We were taught from a very young age that getting old was a negative thing, especially for a woman. It is a frightening feeling when we find a new gray hair, a new wrinkle, or a new physical discomfort because they put it into our heads that for a woman, aging means beauty in decline, a circumstance that we must avoid at all costs as if with creams and treatments we could stop the passage of time.
I know that everything you do to look and feel better is good. Loving yourself beyond your physique does not mean that you stop taking care of yourself, loving yourself, and doing for your body what YOU consider is best for you and makes you happy, know what nourishes you and fills you with vitality. My conflict is that each birthday has become torture for us, especially after 40. You reach an age where it is true, that every day it is more difficult to lose those extra pounds, and no matter how many filters and botox you put on there will always be that wrinkle that reminds you that decay has already begun.
I am writing these lines on my arrival at a new lap around the sun, 43 to be more precise, or as a friend recently pointed out to me, where lap 44 begins. But this time I have decided to look at it differently. How about we start loving ourselves even more the older we get? To be more clear, what if instead of concentrating all that energy on loving our appearance at all costs and apparently stopping the passage of time in our body, we concentrated on fiercely loving our soul with everything that the years bring?
I’m talking about loving your intuition. The one you no longer doubt because it has been precisely the years that have taught you to listen to it.
I’m talking about that instead of fighting with the scars on your skin, you face those wounds that have not healed inside you so that you discover that strength that has always been within you and that only gets stronger with the passage of time.
I am talking about loving your maturity, the one that today leads you to make decisions without blinking, because now you decide with determination, even if you make a mistake, and it is precisely aging that has made you so wise that you no longer look back, step where you step.
I speak of loving and going for those dreams that you have not yet fulfilled because over the years you know that your soul continues to dream and that your happiness depends on it and not on what others dream for you.
I’m talking about loving that self-confidence that you’ve acquired growing older so you don’t worry about what others think, and do what you want because you want to, because you can, and because you don’t care what others say.
I’m talking about loving that courage that today allows you to face whatever life throws at you because by now you know what it’s like to fall and get up more than once.
I’m talking about loving the moments of solitude that no longer scare you, but on the contrary, give you strength and rebuild you.
I am talking about loving that absolute independence in every way, which allows you to share your love with whoever you want because it is your choice to share it, and because with age, you understand that your happiness only depends on you.
And yes, I’m also talking about loving your body while you age, thanking it for what it has done for you because growing old with your body as it looks is a privilege.
Love yourself more intensely with each passing day, and celebrate your age, your life, that heart that continues to beat and that allows you to continue here breathing and growing, sharing your world with the people who make you happy, doing what you are passionate about, don’t care about the new wrinkle or the new gray hair, because your beauty is more and more sublime each day, it is what you radiate from within. So let it shine.
