3 Links To Make You Proud of Your Age
A brilliant article in appreciation of aging appears in the September 2017 issue of Allure magazine written by Editor-in-Chief Michelle Lee. It’s a must-read! Lee has already said it all, but as I always say “Age Doesn’t Matter!” Get an issue today and add her article to your inspiration board. Everything she says is important, but I will try to give you some key ideas here:
- When we use the term “anti-aging,” whether we know it or not, we’re subtly reinforcing the message that aging is a condition we need to battle.
- If there’s one inevitability in life, it’s that we’re getting older. Allure produced a video recently that featured 64-year-old gray-haired Jo Johnson, who declared that aging should be appreciated because “some of us don’t get an opportunity to age.” Growing older is a wonderful thing because it means that we get a chance, every day, to live a full and happy life.
- Together we can start to change the conversation and celebrate the beauty in all ages.
In the same issue, Helen Mirren appears on the cover and is interviewed by Lee (see version of the article here). She says Mirren is:
proving that you can be outspoken yet respected by so many disparate groups if you stay wholly true to yourself.
In recent years, the term “authenticity” has been so maddeningly overused that it often fails to mean anything anymore. But Mirren has earned her reputation for authenticity, radiating a sense of humor and a passion for fun that’s often — unfairly — referred to as youthful (because, really, does fun die at 40?)…
Our linguistic discussion leads to another term: I tell her that Allure is making a resolution to stop saying “anti-aging,” a move she firmly stands behind. In fact, she says that when L’Oréal approached her to work with the company, she made the same point, and luckily, the company was already on it. “I said, ‘This word “anti-aging” — we know we’re getting older. You just want to look and feel as great as you can on a daily basis.’ ”
…The truly ageless quality Mirren possesses is that she’s not trying to act like she’s 40. She’s actively shifting the paradigm of what it means to be in one’s 70s in Hollywood and society in general, but without a preachy agenda.
Meanwhile, InStyle magazine’s September issue has an article “on growing older but never totally growing up.” It’s called “What’s My Age Again?” by Emma Freud.
When her mother turned 90, she said, “I don’t want people knowing how old I am—they’ll write me off.”
Ms. Freud’s response was:
…if you’ve arrived at 90 with your health and your faculties intact—not to mention your insistence on sunbathing in a bikini and your refusal to wear clothes to bed—surely that is something to celebrate rather than hide. You fought for female liberation in the ’60s—you can’t now be part of the conspiracy that women are valid only when they are young. We’ve moved on from that. If people are standing up and openly saying “I’m LGBTQI” or “I have mental-health issues,” then surely we should say “I’m old” with pride?
Do you feel that you shouldn’t do or say certain things after a certain age? Do you wear what you want? Let us know in the comments below.
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XO, Angie
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