The thing is when you’re over thirty things start to sag. As a woman you start to think about stuff like mortality and aging and wrinkles and what-the-hell happened to my youth? Did I pass it on my way to Bingo Night at the club?

BUT as I told my sister, there is a certain charm to growing old that modern times has buried in creams, procedures and injections.

If you take a good look at a woman over the age of fifty who takes pride in her appearance, who doesn’t wear dollops of makeup and hasn’t had a face lift or botox injections and whatever the hell you do with collagen (blah, blah, blah…) you will see a beauty that surpasses the kind you see in airbrushed magazine pictures.

A woman who is at peace with who she is and what she looks like is the definition of real beauty. Look past the wrinkles and age spots and all the other signs of living past fifty and you will see a woman whose beauty is deeply captivating.

I don’t know about you, but I am far more impressed with natural beauty than fake beauty. Sure we are all flawed, but so what? We all have things we don’t like about ourselves – even super models – but if we don’t start focussing on what we LOVE about ourselves, all those negative thoughts we have will get out of control as time goes on.

THEN we are at risk of slipping into the really unhealthy habit of finding more and more things we don’t like about ourselves until we can’t stand to look in the mirror.

The things us women do to ourselves. Seriously. Blimey, we even compare ourselves to other women our age or women younger and wish we were them. We look at photos of ourselves ten years ago and think, ‘Wow, I looked GOOD back then’. And we did. But we will look at photos of ourselves ten years from now and think the same thing, so why not feel good about ourselves right now?

So look in that mirror and say this to yourself: ‘I look GOOD!’

Say it loud: ‘I LOOK GOOD!!’ Feel it and mean it… because you DO look good.

So girls – or should I say ‘women’ – let’s wear our lives proudly in our looks. Let’s say no to eternal youth and embrace aging gracefully instead. Let’s not fall into the trap of fighting to remain young and wasting money, time and energy on anything other than facials and treatments and stuff that keeps us healthy on the outside and feeling good on the inside.

Let’s give the finger to the media and all those unrealistic beauty ads and any other crap that puts the pressure on us to look twenty-one again. We’re not twenty-one so why the hell should we look it? There is beauty in aging and I for one intend to embrace it.

By the way, you look gorgeous today!

Tracey

Me again tapping out more words of waffling wisdom on this beautiful sunny morning sitting here in my trackies sipping green tea (like you needed to know all that)…

Anyways… I wanted to share with you something that happened the other day and that seems to happen to me quite often. What happened was a man I respect and trust told me a big fat lie. I was hanging on his every word – one pen away from taking notes – when he did it.

We were talking about the internet, a subject which he knows a fair bit about, so I take him very seriously (because I am a geek and I love the internet in a very sincere and reverential way).

I was trying to think up a name for my new website. We were deep in conversation. This man (who will remain nameless – you know who you are Stephan Stavrakis you evil, evil man) turns and says to me:

‘Well, you’d better get yourself a domain name quickly, I hear they’re running low.’

And what does yours truly reply: ‘OMG! Really?’ before going into a state of mild panic, hastily yanking the thesaurus down from the bookshelf and madly flicking through it for ideas. It was truly awful.

I know what you’re thinking: As if every single domain name in the whole world could be taken. It was obviously bollocks. My excuse is that I’m open-minded and I don’t automatically think ‘what’s the chances’ when someone tells me something, so I thought: ‘Well, there’s a lot of websites out there…’

No blonde hairs on this head but I will admit to having a long-term case of gullibilitis (meaning I am extremely gullible) of which there is no cure. I will believe anything. Just ask my friends and family. Believe me, they take full advantage of it by telling me whopping great fibs all the time. They’re not very nice people.

It’s not all bad though. The great thing about having gullibilitis is that I totally enjoy stories. I don’t need a lot of convincing that dragons talk and children rule worlds. The bad thing is that people with not so great intentions try and take advantage of me. But never fear; I have a weapon against evil and it’s called the Intuitor.

The Intuitor is a bit like a lightsaber except it’s got more sparkles and makes a ‘weeeeee!’ sound when I swish it in figure eights, which is the best way to ward off malice. So fortunately I’m protected.

The Intuitor works by sensing bullshit through a high-tech gadget thingie in the handle and sending a signal to my brain under the disguise of a very faint sixth sense that tells me something isn’t quite right.

It’s hit and miss and it only usually works on villains (rarely on people I trust – which is a bummer). I think the inventor ran out of money before it was fully developed. Either that or I should pull out the instruction manual and see if there’s a button I should be pushing.

So I’m wondering if it’s just me that suffers from gullibilitis. Seriously, do you believe the crap your so-called loved ones tell you because you love and trust them? Do you have an Intuitor to ward off villains? If you do, maybe we can start a support group together.

Hey, we could meet once a month and have a newsletter! We could even get a website. But we’d better hurry. Apparently there’s a shortage of domain names, or so I hear… Speaking of which, I’d better go grab one before they’re gone. Catcha!

Tracey

P.S. Oh, by the way, I was going to talk about trust, but I waffled on a bit instead (did you notice?) Sorry about that. So stay tuned for a d&m about Joe, Jane and a deity you may or may not have heard of called God.

P.P.S. Hey, can you tweet this for me so I know the button works? You know what I’m like with this left-brain stuff. Think of it as a favour to me for providing you with all these highly use(less)ful blog posts out of the kindness of my heart because I am truly awesome and kindness oozes out of my every pore and you love me so much… Geez,I waffle on about crap, don’t I?

Stay happy, beautiful reader!

Henry James said, “Three things in human life are important. The first is to be kind. The second is to be kind. The third is to be kind.”

I couldn’t agree more. While there are plenty of other fantabulous ways to spend your time, kindness has to be the thing that brings the most joy and pleasure to my life. If someone told me I could have a million dollars but I’d have to be horrible to everyone for the rest of my life, I’d pass, and I certainly hope you would too. If we’re to make the slightest difference in the world in a positive way, then we can do it by showing a little kindness every day.

So folks, I’m not going to lecture or offer my usual off-kilter words of waffling wisdom in this week’s post. Instead, I share with you the perceptive observations of others:

“Kindness is the greatest wisdom.” Author Unknown

“Today, give a stranger one of your smiles.  It might be the only sunshine he sees all day.” H. Jackson Brown, Jr.

“Like a boomerang kindness always returns.” Author Unknown

“If you want others to be happy, practice compassion.  If you want to be happy, practice compassion.” Dalai Lama

“Don’t wait for people to be friendly, show them how.” Author Unknown

“Never look down on anybody unless you’re helping him up.” Jesse Jackson

“It’s nice to be important, but it’s more important to be nice.” Author Unknown

“Today I bent the truth to be kind, and I have no regret, for I am far surer of what is kind than I am of what is true.” Robert Brault

“If you haven’t any charity in your heart, you have the worst kind of heart trouble.” Bob Hope

“A good character is the best tombstone.  Those who loved you and were helped by you will remember you when forget-me-nots have withered.  Carve your name on hearts, not on marble.” Charles H. Spurgeon

And to finish with a chuckle…

“If you step on people in this life, you’re going to come back as a cockroach.” Willie Davis

Here’s to spreading the happiness…!

Tracey