Forget Your Age; Live Your Life

May 22nd, 2013

Recently I had my hair spritzed with red again, so when I entered the the Koko Fit Club this morning fit coach Amanda commented on how cute it was and wasn’t it purple last month? Near me was an elderly woman with gorgeous short, white-silver hair. She commented she liked my hair then said, “Imagine an old woman like me walking around with color like that in my hair.” I replied, “Nonsense,” and proceeded to tell her about a first grade teacher in my school, older than me, who had beautiful silver hair like hers. When she couldn’t do blonde highlights anymore because of the gray, she would have pink, blue, or purple on the front of her hair. We all loved it and so did the kids.

I went to my machine and began my workout, but my mind stayed in the conversation. This woman reminded me of a goddess necklace I bought during my first month of retirement. On the back was engraved: “Forget your age, live your life.” That necklace reminded me that my retirement age wasn’t going to place rules and limitations on what I did with the second half of my life.

Recently, a young college boy on my Facebook page put a random post saying “I hate when old people put colors in their hair.” I don’t know if he meant me or not, but who was he to make rules about what people of any certain age should do with their hair or clothes? Now, mind you, I wouldn’t go into Forever 21 and buy a mini-skirt and pair it with four inch heels because that would be terribly uncomfortable and not fun at all. But I would go into Forever 21 and buy a pair of comfy black and white print leggings and pair it with a bright yellow sweater and some cute boots, because that is both fun and comfortable. The name of the store is Forever 21, not Under 21.

If something is comfortable and fun and makes you smile when you look in the mirror, by all means, go for it. Life is too short to never let out who you really are. I learned through Bikram yoga that you are never too old, never too tired, never too sick, and especially never too scared to get out there and be who you are at any age. Stop letting the unwritten rules of society, which are only people’s opinions, get in the way of you being fully happy in your own skin.

If you want to write a book, stop worrying if it’ll be good enough – just write it. If you always wanted to sit in a field and paint, pick up the brush and go for it. If you want to start a blog and find your voice, go to WordPress.com and begin today. If you like wearing your jeans with pearls, who says you can’t? If you want a little red or pink in your hair, the last time I checked at my hairdresser you didn’t have to get a permission slip from your kids.

The saddest thing to me would be to find myself in the last months of my life, looking back at the person I wish I had the courage to be. I figure I have close to thirty more years left on this earth and I plan to spend every minute of it being truly who I am, not who others think I should be. If that means doing the writing and illustrating I always wanted to do, then I’m going to do it whether it’s pro-standard or not. If it means doing it in cute boots, with a shock of red or pink in my hair, then I’m going to do it in the most colorful way I know how.

I think it’s important to look in the mirror every morning before you start your day and really like the person who is leaving the house. Create your look. Fall in love with it. Own it – whether you’re five or fifty-five. Then go out each day into the world and do what you do with confidence in who you are.

As a teacher I met all kinds of little beings. I always sought to make them feel special, even if they didn’t follow the rules or follow the crowd, and instill a confidence in them for who they are. They were five. It should be no different at fifty-five.

That’s a big part of creating your own happy life. Take it from one who spent time on both sides of the fence. I once let a person get close to me and steal every part of me that was me and make me feel I was “wrong”. That will never happen again. In the words of Kelly Clarkson, “I came back swingin’ “.

So…