It’s quite unfortunate how the beauty industry has a hold on society’s perception of aging, with the focus mostly on youthfulness. This has caused older individuals to feel neglected and cast aside. Despite being an older woman myself, I have decided to be a part of the pro-aging movement that embraces all stages of life instead of the anti-aging craze that has been widespread.
I notice that while younger women look great, we do too, and in a different way. Each person is unique and shouldn’t be compared. There are models in their 20s, 30s, and even 50s, and for a while, I found myself comparing my appearance to theirs. However, the realization struck me that I am close to 69 years old, and comparing myself with anyone else is unnecessary and unfair.
It’s essential to acknowledge our age and be proud of it, whether we chose to use cosmetic procedures or not. If you choose to use Botox, fillers or dye, it’s perfectly fine, but let’s not compare ourselves to anyone else. As for myself, I prefer not to use these methods. Instead, I’m going to appreciate every moment left and enjoy it to the fullest.
I cannot turn back the hands of time, and neither can you. Naturally, I miss having my youthful looks – having no wrinkles or dark natural hair. I could long to be twenty again, with a lifetime of second chances and avoiding the same mistakes over and over again. At the time, I wasn’t happy with the way I looked, but that has changed it’s no longer my focus.
Women, instead of competing, should come together in support of each other. We’ve broken societal norms by excelling in corporate settings, fighting for equal pay, and pursuing our dreams, but we still falter when it comes to appearance based on society’s standards. Let’s embrace our differences and choices, regardless of what that looks like, and focus on the inner beauty that comes with confidence and wisdom.
~Kat
More Discussion
There was a good discussion yesterday on Instagram regarding the fact that we seem to be obsessing over ‘aging’ and why we talk about it – all the time. Should we even talk about it? Does it even matter? I thought about it most of the day, which made me think about my hair color as well.
Have we also obsessed about that? We hashtag it, we bring it up all the time, we join the ‘silversister’ communities and make sure we are seen with our message.
I commented yesterday that I wonder if we are bringing it up so much because we are breaking norms. For many years women didn’t talk about their age and some to this day don’t want anyone to know how old they are. I’ve often wondered about that. Why? What are we hiding? Women didn’t talk about their weight. They didn’t talk about body parts and we didn’t expose much. We hid.
Moms had a hard time talking to their daughters about monthly periods and handled it carefully. What were we afraid of? Women certainly didn’t talk about sex or orgasms, not to each other and certainly not to their partners. Why not? It also made us not use proper terms like vagina, vulva, and clitoris and because of that, many women didn’t know or understand their own bodies.
Now we are in an era of openness. We are changing those old norms. We are changing what people think, and that’s a good thing. “You look good for 40, 50, 60, 70.” What does that even mean? What is 40 supposed to look like?
For years and even today, getting older was looked upon with distain and negativity. Old people were worthless and not valid.
We are all getting older. We begin the aging process the day we are born.
Maybe I mentioned my age often because I don’t look like ‘the 68’ my mother and grandmother were expected to look like….whatever that was. Maybe we are showing the world that at whatever age we are, whatever hair color we have, whatever clothes we wear that is ok and something to celebrate. We are telling the world that we are not slowing down and retiring. Maybe we want to encourage those younger than us that life is good with each decade, worth celebrating, and that love can be found again.
So here is to being 68, with natural gray hair, and wrinkles in my skin, enjoying good sex with a partner that I met at age 63.
