Another relatable and truth-filled post - thank you. In regard to your question/prompt, it's upto us whether we pay attention to what advertisers and society as a whole think about how we look. We don't have to buy into it.
A mother who was in her 40s and whose son plays on my son's football team died suddenly a couple of weeks ago. It's been a jolting reminder that getting "old" is not promised to us, it is a blessing and just how irrelevant other people's opinions of our appearance are. As you say, we need to embrace the life told by the lines on our faces.
Wait until you look in the mirror and see your mother staring back at you. Then again, that depends on the relationship you have with your mother. As for advertising, the forties is when the advertisers can really prey upon your fear of aging and death. Everything in your life is pointing to the slowdown in your social and especially your career relevance. If you have a vibrant career, perhaps you're watching your company, unless you own it, hiring younger people who are full of themselves and the snark that goes with that hubris. If you've had one of those haphazard careers made up of a train of jobs leading nowhere that signify a variety of occupations, you're watching your options shrink. That's scary and has very little to do with laugh lines and crows-feet. Luckily, if you can endure the BS until you reach your 60s, you'll suddenly have this magical moment when you feel like you don't have to impress anybody. "Fuck-em!" That's freedom, dear friend. Celebrate and let it spur your power.
Absolutely aging is a gift, when you consider the secret to eternal youth is still a secret and the only other option, it’s a huge and fabulous gift to be cherished and nurtured every day!
Sometimes it is a shock to see our faces, to really look I mean, and believe me I have twenty years plus on you and the changes are more pronounced but I still see the girl that made them and I thank the gods for being able to regardless that she looks older!
I love this post, I love that you are proud of your lines... don’t ever stop! 🌸🍃
This is a timely post for me. I recognise a lot of what you’re saying here.
There’s a copy of women’s health with a famous 50 year old on the cover. She’s athletic and fit and made me feel less.
I’m reading a book that my friend Suzy Walker championed on here with 50 stories from 50 women over 50 and it’s so so empowering!! 💖. I feel like it depends what messages we get on which days but I know for me I don’t feel 100% comfortable in my #mumlife ways and I am challenging myself to come home to a place of more peace. ✨🙌🏻
Yes, I agree that it depends on the day and how we are feeling, absolutely. I also try to remember how wonderful my grandmother was and how she aged gracefully and she really and truly just loved her family. I aspire to be more like her 🥰
Oh I feel this Mackenzie! I actually wrote about something similar a few months ago on my Substack when I was in a place where I really felt the pressure to look a certain way and how I felt I no longer looked like the way I think I should look. I like your way of reframing the "earning of the lines" and appreciating the times of our lives as we move through the ages. For me I like to ask myself whether it will really matter when I actually am old? Will I look back on my life and analyse my face throughout the ages? Or will I remember the experiences I had, the memories I made, disappointed in my younger self for worrying so much about what I look like? We can't escape it so we may as well just roll with it the best we can 💜💫
‘For me I like to ask myself whether it will really matter when I actually am old? Will I look back on my life and analyse my face throughout the ages? Or will I remember the experiences I had, the memories I made, disappointed in my younger self for worrying so much about what I look like?’ Yes!!! This exactly! Life is too short to worry about where the lines are landing on our face. Those lines are showing that we are living life to the fullest 🤗😘
Loved reading this and your protest against lines being seen negatively. I too have caught myself in the mirror or in photos lately and it can be a little unsettling to see time passing, but I would much rather have an interesting face that tells the story of a life than a mask. We will look back on this time of life and see the beauty I’m sure, so I am trying to appreciate the way I am now without trying to change it. And yes to honouring ageing as a privilege. Thank you for sharing your feelings and opening discussion on this...
Thank you Lyndsay 🧡 I really love what you said here: ‘I would much rather have an interesting face that tells the story of a life than a mask. We will look back on this time of life and see the beauty I’m sure, so I am trying to appreciate the way I am now without trying to change it’. This... 👏🏼🥰
Another relatable and truth-filled post - thank you. In regard to your question/prompt, it's upto us whether we pay attention to what advertisers and society as a whole think about how we look. We don't have to buy into it.
A mother who was in her 40s and whose son plays on my son's football team died suddenly a couple of weeks ago. It's been a jolting reminder that getting "old" is not promised to us, it is a blessing and just how irrelevant other people's opinions of our appearance are. As you say, we need to embrace the life told by the lines on our faces.
I really liked your comment Julie. Thank you for sharing 💛
Wait until you look in the mirror and see your mother staring back at you. Then again, that depends on the relationship you have with your mother. As for advertising, the forties is when the advertisers can really prey upon your fear of aging and death. Everything in your life is pointing to the slowdown in your social and especially your career relevance. If you have a vibrant career, perhaps you're watching your company, unless you own it, hiring younger people who are full of themselves and the snark that goes with that hubris. If you've had one of those haphazard careers made up of a train of jobs leading nowhere that signify a variety of occupations, you're watching your options shrink. That's scary and has very little to do with laugh lines and crows-feet. Luckily, if you can endure the BS until you reach your 60s, you'll suddenly have this magical moment when you feel like you don't have to impress anybody. "Fuck-em!" That's freedom, dear friend. Celebrate and let it spur your power.
Absolutely aging is a gift, when you consider the secret to eternal youth is still a secret and the only other option, it’s a huge and fabulous gift to be cherished and nurtured every day!
Sometimes it is a shock to see our faces, to really look I mean, and believe me I have twenty years plus on you and the changes are more pronounced but I still see the girl that made them and I thank the gods for being able to regardless that she looks older!
I love this post, I love that you are proud of your lines... don’t ever stop! 🌸🍃
Appreciate your words Susie 😊
This is a timely post for me. I recognise a lot of what you’re saying here.
There’s a copy of women’s health with a famous 50 year old on the cover. She’s athletic and fit and made me feel less.
I’m reading a book that my friend Suzy Walker championed on here with 50 stories from 50 women over 50 and it’s so so empowering!! 💖. I feel like it depends what messages we get on which days but I know for me I don’t feel 100% comfortable in my #mumlife ways and I am challenging myself to come home to a place of more peace. ✨🙌🏻
Yes, I agree that it depends on the day and how we are feeling, absolutely. I also try to remember how wonderful my grandmother was and how she aged gracefully and she really and truly just loved her family. I aspire to be more like her 🥰
Oh I feel this Mackenzie! I actually wrote about something similar a few months ago on my Substack when I was in a place where I really felt the pressure to look a certain way and how I felt I no longer looked like the way I think I should look. I like your way of reframing the "earning of the lines" and appreciating the times of our lives as we move through the ages. For me I like to ask myself whether it will really matter when I actually am old? Will I look back on my life and analyse my face throughout the ages? Or will I remember the experiences I had, the memories I made, disappointed in my younger self for worrying so much about what I look like? We can't escape it so we may as well just roll with it the best we can 💜💫
‘For me I like to ask myself whether it will really matter when I actually am old? Will I look back on my life and analyse my face throughout the ages? Or will I remember the experiences I had, the memories I made, disappointed in my younger self for worrying so much about what I look like?’ Yes!!! This exactly! Life is too short to worry about where the lines are landing on our face. Those lines are showing that we are living life to the fullest 🤗😘
Loved reading this and your protest against lines being seen negatively. I too have caught myself in the mirror or in photos lately and it can be a little unsettling to see time passing, but I would much rather have an interesting face that tells the story of a life than a mask. We will look back on this time of life and see the beauty I’m sure, so I am trying to appreciate the way I am now without trying to change it. And yes to honouring ageing as a privilege. Thank you for sharing your feelings and opening discussion on this...
Thank you Lyndsay 🧡 I really love what you said here: ‘I would much rather have an interesting face that tells the story of a life than a mask. We will look back on this time of life and see the beauty I’m sure, so I am trying to appreciate the way I am now without trying to change it’. This... 👏🏼🥰