Let’s Talk About Women, Aging, and the “Second Life.”
We are not aging like our grandmothers, so why should we live like them? Let us think about our grandmothers and the life that they lived and the society that they lived under. My grandmother was born in the early 1910s and she couldn’t get credit, discriminated if she got pregnant, couldn’t get a separate bank account, schools were limited to men in many universities, forced to prioritize homemaking over getting a career, and limited access to birth control and life saving abort---….Well, some things don’t change. :/
Women were expected to grow up, get married (IMMEDIATELY, if not sooner!), have kids, raise them and then…….die, I guess? There really were not any options for women after that. Just wait for the grandkids and do the childcare thing allover again.
But not us! We are even getting divorced at later ages or not get married at all. Maybe kids, maybe not. We are taking better care of ourselves, have you seen our skincare routines?
What did our grandmother use? Just Ponds cold cream and Oil of Olay basically. The more sophisticated ones used Avon. I had one grandmother give me those cute tiny lipstick samples. We are much more involved in taking care of our health with supplements, beauty routines, workout regularly (or when we can fit it into our busy schedules), we are looking younger than ever! We are just being aging better. So now what?
I call it our “Second Life.” After we finished doing our society expectations (Marriage, kids), I consider us free to live how we want. Our bodies now belong to us, and I notice a lot of women my age now getting plastic surgery as sort of like a symbol of reclaiming their bodies. I think it is wonderful. Sometimes when they are getting their post-surgery lymphatic massages, they want to give me their justification for having these procedures, and I always say that we have been altering our bodies since the first caveman picked up a sharp stone and discovered they could carve into their skin to tattoo themselves. We have the right to love and accept ourselves and if it takes a tummy tuck to do it, go for it! And call me to do your lymphatic massages!!!
So, here’s to us, ladies! Let us live our “Second Lives” to the fullest! Pursue that education, open that business, change careers if you feel the call to. I opened LymphGlo at 49, and I wish I did it sooner. Now at 51, I would say my second life is just beginning. I hope yours is too.
