. And I think understand nowadays, it's so much focus on how your low body emotion you get bombarded from a young age to social media and, you know, perfect bodies. No, such a thing. I think, if you can manage to stay away from that, and just embrace your own body, be comfortable in your own body. And also be thankful for what you have, you know, is, I think, an embrace your. Yeah.

So you mentioned about this body image Issue. Where do you think the idea of perfect body comes from? And what is it for you, your perfect body?

I think our media, obviously, social media, media, in general. It's very, nowadays, everything is so fast. And you say, I mean, you can't get away from it. To see a body or body images, I should say. The art of there's no such thing as a perfect body. I think if you're comfortable in your own skin. That's really good. And I've, I've sort of always been exercising, and I've lived a fairly healthy life. And I think that's important. And now lately, I've learned a lot from our daughter about your inner like your mountain in a health as well, like with your guided meditation and that sort of thing. And I think that's really important. Yeah. And I think that will be a really good thing to learn early. Yeah.

Excellent. So yeah. What does it mean, to you feeling good? And looking good? What comes first?

Definitely feeling good. Yeah. I don't think you can cover up if you feel really not happy within yourself, if you're out of balance, and that sort of thing. And I think you can cover that up. I think you can use it through that. And feeling good is I think is important is important to look good as well. But I think it comes from within. Yeah.

And what makes you feel the most beautiful.

I thought of this question a lot. It comes a little bit back to the second question about feeling good, and I do feel the best or are fit most beautiful when I feel good. When I have a sauna, when I've sweated out and I feel really clean and I've had a swim in a lake and I sit down and I'm really relaxed then on top of the world.

beautiful image

Yeah, it's yeah, that's

and I imagined Sweden for some reason. Yes. Yeah.

Sauna, Sun, Lake. Yeah. So when I like yeah. Finland, they got the saunas but we we have a lot of saunas in Sweden to a lot of people just in residential have so on us,

so is it it's not Swedish its Finnish?

Yeah. It's a Finnish.

But do you have it in the in your culture in Sweden?

No, not really.

Not really. It's more it's a Finnish culture.

That's interesting. I didn't know that.

Yeah.

Okay, so my last question is, what is your favourite quote? Or maybe saying about being a woman?

And this, research this and I had to, but I'll pick one. So, and it's if Eleanor Roosevelt said if it's a woman is like a tea bag. You don't know how strong she is going to be until you have put her in hot water.

That's my favourite.

And what was the second one? The second one was that the most dangerous animal in the world is a salient smiling woman.

Oh yeah, that's a good one. Excellent. Thank you any good. Thank you very much for sharing your thoughts and telling your story. I hope you will enjoy the rest of the day, your photoshoot. and welcome again to the project.

Thank you so much for having me. Yeah.

If you have an interesting story to share would love for you to participate. You can email us on info@aleksandrawalker.com or visit our website, www. aleksandrawalker.com

This is the 45 over 45 chapter of MY BODY MY STORY podcast, 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.

 

For more information about the project visit:

https://www.aleksandrawalker.com/45-over-45

 

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