Wiggling Sticks
My son flies Blackhawks for the Hawaii Army National Guard. He once told me flying a helicopter is basically just “wiggling sticks” — tiny constant adjustments that keep the aircraft moving smoothly. The more I thought about it (with LMFAO’s “wiggle wiggle wiggle…” looping in my head), the more I realized the same principle applies to midlife health.
From the day he was born, my son seemed destined for two things: to be an engineer and to fly.
At first it might have been a train engineer. But once Legos made the scene, it became clear he was going to engineer things, not necessarily trains.
A little over three decades later, yes, he is a mechanical engineer. And he flies Blackhawks for the Hawaii Army National Guard. A maintenance test pilot, to be exact. Which means he flies them after maintenance to make sure everything works exactly the way it should.
Which means, of course, that I am an actual helicopter parent.
And yes, I am very proud. The paths to both dreams were not direct, nor were they particularly easy. But they were forged.
As a mom, when your son flies what he sometimes calls “giant sky fans,” you try not to worry. I have been told hundreds of times not to. By the time Army pilots are trained and allowed to actually fly, they have practiced all the things to do if something goes wrong. I have also been told, many times, that helicopters can glide gently to the ground using something called autorotation if things simply… quit.
And they practice this.
Still.
Another thing my son once said has always stuck with me. He said flying a helicopter is basically just “wiggling sticks.”
Tiny movements. Constant movements. Small corrections that keep the aircraft flying smoothly in the desired direction and at the desired speed. And right side up.
The key is that the adjustments are small. Practically invisible. Often done without conscious thought.
Large, dramatic corrections?
Not so good.
Very bad, actually.
And somewhere in the back of my mind — perhaps it’s the matcha — the LMFAO song starts playing: “wiggle wiggle wiggle wiggle…”
Which I am fairly certain is not part of Army flight training, but the metaphor still holds.
And in this respect, flying a giant sky fan is not so different from roaming the earth in the body of a woman who has reached midlife. Or passed it.
Gone are the days when we can go on a drastic diet and drop a size or two in an instant. Gone are the days when we can simply do more cardio to “tone up.” We can’t skimp on sleep, recovery, or nourishment and just power through anymore.
Drastic measures not only stop working — they often work against us.
We are hormonally and chemically different than we were at twenty or thirty. The old care-and-maintenance manual no longer applies to our post-midlife bodies.
New rules. New procedures.
Wiggling sticks, not yanking levers.
The good news is we don’t have to learn to fly a helicopter to understand the concept.
We just need to start listening to our bodies again and making small adjustments.
Tiny movements. Tiny corrections. Tiny course changes that help us move smoothly in the direction we want to go.
What might that look like?
If we want to move our bodies more, we start with something simple. Maybe we add a daily walk. Not a three-hour gym session with cardio, weights, and a yoga class stacked on top of each other.
Once walking becomes part of the rhythm of our week, perhaps we add a strength class or a gentle yoga session.
Not both. Just one.
Small adjustments.
Or maybe we want to shift how we nourish ourselves. Instead of drastically cutting calories or eliminating entire food groups — which often increases stress hormones and encourages the accumulation of belly fat — we wiggle the sticks again.
We add nourishment.
A little more fiber.
A little more healthy fat.
A little more protein.
Suddenly we feel more satisfied. Our muscles, bones, brain, and gut microbiome get the support they need. Cortisol levels calm down. And our metabolism begins acting like a metabolism again.
This philosophy applies to nearly every aspect of midlife well-being: sleep, strength, flexibility, mindfulness, self-compassion, our environments, and even our relationships.
Small, responsive adjustments.
Not dramatic overcorrections.
These are the kinds of ideas and practices we explore together in the Whole Woman Joy Circle — gentle ways to “wiggle the sticks” so that we can move through this stage of life with greater steadiness, resilience, and ease.
A smoother journey.
In the direction we actually want to go.
And if all else fails, just remember: don’t yank the levers. Wiggle the sticks.
🌿 Curious about the Whole Woman Joy Circle?
Inside the Joy Circle we explore ideas like this together — how small, steady shifts can help us move through midlife with more strength, resilience, and joy.
Tiny adjustments.
Tiny course corrections.
A little like wiggling the sticks.
If you'd like to explore with us, you're warmly welcome.
Photos courtesy of aviation photographer John M. Dibbs.