Earlier this month, a well-known company faced scrutiny for their ad, which promoted their services in order for menopausal women to look in their 20s. As I often do, I jumped to the comments section, where I saw many women my age outraged at the suggestion. It took me a minute to realize why I’m personally so upset with this message, and it finally came to me – it’s a f*cking privilege to age! It’s a privilege to get older, to experience life with its tumultuous ups and downs, to earn every single one of those wrinkles and smile lines and to carry them with pride.
A moment of realness here.. I treasure my cosmetologist and enjoy my monthly (and at times more frequent) visits to him. My favorite thing about him? When we first met and discussed non-invasive and non-surgical procedures for my 44 (at the time) year-old-face – his comment to me was that our goal was not to make me look younger, but to make me look my best for my age. That’s what made me trust and appreciate him, and made me a loyal client for the past 3 years. We don’t try to erase my expression or smile lines, those tell a story and I wouldn’t trust anyone that would want to make me look like a blank canvas.
It’s especially important for me to reinforce this message of ‘aging is a privilege’ as we approach October, Breast Cancer Awareness Month and a time that I always feel is important for me to speak about my own journey. Ten years ago, when I was diagnosed with breast cancer at the young, beautiful and vibrant age of 37, I faced my own mortality. At that time, all I wanted to do was survive, to see the future, to grow old with my husband and to see my children grow and thrive. I still do. During and after my treatment, I had a lot of time to reflect on this ‘new’ life I was given, and I made a promise to myself that I will never take anything for granted again, especially another birthday. I decided that I will no longer have the ‘birthday blues’, I will no longer complain about getting older and I stuck to that promise. I treasure every year, I treasure every memory and I consider it an absolute privilege to experience this beautiful life in my gracefully aging body that I work very hard to keep in-tune!
I often talk about how my road post-treatment led me to health coaching. I first worked on myself, understanding what it is I needed to feel and be at my best and soon after created YourCoach, through which we now provide health coaching services to thousands of clients and members. As health coaches, we have a great responsibility to help those who seek our help, desperate to be better, feel better. We are certainly NOT there to take advantage of them at their lowest and to push an idea that is not only absurd, but also goes against everything this profession stands for. Health coaches are there to help their clients break negative patterns, and for this well-known company to suggest that we should be anything else other than the best versions of ourselves is absolutely counterintuitive and dangerous behavior.
I digress. This is not about ‘that’ company or any other company. This is about you and me. This is about us taking each day and making the best of it. It’s about understanding that aging is a privilege that many weren’t given. With age comes its own beauty, wisdom and understanding and I, for one, carry each one of my 47 years with much pride.