Dear Fellow Baby Boomers,
Have you noticed lately that we have become big business? Not only is every company and/or celebrity out there coming up with something to target our wallet, fight aging, and battle menopause, but it's become politically incorrect to say things like "anti" aging. We're apparently supposed to say "pro" aging now. How about instead of all this talk on aging, we just live our lives without focusing on our age number at all?
We've become a marketing tool. I'm not against this, if things are legit, but I am against companies that market anti wrinkle creams to us on 20 something faces. New magazines that target women over 50 but get their advertising dollars from designer clothes splashed across their pages on 20 something models.
A few years ago I was prompted to change my blog and instagram name to Life In The Six O. One of my girlfriends, who is 10 years younger than me, said I was her poster girl for aging, hmmm, I liked that. She said she was scared by some of the women she knew that were my age because they looked and acted frumpy. She was freaked by frump. Up until that point I had pretty much always lied about my age, well not really lied, but never corrected anyone when they assumed I was younger than I am. I was afraid people would stop taking me seriously in business if they knew my real age. Let's face it, there is ageism in this world. Then I realized I was part of the problem. If I told the world how old I really was, maybe people would start to see that this is what 60+ looks like. I thought I could be part of the solution, instead of the problem. Frump is a choice not a chronological component. And we all have a choice.
Fortunately, we are the generation, after the generation, that called things like your period and menopause "the curse". Imagine being a young girl in the "olden days" and getting your period? No one told you about it, you had no idea what was happening, so naturally they all thought they were bleeding to death. Same with menopause, even our mothers' generation didn't talk about it, although I've heard some refer to it as the "beginning of the end". Oh brother! And I remember my mother would say that it just didn't really affect her. Well, I beg to differ!
Any Jewish friends out there get the period slap? There's an old Jewish custom (although when you google it, the roots of this "custom" are a bit sketchy) that when a Jewish girl gets her period for the first time, her mother slaps her across the face for good luck. My mother did this to me. My nonviolent mother who never hit me, smacked me right across the face as I sat on the toilet pondering the fact that I was supposedly a woman now. Shocker! She quickly explained that it was good luck and hugged me. Yes, I was still on the toilet. That tradition ended with me. I did not smack my daughter when she got her period. Talk about your body image trauma!
I like to call it Ageless Living, not because we don't age, or can stop the hands of time, but because my focus is living life without putting age restrictions on myself. Age affects us, no doubt about it. Hey, if I don't stretch before I get out of bed in the morning I'm walking to the bathroom like Frankenstein. But how many times do you hear women say "I'm too old for that" or "it's too late" for this or that. This drives me crazy and it's just not true! Ageless living is about living without paying attention to societal stereotypes for the "middle aged" and that's exactly how we break those stereotypes, by proving them wrong. It's never too late for a new dream, a new hobby, a new pet, a new city, a new home, a new friend, a new job, a new career, or a new style!
The other day I posted a story on instagram from @the.dancing.nana. She was tap dancing at her own 100th birthday party. And smiling from ear to ear. She's been dancing her whole life. Do you think she ever listens to anyone that tells her she's too old to dance? Or that she might break a hip, or asks when she's gonna stop already? No she doesn't. She just keeps dancing. And I bet that she thinks a lot more about dancing than about the fact that she is 100. And that is why she continues to dance and live her best life. In her mind she sees herself as that young beautiful dancer, and so she is.
Master Life Coach Tony Leigh says "we can only create to the edge of our self image". The first time I heard her say this my mind was blown. BLOWN! Read it again, "we can only create to the edge of our self image". So if you're walking around thinking of yourself as old, you're going to be old. Not a complicated concept to grasp. If you think you're looking frumpy you most likely are.
We often forget that we have the power to create through our own thoughts. It's been proven that our subconscious believes everything we tell it, whether it's true or not. So why not tell it the good stuff! Pick your best age, for me it's 45, I'm 45 and holding. That's what I think, that's what I feel, and I have made that part of my self image, and that's what keeps me young. Let's forget aging gracefully and let's age powerfully!
If you have any doubts here's a little inspiration...
Famous French Chef Julia Child did not have her first cookbook published until she was 50.
Ray Kroc founded McDonalds at the age of 52.
Claude Monnet was 73 when he started his famous water Lillie series.
American folk artist Anna Mary Robertson Moses, known by her nickname Grandma Moses, and her famous painting of the same name, began painting at the age of 78.
Laura Ingalls Wilder began writing the Little House series of children’s books at 65 years old.
Charles Darwin Published the Theory of Evolution at 50 years old.
