So, I have recently began to struggle some with the things I can no longer do as well as I used to along with feeling the hurt of no longer being "cute or pretty," not that I think I ever really was but the older you get, the more you really know you're not the "cute one." Have you ever thought: “I’m fat;” “I’m old;” “I’m not enough?” For me, all the time.
I was young once. My brain sometimes forgets it no longer is. To all my female friends from 40 years and up: Most of us are going through the next phase of our lives. We're at that age when we see wrinkles, gray hair, and extra pounds. We see the cute 25-year-olds and reminisce. But we were also 25, just as they will one day be our age. We aren't the "girls in their summer clothes" anymore. What they bring to the table with their youth and zest, we bring with our wisdom and experience. We have raised families, run households, paid the bills, dealt with diseases, sadness, and everything else life has assigned us. Some of us have lost those that were nearest and dearest to us.
We are survivors: warriors in the quiet. We are women, like a classic car or a fine wine. Even if our bodies aren't what they once were, they carry our souls, our courage, and our strength.
We shall all enter this chapter of our lives with humility, grace, and pride over everything we have been through, and we should never feel bad about getting older. It's a privilege that is denied to so many.🌻
I was young once. My brain sometimes forgets it no longer is. To all my female friends from 40 years and up: Most of us are going through the next phase of our lives. We're at that age when we see wrinkles, gray hair, and extra pounds. We see the cute 25-year-olds and reminisce. But we were also 25, just as they will one day be our age. We aren't the "girls in their summer clothes" anymore. What they bring to the table with their youth and zest, we bring with our wisdom and experience. We have raised families, run households, paid the bills, dealt with diseases, sadness, and everything else life has assigned us. Some of us have lost those that were nearest and dearest to us.
We are survivors: warriors in the quiet. We are women, like a classic car or a fine wine. Even if our bodies aren't what they once were, they carry our souls, our courage, and our strength.
We shall all enter this chapter of our lives with humility, grace, and pride over everything we have been through, and we should never feel bad about getting older. It's a privilege that is denied to so many.🌻
***
Sometime ago, I began subscribing to a couple of e-newsletters: The Girl God, and Nonviolence News.
(from The Girl God)
“We live in a reversal society. For example, the idea that Eve came from Adam is a reversal. It’s ridiculous. Who could believe that? It’s contrary to all biology. But with that myth in mind, people can justify somehow the idea that God is male. And therefore that male is God. And that he’s the origin. But he’s not the origin. The Bible is full of reversals.” -Mary Daly
Quality of life, should not depend on the "quality" of the package containing it. Perfectly good cornflakes come out of a box that got dropped a couple times. But unlike consumer products, people should not be "marked down" just because the packaging is a little dinged up. Western culture, and more specifically United States culture, seems really hung up on appearances. That hangup and resultant discrimination is abundantly apparent to every middle-aged, slightly dowdy, woman who has been denied a promotion or raise, in favor of a younger colleague. The suggestions of women are frequently dismissed as "unworkable" - yet are lauded as nothing short of brilliance, when made by a male. There may be vehement denial but I would submit it is the denial of a guilty conscience. For over one hundred years, March 8th has been recognized as International Women's Day. It has been demonstrated repeatedly that when women and girls do better, everyone benefits.
The title of this piece came to me because I was feeling ignored but I knew it wasn't just me - and it isn't just women. We all have a tendency to get caught up in our own immediate microcosm and stop noticing the wonder, as well as the horror, going on around us. Yes, we need to wash our hands and substitute elbow bumps of Vulcan salutes for shaking hands. We also need to listen to people and celebrate the accomplishments of women; not assume that doctors, lawyers, or other authority figures are male; not assume that a woman is only a surrogate for some man who had "more important" things to do.
If you only focus on changing/improving two areas of your life, be mindful and be kind; if that is more than you can handle, simply be kind: that alone, will make the world a better place.
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