Magnificent Obesity: My Search for Wellness, Voice and Meaning in the Second Half of Life

The voice of a generation, speaking on issues of mortality, body image, health and dreams deferred, Magnificent Obesity recounts one woman’s effort to look honestly and compassionately at her obesity through the lenses of anxiety, addiction, aging and agnosticism. Although things don’t always turn out the way she’d hoped or planned, Martha’s indomitable spirit and her conviction that it’s never too late to grow up, that it is possible to feel born again at any age, and that there is no sell-by date on dreams will inspire anyone who yearns to rewrite their story and take their own magnificent leap into a life lived with passion, purpose, and authentic power. When Martha Moravec shows up at the ER with severe anxiety, she does not expect to be told she is having a heart attack at age 55. What follows is a journey of mind, body, and soul as the shock accelerates a tolerable midlife crisis into a race to close the gap between where she is headed in life and the very different place she wants to be. A woman living alone, Martha recruits a team of doctors, therapists, and priests, helpers, healers, and friends from the tight-knit weave of small town life in southern Vermont. The patience and dedication of the people she calls “angels we can see” proves that it takes a village to raise a happy, self-actualized adult. As she addresses childhood trauma, panic attacks and phobias, addictive behaviors and an obsessive fear of death, Martha walks an often painful, always illuminating path in her fight to recover her physical, mental, and spiritual health.