Learn How to Reframe Your Age into Something Magical!

artwithelida
Dec 11
3 min read

Turning fifty feels like I’m stepping into a new era and, to be honest, it hasn’t been that exciting. The truth is I don’t feel young anymore. I’ve moved from being called “miss” to being referred to as “ma’am.”

As I was walking down the street in Paros, a car drove by and I heard a whistle. A li’l grin spread over my face and I thought, “I’ve still got it.” Then, I caught a glimpse of the girl across the street, much younger, sporting a crop top, and dangling a cigarette as she strutted her perfectly toned, tanned, and gorgeous body down the street. I dropped my head in defeat and raised the white flag.

I’ve discovered that my sex-appeal has a lot to do with how I perceive my self worth. All of a sudden, it’s like I’ve become invisible. Instead of being that hot young thang, I worry that I’m turning into an old hag or worse, that young people will whisper, “Isn’t she cute?” in that condescending way.

I used to never feel inferior. I could hold my own. I was confident in how I looked and, more importantly, in who I was. But turning fifty has me rattled, so I started to look at the women I know who can inspire me that the best is yet to come.

Enter Jane, who has run the Aegean Center of Arts in Paros, Greece, for over forty years. Her husband, a professional photographer, and she own a studio that is sacred for artistic souls to find their voices or expand their practices. They preserve this space for people to come, learn, reflect and grow. She’s got this wild, thick gray hair that cascades below her shoulders and these steel grey/blue eyes that pierce through the most brazen soul. A self-taught artist who quit art school because they weren’t teaching useful, new techniques or giving any real information on how to create, she earned the nickname, Jane the Rebellion. She’s taught thousands of students how to paint using the techniques she’s developed from her hard work. She told me that her fifties were her favorite decade because she had the freedom and energy to create her best art. She is so vibrant, excited to teach and paint, and I admire her.

Or I remembered Elizabet in Antibe,France. Elizabet is at the height of her career in her seventies, creating these large sculptures about love using bronze, rocks and other materials. She had learned painting and jewelry design before, but now she was sculpting. She was also about to get married for the first time in her life. She was giddy about her beau and the idea of marriage. It was inspiring to see someone thriving creatively and personally at that stage of life. She told me I was soooo young and to enjoy this new phase.

And then I reflected back on Marcela, my sculpting teacher in Mexico, who had been a professional dancer and now was mastering welding and sculpting in her seventies. Seeing her passion for learning made me imagine myself doing the same at that age. She was single but she wasn’t lonely, her eyes sparkled when she talked about her next project or when she was sharing a new idea. She wasn’t sad or longing for her life as a professional dancer. She was truly content and happy in finding her creativity now. She was hanging out with a variety of younger artists and holding her own, leading them as she launched into her career.

All three women showed me that no matter what stage of life they were in—married, getting married, or single—they were all thriving. There were no signs of them slowing down or not being completely happy at their ages. It wasn’t their marriage status, but their common thread of creativity that kept them vibrant. And that helped me stop feeling like fifty was something to dread and start feeling like it was an exciting new chapter.

Although I was waxing philosophical about my advancing age in Greece, I soon realized I may have spoken too soon. In Turkey, I was all the rage! I had a group of men — philosophers, writers, gallery owners, musicians and poets eating out of my hand as I shared stories, laughs and a few shots of Raki in the back alley of a gallery in Istanbul. But you’ll have to read my next blog to find out the deets on that one. For now, cheers to fifty and growing more significant, important and beautiful because, like good wine, we women get better with age!