30

I am turning 30 next week. I am actually surprised at how excited I am. Don't get me wrong, 29 was a bitch of a birthday. I was depressed for a whole year. I couldn't figure it out, because I thought 30 would be the bad one. Leading up to 29 I could not stop thinking about getting older, life and death, mortality. Granted, a close friend of my family was terminally ill, and that may have added to the questioning but it was just a bad year overall.
Now turning 30 is the opposite. I feel light and excited. I think 29 was a mourning year for the passing of my 20's. It was ok to be sad, because that person I was is gone. This new person emerging is older and wiser. She does not hold all the answers, but she has a better understanding of life.
30 is a new beginning, a chance to change things or leave them the way they are. To try something new, to explore who I am and to relish in what I have done. Yes, there will be wrinkles and grey hairs that mark the milestones, but they will remind me of what my life has been. I cannot wait to meet the person I am becoming.
30 is going to be a great decade!

The Beauty of Aging

I asked my good blogger friend Miruspeg to do a guest post for me. I think she is so wonderful, and she always has such great insights into life. Please enjoy, then check out her blog of wisdom at Middle Age Ramblings. Thank you Pegs for doing me the honour!

I have been asked to give my thoughts on beauty, aging and becoming comfortable in my own skin.

I feel very lucky and blessed – no I really do!!! I will be 58 in a few weeks yet I don’t “feel” old and even though my face and body have lost much of it’s elasticity I still “feel” the same on the inside as I did when I was in my 20’s.

At nearly 58 years of age, I can say that I am a much more confident woman than I was even ten years ago. While I don’t necessarily exude self confidence in every situation and every moment, I am finally comfortable in my own skin. I definitely was not comfortable in my 20’s or 30’s. I guess the journey began in my 40’s.

I think that aging is incredible and I hope that someday as a culture we will grow to understand this a little more. It seems that all the messages in the media are about the glorification of youth. It’s all about how to look younger, how to chase our youth. Hardly anyone is talking about the beauty of aging. No one is talking about what a gift it is to allow ourselves to be right where we are supposed to be.

Another fortunate aspect of my life is I am a traveller so I get to wander the world meeting all different, amazing, delightful people. The definition of beauty does definitely vary from culture-to-culture, ethnicity-to-ethnicity. For example, in many African tribes, women of larger proportions are viewed as more attractive than a woman who would be considered normal or underweight in our societies.

Beauty is subjective. Physical beauty is one thing, but you know the saying: “Ugly is to the bone”. I have met many beautiful people, until they open their mouth! I hope one day western society evolves past the looks part and want much more than that. Real beauty is far beyond the beauty that we see physically, it's from within.

Beauty on the outside can be taken away in an instant...skin cancer, fire, car accident....our character and personality stay with us our whole life. So lets all concentrate on making ourselves shine on the inside!