In a world that values youth and beauty over age and experience, it can sometimes be a little difficult for those of us in our golden years to truly embrace ageing and all the wisdom and wonders that come with it. Today, we’re all about learning to love yourself regardless of your age, and feeling empowered enough to make changes to your appearance should you feel the need to. Whether you choose to book yourself in for a facelift or would rather age naturally and with grace, embracing the last 20-30 years of life with as much guts and excitement as we did in our earlier years is something that the self-love doctor definitely prescribes. Read on to find out more!
Don’t Sweat The Small Stuff
We believe that one of the biggest plus points that only comes to us in our later years is a sense of emotional intelligence that is often missing or nowhere to be found in our youth. Instead of dreading getting older, we encourage you to celebrate the wisdom and knowledge that you have acquired along your journey of life. Furthermore, ageing increases our ability to let go of negative people, situations and reactions, allowing us to deal with such feelings in more productive ways.
In a nutshell, ageing gives us the ability to give less of a damn about the small stuff and helps us focus our attention towards what matters the most — health, happiness and family.
Cherishing What Your Body Has Done For You
With the media constantly telling us that we simply aren’t good enough, it can be entirely liberating to reject that message in favour of accepting our bodies and all the wonderful things they have done for us. Your body has kept you alive for all these years, has endured pain, illness, childbirth, and much more. It has also allowed you to experience the pleasure of hugging a loved one, kissing a lover and listening to your favourite music. The simple fact is that our bodies are always changing, so instead of picking on the size, shape, and appearance of our bodies, it’s time for us to cherish the imperfect yet entirely perfect vehicle that has carried us through life thus far.
Wrinkles Show That You Have Lived
Wrinkles, laugh lines, fine lines, and everything in between are often demonised by the media and seen as something to get rid of rather than to embrace. Well…guess what? Laugh lines mean you’ve laughed. They mean you’ve loved. They mean you’ve smiled. The lines on your face represent the days, years, experiences, and events of your life. Some moments may have resulted in deeper lines or greyer hair — after all; not every moment in this life is an easy one. How we face those challenges along the way will eventually shape and mould us into the people we are today, and the type of legacy we leave behind tomorrow. Those lines and wrinkles that you hate? We see them as life experience, wisdom and a lifetime of laughter, smiles, tears and every emotion in between.
You Are The Captain of Your Own Ship
As you get older, it becomes more and more evident that the only one who is able to make you happy is yourself. The opinions of other people seem to matter less and less with age, offering a freedom that is often difficult to find in our earlier years. This freedom is one that liberates you and allows you to live life on your terms, and your terms only.
Radical acceptance and freedom of course mean different things to different people — it would be naive to think that everyone’s idea of acceptance is one that can fit into a cookie-cutter mould. For some, it may mean accepting your face and body regardless of what rhetoric the media tries to constantly shove your way. For others, it may be feeling empowered enough to make cosmetic changes to your appearance. In fact, more and more people are now seeing cosmetic surgery as a radical feminist act rather than something that is done to acquiesce. No matter what you choose, ensuring that you’re happy and healthy is paramount to embracing the later stages of life.
We only have one life, so let’s spend what’s left of it loving ourselves and enjoying the pleasures that this world has to offer us. We hope that this article has inspired you to start loving every bit of your marvellous body, no matter how wrinkly, dimpled or saggy it may be.
