Face It: Growing old gracefully

Watching the Today Show is one of my every day morning rituals. I was getting ready for work, sitting in front of my makeup mirror while putting on mascara, when I saw the segment about the book Face It: What Women Really Feel as Their Looks Change. I put down my mascara wand and was glued to the T.V. Two former models wrote this book about what beauty means to women of all ages. They discussed their thoughts on how society doesn't teach us about beauty with growing older. How do we grow older gracefully if we never discuss this?

Growing older as a woman is a much needed topic. I believe that acceptance of where you are in life is key.

And then one of the authors talked about her modeling days. She was only fifteen when she started to feel like she was aging. She was on a photo shoot with another model who was only two years older then her. After the pictures were taken another model came over to give some advice. Something about how she only had a few good years left and enjoy it while it lasted.

The model was aging at the ripe age of fifteen!

I also identify with these two quotes from their book. It's almost as if the authors are speaking directly to me.

"Take back that power and you will feel more beautiful. Our culture has given beauty power over women. We are told who and what is beautiful. We know that youth is beautiful. Most people see babies as beautiful. But grandmothers can be beautiful as well. Some of the most beautiful women in the world are those who smile, engage and appear happy at any age. If you take back the power of what makes you feel attractive, you will become more attractive to yourself and others."

And

"Put your beauty in your identity, not your identity in your beauty. Your identity is made up of many aspects of yourself"

We don't often hear that our identity is made up of many different aspects and until we grow older. It's then that we realize we had a lot tied up in our looks.

Change our definition of beauty?

I finished watching the Today Show and felt torn. I wondered if I should continue to put my mascara on after being re-taught this lesson or stop what I was doing. I decided to continue because I know how I feel about beauty and what I want to teach others. Can I get a hall pass since I sat down and wrote this post about Face It! What are some of your thoughts about growing older gracefully?