Just a few weeks shy of my 45th birthday. Can we take a moment to embrace the beauty, blessing and reality of aging? Society has conditioned us to believe that getting older is this big scary monster when, it’s really not. Almost 45 and I still feel very young, but I am also very conscious of the way my body is changing/aging. I took a series of photos the other day lying on my bed as the sun beamed in directly where I was laying and it got me to thinking.
I started looking through the photos and began to notice the changes I see. The most obvious, how white my hair has become. I’ve been gray so long, that’s it’s very normal to me. I began graying at 18. It was just a few strands, but in a very short time, a few turned to many. For a quick second, I considered dying them, but thought to myself, for what? Here we are years later and l love my crown! The grayer it gets, the more in love I fall.
Then I noticed the bags under my eyes. The smile lines. The wrinkling of my neck. My mama used to say, you can always tell a woman’s age by her neck and her hands, and from that day forward, I’ve been self conscious about it.
The more I picked the pics apart, the sadder I felt myself becoming because when I look in the mirror, I see how life has changed my features. I sometimes say to my kids, “sheesh I look old!”, to which they always respond, “no you don’t, mom”. As a person that post pics online, I can admit I’m extremely critical and cautious. Posting your likeness for all the world to see when some days you don’t feel your cutest is a vulnerable space.
When I edit my photos, sometimes I do smooth out fine lines and sometimes I feel like the camera captures me just right so I don’t bother.
Ladies, I know I’m not alone.
Then as I continued to go through those pics, I redirected my thoughts. I began to admire how flawless my skin is. How hydrated it looks. How my eyes sparkle in the sun. How the smile lines in my face are more defined from, SMILING. How defined my cheekbones are. This is what I will choose to see when I look in the mirror.
Aging looks different on everyone, and on everyone it’s beautiful. I truly hope that as you age you embrace the changes and beauty that comes with it.
Until next time…🦋