October is my favorite month not only because it’s the month of my birth but also because it personifies fall. Cooler weather, pumpkins, and vibrant coastal sunsets are a few of the things I love about October. For the past couple of years, I gleefully and purposefully planned solo, overseas trips during October to celebrate another orbit around the sun. This year, however, I didn’t. While each of those trips was special in unique ways, and I treasure the memories I created away from home, I missed celebrating my birthday with my family. This year, we will all celebrate together during a short, weekend trip to a local destination.
Since the Covid years, I have been playing catchup on international travel. And boy did I have a lot of catching up to do! Thanks to my father who had the travel bug, I’d seen much of Europe by the time I was 7 years old. As an adult, I made it a goal and a custom to visit a new country every year. Although I opted to stay home this year for my birthday, I plan to travel overseas at the end of the year instead. I am still considering the destination.
Am I Really This Old?
Filled with gratitude and a newly discovered depth to my spirituality, I have been eagerly anticipating my birthday. Hard to believe, but I’m on the verge of turning 72 years old, something only relatives and close friends know. I am no longer hiding my age by omission or wishing I were 20 years younger. While I have never bought into the social pressure and mindset of trying to look younger through artificial means, I prefer to age gracefully and naturally. Which doesn’t mean I am ready to let the gray take over my naturally dark brown hair!
Granted, I have always taken care of myself physically and emotionally. I am forever grateful to my mother who was decades ahead of her time in the 1960s, researching nutrition, attending seminars on healthy foods, and forbidding my sister and me from eating processed foods and consuming too much sugar. Combined with good genetics, a healthful lifestyle is at the core of maintaining my “youthful appearance” into my 60s and 70s. Other than an arthritic left knee and a bit of arthritis in both thumbs, I feel awesome! If I say so myself, I look damn good for my age.
Still, a wholistic approach to health and longevity is key. Weight training, hiking, dancing and consuming healthy food have done wonders for me physically, plus I am alcohol free now for 10 months. But without daily meditation, reading and recognition of something more powerful than myself, I would not be the person I am today. The persistent pursuit of a spiritual path has added a new dimension to my overall wellbeing. I am neither trying nor hoping to live forever, but rather seeking to live vibrantly, partaking of all that this world has to offer.
Ageing Gracefully
Of course, I am not naïve to think that I look and feel the same way I did at 25 or even 40. That would be ridiculous. I may get tired faster and not recover as quickly as I did 30+ years ago, but I’m still as physically strong as I was back in the day. It’s all about a commitment to lifting heavy combined with a good attitude and lots of gratitude. I certainly wouldn’t want to be 25 again, lacking in confidence, with limited wisdom and worldliness. I relish my wisdom and confidence, gained only with age and experience. And I wouldn’t trade it for the opportunity to be a 25-year-old for even a day.
Most women I know accept getting older with grace; it’s a natural part of life, even when bombarded by social media beauty “influencers” trying to convince us otherwise. Aiming to appear 25 when you’re 60 is comical at best and the more plastic surgery one gets, the more plastic surgery one seeks. It’s never enough when pursuing the illusion of youth. That ideal youthful image—perpetuated by Hollywood and social media—is ultimately unattainable and distinctively irrational.
So, let’s all celebrate ourselves, whatever age we are and however young we are at heart. Stay the course, keep the faith and remember that FAITH stands for Finding Answers in the Heart.