Aging Gracefully: Making Peace With Being a Mature Woman

What is that ideal age where beauty abounds and self-acceptance takes precedence? The correct answer lies in the past, as well as the present, and even the future. As children, we looked with dreamy eyes to when we’d become teenagers, then as teenagers, we dreamt of adulthood. Into adulthood, we reminisce about when we were younger, and how we miss those halcyon days.

The reality is that the present is the only constant we experience fully. In every age, phase, and moment of life, we find real emotions and a beautiful string of beloved memories. Our earliest memories are laden with experiences, and there exists a moment in each age to treasure. As we age, we grace the past with love, look to the future hopefully, and experience the present with an open heart.

Making peace with maturity is learning to experience age not passively as though it were passing you by, but presently as though perpetually unwrapping a gift. Taking care of your mind and taking care of your body will ensure that the present evolves from a gift into a treasure. The following are means you can explore to maximize the gifts the present has to offer.

Taking Care of the Body You Have

By now, we all know that we are what we eat. What we nourish our bodies with is what our bodies structure themselves with. Ensuring that we enjoy quality nutrients and healthy meals is what will allow our bodies to be at their peak function. There are at least three critical nutrients that are necessary and incredibly important to maintaining health after 50. Foods high in calcium keep your bones strong and tight, protein keeps your body lean and able, and vitamin B-12 keeps your mind quick and healthy.

Gently Pampering Your Skin

Our skin changes with us over the years. As we mature, so too does our skin; hormonal changes alter our skin, and as such, we should take appropriate care. Breakouts might feel embarrassing or come as a shock, but rest assured, they are preventable and totally natural. To keep our skin at its best, there are a few steps we can take. Avoiding sleeping in makeup and cleaning up before bed can keep your pores from becoming clogged and dirty.

A diligent routine, much like brushing your teeth, will only make that much more of a difference. Even applying sunscreen daily or often can keep your skin protected and moisturized, rejuvenating it and keeping it at its most brilliant. It is important to note that our diets affect our skin! It goes without saying that our skin is a part of our body, but it absolutely is. Nutritious diets and topical pampering of the skin make for your healthiest you possible.

Being Proactive With Your Health

As we age, it is inevitable that our risks for certain diseases increase. Fortunately, there are actions and practices that allow us to better prevent any adverse experiences or diseases. Unfortunately, we women are particularly at elevated risk for heart disease, and it is the number one cause of death for women in the United States. It is a pesky omnipresent phenomenon, but our diets hold the key to much of our health.

Maintaining a healthy diet and lowering cholesterol, as well as proper and semi-frequent dedicated exercise, can help aid significantly in reducing the risks for heart disease. Eliminating smoking and reducing alcohol consumption also make a world of a difference.

Seeing your doctor routinely for necessary physicals, check-ups, and screenings is a great way of having a knowledgeable relationship with yourself. As odd as that may sound, it goes to show that the better we know our bodies, the better we know ourselves. Cervical screenings are also amazingly helpful in order to prevent or assess the development of cervical cancer. Starting as early as 21, these screenings allow for peace of mind, as well as early detection for better handling of any potential cancers.

Practicing Self-Kindness and Compassion

Keeping the body healthy will irrefutably take you a long way. Keeping your mind healthy will allow you to enjoy your physical health that much more. It can feel like a titanic effort to love ourselves at times, it seems. But here is where the reality of the situation settles in.

We cannot become any younger than we already are. From the day we are born, we enter perpetual forwardness. But it comes to reason that we really should wonder, what does age mean? What is youth? Youth does not limit itself to the body, and the body is in a constant state of gradual and sudden fluctuations. The best our body ever is the best we treat it to be.

What good is a strong body if one does not appreciate it? Is an aging body less valuable if one loves it all the same, simply for its inherent beauty of being? The real fun of aging gracefully is in the word grace itself. To have goodwill towards yourself, and to accept yourself: this is aging with grace. To recognize that the best you is the previous you who made the current you possible, and to recognize the present you shaping tomorrow’s you — this is grace fulfilled.

Mindful Takeaways

Aging is inherent to life itself. We experience beauty in a multitude of ways, gathered by experiences and preserved by memories. Our bodies are our means to experiences and are worthy of being cared for. A healthy diet keeps us agile and active. Pampered skin keeps us looking at our best. Screenings and being interactive with our general health keep us in good standing.

And finally, recognizing that beauty, worth, joy, and youth are found at every present moment. To love your body, and to mindfully accept what you can and cannot change is what will remind you that aging doesn’t happen to you, you just are happening to age, and gracefully at that.

Photo by Valdemars Magone on Unsplash

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