“Lovely Links” is a new feature to continue the dialogues that middle-aged women are now engaging in about the amazing things that can occur at this time in our lives if we let go and grow when the time is right. While I have written about the inner psychological shifts and surprises of this journey so far, today’s links are more about feeling good about looking good.
I totally ripped off the name “lovely links” from Sally over at Already Pretty, a style blog which supports women of every age and shape. This past year I had to start wearing exclusively Birkenstock footwear because of weird gait and feet things that started to happen. So I contacted Sally and asked her for fashion advise when all you can wear are Swedish looking clog-like things, and to my pleasant surprise, she wrote right back with lots of great suggestions.
Seriously, I even have to wear them to exercise. So I now started swimming more, and am taking a water aerobics class. It took me a year to figure this all out, but adaptability and perseverance are the names of the games…
I also enjoy Une femme d’un certain age, a style blog devoted to women age 50 and over.
I am past the feelings that caused this blog post to be written, My New Super Power: Invisibility, but some of you might be at the beginning of this time in your journey and appreciate it.
But Charlotte Rampling over at That’s Not My Age makes a case for “not invisible,” and what is interesting to me is that I am now feeling on the other side of “not invisible” myself. I think there are some years of feeling just what I described in “My New Superpower…” but wow, who knew that you could come out the other side of that? Will report in as the journey unfolds…
Mary Beard, a professor in Classics at Cambridge University, is a wickedly subversive commentator on both the modern and the ancient world. Recently she appeared on the BBC as part of a panel discussion on immigration and ended up being the victim of Internet trolling and bullying because she didn’t fit someone’s image of what an older, smart woman should look like.
Older Broads Who Rock Their Shit Hardcore (a Pinterest Board)
Do let me know if you have sites and links to share!
Cate, I’m there with you on the shoes. I have very wide feet, the Dutch part of my Heinz 57 genetics, perhaps, (with Jupiter exalted in the 12th to explain it astrologically!) I can’t find anything in the woman’s shoe departments that fit properly even if it says wide. I’d like to think that means we have broad wisdom and understanding.
As for the rest of the article, I have trouble remembering that I’m supposed to be aging and am now past the Junior department. I like junior-size clothes better than the blocky things they have in the woman’s department, if I ever actually get into the store to shop. I’ve never liked most of what is on the racks. I was wearing skirts when there were none in the stores. Soon I started seeing women wearing them. I wore a ponytail to get my hair out of my face and soon started seeing long hair and ponytails coming back.
My biggest rebellion at turning 50 and now approaching 60 is the length of my hair, so I’m glad to see there are some other rebels out there. There seems be a rule that older women are supposed to have short hair. I’ve never had my hair cut short anytime voluntarily. That’s my Leo lion’s mane! I prefer to be a grown woman, rather than younger or older with stereotyping. Thanks for the articles. I read them even when I don’t comment.
That’s what I’m talking about–share those stories and perspectives! Your hair is glorious–I would never cut off a Leo’s mane like that! Thanks for telling it. Peace and Strength to you and yours! xo