8 Great Women on Aging: Attitude is Everything
Like reboots of once-popular shows and your husband forgetting to start the dishwasher, aging is inevitable. Whether you embrace it, create a plan to age gracefully, or deny it’s happening — it most definitely is happening — it’s how you deal with it that makes all the difference. There are things you can change, and some you can’t but what you have complete control over is your attitude. Here’s some inspiration from successful women who are getting it right.
“I think it is true that as you get older, it’s not that you get more confident. You don’t—but you care about it less. You care less about being un-self-confident. You start to lose your self-obsession, and in losing self-obsession, you lose the very things that are making you feel unconfident or whatever.” —Helen Mirren, in Byrdie
“In my older face, I see my life. Every wrinkle, every smile line, every age spot. There is a saying that with age, you look outside what you are inside. If you are someone who never smiles your face gets saggy. If you’re a person who smiles a lot, you will have more smile lines. Your wrinkles reflect the roads you have taken; they form the map of your life. My face reflects the wind and sun and rain and dust from the trips I’ve taken. My face carries all my memories. Why should I erase them?” —Dian Von Furstenberg, The Woman I Wanted to Be
"A sense of freedom is something that, happily, comes with age and life experience… Just have fun. Smile. And keep putting on lipstick." —Diane Keaton
“For sure we live in a youth-obsessed culture that is constantly trying to tell us that if we're not young and glowing and "hot," we don't matter. I refuse to let a system, a culture, a distorted view of reality tell me I don't matter. That only happens when we buy into the propaganda. People who lie about their age are denying the truth and contributing to a sickness pervading our society—the sickness of wanting to be what you're not.” —Oprah in Oprah Magazine
"The beauty of getting older is the surprise of what else you can do to make the world a better place with the wisdom that you've accrued over those years." —Goldie Hawn
"I finally understand that life is about accumulating knowledge, skills, and experience — because of that, I am wise enough to make choices I never thought possible. This is the best time of my life — an amazing, blossoming moment. I've always been a dancer, but I feel like now, I can fly." — Virginia Johnson, 66, Artistic Director of the Dance Theatre of Harlem, in Good Housekeeping
"I know how to Snapchat, I can high kick, and I still have long hair. I have zero fear, and I'd send out flyers broadcasting my age — I'm an open book with no hang-ups. I enjoy my kids and really don't give a rat's ass what anyone thinks about me. I laugh, have fun, and don't take it all so seriously." —Sasha Charnin Morrison, Author of Secrets of Stylists