Why hitting 50 has never been more fun
2014-04-09
Apparently, we all now want to charge over the top into our 50s – and no wonder
By Judith Woods
How tremendously cheering to learn that women in their 50s are happier, more self assured and more confident than their younger, and generally-speaking firmer counterparts.
Yay! I’m not there yet (not for decades, as my youngest, bless her Hello Kitty socks really does believe I’m 29) but it’s always good to know the lay of the land before heading blindly over the top.
Apparently one reason why ladies d’un certain age feel so darn good about themselves is that they have stopped fretting about their bodies, which presumably frees up more headspace for improving literature and spa breaks and learning circus skills.
And about time too. There’s not a mature woman alive who hasn’t looked at a photo of themselves aged 22 and winsome or 35 and poised or 48 and magnificent and wondered why on earth they frittered so much energy worrying about their thighs and lurching miserably from one insane cabbage soup or high protein or low self-esteem diet to another, when they were perfectly gorgeous they way they were.
I’m not mocking. Not at all. Mea culpa; it’s the agony and the ecstasy of being a woman in a society where we are judged – and, even more exactingly, judge ourselves – on our looks.
It was Bette Davis who acidly remarked that “getting old is not for sissies”, but I would suggest being young isn’t always a walk in the park either.
Youth is precious and fleeting and fabulous. But try telling that to the average 20-something crippled with insecurity and self-doubt.
If we’d known then what we know now, we’d all have taken more chances, or fewer chances or different ones at any rate and had given ourselves a break and loved our bottoms a bit more not sweated the small stuff, endlessly.
But hey, that’s the upside of growing older. And if the trade-off for wisdom and the sense of who-gives-a-fig freedom is a less than pert derriere or a few extra laughter lines, well ladies, it’s a price well worth paying.