Brief - content on ageing published on the Womanship platform
I love to write and I have very strong opinions, therefore when an email flies into my inbox asking for a review I jump for joy. A chance to express my opinion about that thing I paid money for? Yes, count me in. Whether it’s TripAdvisor or TrustPilot, you can bank on me having something to say.
Yet as these surveys draw to a close I feel a sense of dread. A knowing that there’s a final question looming and it’s one that doesn’t sit comfortably with me.
“Please tick the appropriate box to indicate your age.”
Before all you statistician and demographic geeks take a swipe at me, I know exactly why this intel is important. Our views evolve over time and it’s key for brands to know if they are more of a hit or a miss with certain ages. But can we please find a different way to approach this?
The tick boxes cause me anxiety. It feels like with every survey I complete I’m a little further towards the end of the list. A little further towards ‘the end’. What was once 18-24 is no more for me. I’m a few candles on the cake shy of the 45-54 box and that literally screams TICK TOCK.
I don’t know what my issue is with growing older. I don’t think I’m ageist, I’ve always been respectful of my elders and, quite frankly, my nana was a legend. But the sense that there is a real time hourglass shifting the sand behind the scenes raises my blood pressure a tad. I reflect if this is something that all women struggle to embrace.
I wonder have I not yet achieved enough? There is still so much more for me to see, live, visit and experience. Perhaps it’s because when we are young, anyone aged over 35 is labeled ‘ancient’. Maybe it’s because today’s media and society are pushing us to be ‘forever young’ in our appearance and our lifestyle so the reality that we are getting older feels very much at odds with that.
As I scour the shelves for retinol creams and contemplate that crop tops may no longer have a place in my wardrobe, I try to reframe the debate. Perhaps I should identify with the wise words of Dolly Parton: “I don’t know what the big deal is about age. Old people who shine from the inside look 10 to 20 years younger.” So what if getting older really is the time to celebrate growing more savvy? And what if we think of ‘older age’ as ‘greater maturity’ and a sign of knowing ourselves much better and being more comfortable in our more wrinkly skin?
Indulge me, please, whilst I suggest a way forward. Rather than ask us to tick boxes defined by decades, could we instead state the year of our birth? It’s a small shift in perception but one that resonates better with me. 40-49 feels like a treadmill to middle-age but I’d happily type in 1979. After all YMCA was number one in the charts and I was born so what isn’t there to love?!
Comments