This Is Not Your Mother’s 50’s

Back in August of 2011 when I celebrated half a century of living, I didn’t really feel like my age accurately matched any other aspect of my life. After sharing my thoughts and feelings with many of my peers who were also facing the same milestone, I realized I wasn’t alone in that strange “you’re middle-aged only on paper” feeling. So I began branding this new perspective on my age group as “This is not your Mother’s 50’s.” This past August 11th I was blessed to be able to celebrate 57 years of life!

The only thing that feels anywhere near middle-aged or old are my knees, and I’m not sure that’s even attributed to age, rather the fact that I was highly active and athletic most of my younger life, and heavily into exercise as an adult, which was inevitably going to cause knee issues as I got older. By human nature people have to put a title on everything or everyone and be able to “place” them somewhere. Like when people find out that I don’t have children, after finding out how old I am, and their onslaught of questions to get to some kind of reason, to find which box to put me in… the “she physically couldn’t have children” box, or the “she oddly never wanted children” box, which only leads to more questioning. If I were 34 their reasonings would be different. How many times have you heard the phrase “age is just a number?” That may be true for how one feels about themselves, however, it has always been much more than just a number, especially in the minds of those who dare ask the question “How old are you?” The answer provides them with a definition of who you are, who you’ve become, what you’ve accomplished, whether you were/are a success or not. Once they know a little bit about you and are finally able to associate a number with it, their perception of you is formulated. That’s the way it used to be. In the world we live in now? Not so much. I believe it’s begun to turn a bit. Today you have women in their 80’s participating in body building competitions, people starting businesses in their late 50’s, seniors in their golden years getting married for the first time, and middle-agers who are adopting babies and creating their own version of family. And many women don’t look what most believe they should look like at their ages. People tell me all the time that I don’t look my age at all. I feel like I’m in great company. A few of my age-defying Shero favs…

While a lot of my well-maintained exterior is strictly DNA, which I certainly thank God for and can’t take any of the credit for.  But a substantial portion of my preservation, both external and internal, is in how purposeful I’ve been in taking care of myself. The first thing people ask me when then find out how old I am is what do I do? So here we go… I try to get at least 7 hours of sleep at night. I workout for 20 minutes every weekday morning. I drink tons of water. I don’t drink soda, and limit my alcohol intake significantly. I try to eat decently in moderation; limiting and monitoring carbs, beef and pork, as well as fried foods. My tough spot is sugar… Hi my name is Ingrid Bohannon and I am definitely a sugarholic! Haha!!! I avoid cigarette smoke at all cost. And I take care of my skin. I’ve been a bit fanatical about this since my teen years. I never sleep in make-up. And finally, I try to stay as de-stressed as possible. I pray and do affirmations that help with the worry factor. My discipline in some of these areas isn’t what it used to be. I could probably eat better and engage in a different workout that’s better suited for me in this time in my life. I’m working on it 🙂 Part of getting older is that your body begins to change internally. (I won’t even start on the external changes, geesh!) I literally have to stop eating as much sugar if I want to stay alive, and salt and dairy are big no-no’s too the older I get. My workouts have to be less-intensive than they once were, focusing more on strengthening and toning. I haven’t sought any aging combatants like fillers, botox or surgery to slow down the process, so the skin I’m in hasn’t been altered. However, as a “girlie-girl” I happily take advantage of the wonderful tools of hair dye and make-up to assist in my comfortability of this aging thing! One thing is for sure, you have to be positively adaptable to change because it’s inevitable. I think this is what the phrase “aging gracefully” means.

I will say, this birthday was particularly difficult, as I’m now just three years shy of 60. Yikes! How did this happen?! I think I’ll feel a little better about it once I accomplish just a few more things, and that’s coming. For sure though, I’m committed to making the most of it all, and living my best life at each stage in the game, so thankful for feeling fantastic in mind, body and spirit. Happy Birthday to me!