Having proudly passed my 70th birthday, I am definitely in my goddess years. And let me tell you, it is an enormous relief to leave behind all the angst manufactured by the ad industry, the "beauty" industry, the diet industry, and the anti-aging industry: guess what? Age happens anyway, BUT ONLY IF YOU'RE LUCKY. I don't for a moment minimize the pain of a woman passing through those harrowing years between 45 and 65. Trust me, it gets better.
Those years are awful in ways that we simply don't deserve, Jan- and most of that angst is completely unnecessary. The way I see, that's why we write- it's part of the pushback to the tsunami wave. Age happens, but the misery along the way doesn't have to!
I think anything that tells us how we 'should' be is problematic. Certainly, there feels like a filtering of options that is age-related as far as what society tells us we 'can' or 'should' or 'shouldn't do ... and one of the concerns I have is that some of the fighting against that, as you've articulated, leads into conflict within a group.
Personally, I find that certain clichés about aging and what we like/want as we get older absolutely apply to me (I'm going to bed earlier and more interested in reading in our hammock than being at almost any event that's going to be crowded or loud), others don't. I know others in my age bracket who feel differently.
I think, ultimately, we all have our own unique paths ... and really, the key (and one of the things I think your newsletter encourages, so thank you) is for us to continue tuning in to ourselves, our values, our wants, our needs, not these externalized 'should' messages that are often designed in a way to 'other' us so we can be manipulated in some way, shape, or form.
Having proudly passed my 70th birthday, I am definitely in my goddess years. And let me tell you, it is an enormous relief to leave behind all the angst manufactured by the ad industry, the "beauty" industry, the diet industry, and the anti-aging industry: guess what? Age happens anyway, BUT ONLY IF YOU'RE LUCKY. I don't for a moment minimize the pain of a woman passing through those harrowing years between 45 and 65. Trust me, it gets better.
Those years are awful in ways that we simply don't deserve, Jan- and most of that angst is completely unnecessary. The way I see, that's why we write- it's part of the pushback to the tsunami wave. Age happens, but the misery along the way doesn't have to!
Powerful, as always! Thank you! 💪💪
I think anything that tells us how we 'should' be is problematic. Certainly, there feels like a filtering of options that is age-related as far as what society tells us we 'can' or 'should' or 'shouldn't do ... and one of the concerns I have is that some of the fighting against that, as you've articulated, leads into conflict within a group.
Personally, I find that certain clichés about aging and what we like/want as we get older absolutely apply to me (I'm going to bed earlier and more interested in reading in our hammock than being at almost any event that's going to be crowded or loud), others don't. I know others in my age bracket who feel differently.
I think, ultimately, we all have our own unique paths ... and really, the key (and one of the things I think your newsletter encourages, so thank you) is for us to continue tuning in to ourselves, our values, our wants, our needs, not these externalized 'should' messages that are often designed in a way to 'other' us so we can be manipulated in some way, shape, or form.