I adore my personal projects, I do them as they speak to my heart, and ultimately every single personal project has changed my life. Janice is a Water Warrior and Amanda, and I will share her Water Warrior post in the coming week or so. This post is however a personal post for me, inspired by more pool time yesterday with Janice and other Water Warriors.
Age is on my radar. I don’t know if the Google Man in the sky has computed my age and decided to flood my life with age-related issues or you attract what you focus on, but regardless, I am very aware of the process of age-related issues. I recently realised I had entered Perimenopause, but the more I find out about it, the more I realise that I have been dealing with severe symptoms for several years. Friends and family are getting older and over the last few years, I have seen people lose the ones they love, much loved friends move into care and several loved ones in my circle deal with a shocking increase of debilitating ailments.
At 52 years of age, I am proud of my age, how I got here, and every single line, mark and scar on my face and body because each of those things are storylines and I love my life and how hard I have fought to get there. I am also painfully aware of how ageing is a privilege, and I am grateful for every single day, every single lap around the sun.
I consider myself to be at the halfway point of my life and I plan on another fabulous 50 years. I want to drive Archie, and Rissie up the wall and continue to follow my heart and do what I love until the day I die.
I adore every year I have on this planet, and I respect those with more years than me. For every year is filled with stories, wisdom, experience, and compassion.
I hear phrases like “act your age”, “ageing gracefully”, “you can’t teach an old dog new tricks”, “you look young/good for your age”, “mutton dressed up like lamb”, and “she is too old to dress like that/act like that/look like that” and they are a reminder how many misconceptions we have about the whole idea of ageing.
I am not interested in those misconceptions. What I am interested in doing is ageing like I live. With joy. Inspired by the amazing Janice who is learning how to swim and had just completed her first lap of backstroke, I intend on ageing joyfully as every day we have is a gift.
This portrait was taken as part of The Water Warrior Project with Amanda Rudge from Swimming in the Field.
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