Why do we allow ourselves to let others make us feel as if we need to always explain our personal decisions? Each and every day we make decisions about our looks or attire or our lifestyle based on who we are and who we want to be at a particular point in time. Whether or not the decision was a “good” or a “bad” one is not for anyone else to decide and it is up to each of us to live with the choices that we make. Sometimes the disapproval is very subtle but it’s there.
Try answering a few seemingly simple questions and gauge the responses you receive. “Do you have any children?” If you are over the age of 30 and ever answered with “no” you’ve probably had to face the split second of awkward silence and then felt compelled to explain why not. “Do you have any pets?” You answer “no” and you get the same reaction. Not married or living with someone? No boyfriend? Not looking? A choice I made for over twenty years until, when I least expected it, I found my forever love at 55. Try going to all those social events and gatherings alone and see the looks you get. It never stopped me; in fact, it used to humor me.
Now the question is “Why don’t you let your hair grow out gray?” There are women (and men) of all ages who change their hair color all the time to brown, blond, black, purple, pink and blue but it seems now if you are a woman over a certain age the pressure is on for you to let your hair grow out gray. “Embrace the gray” as the saying goes. Many women are choosing to do so and they look great! I will one day but just not today. It has nothing to do with age. Heck – I am so thankful to be 68 years old I would shout it from any mountaintop.
Maybe it’s the same folks who said that you shouldn’t wear jeans over the age of 37. The bottom line is this. We should not feel pressured to live our lives according to anyone else’s agenda but our own. We do owe ourselves and those around us enough respect to honor without question each person’s personal choices and respect the choices of others – even if it is not the same one we would make. Well done, my sisters, beautiful at every age with every color hair!