AGabrielTweet Andrea Gabriel
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October 12th, 2011
Hey sweet bloggie friends. I hope you are all easing gorgeously into fall and enjoying every moment of it. A true New Yorker (and now a proud Angelino—yes I think I think have earned dual citizenship), I truly adore the different interpretations of the seasons. Of course they aren’t quite as “obvious” as the seasons in the northeastern states, but California has it’s own subtle changes and beautiful transitions. I love seasons in general because they are so eloquent in their temporality. Always shifting and becoming what comes next…
Really gets me to thinking (surprising, huh? Coming from someone writing a blog)… I live in Los Angeles and I know it is so easy to swallow the cultural Kool Aid that we are ALWAYS supposed to look one way and NEVER supposed to age, as if aging is icky, that the subtle changes in our bodies are wrong, as if nature has to be stopped. It breaks my heart to see breathtakingly beautiful mature women walking around altering themselves compulsively, almost apologizing for their natural development into their next beautiful stage of life. We hear the phrase “young and beautiful” as if it were one and the same. True, beauty can be young, but it can also be many different ages. Since about the time I turned twenty-one it seemed I was aware that accumulating years was something to fear and that I should enjoy my youth “the bloom was still on the rose.“ True, every one should enjoy their youth, but isn’t it hard when people are telling you it’s all down hill from here?
I know many of my readers are young women and I LOVE that (I also know I have women and male readers of all ages and I adore that—but first a word to our young ladies…) Now please understand, if you already feel wonderful about yourselves everyday and do your best to boost your friends’ self-esteem as well, goddess BLESS you. Rock on with your bad selves, you rock stars. I LOVE it. But if it’s worth anything, please know that in my teens and twenties I never felt as comfortable in my own skin as I do now that I’m in my thirties (and hopefully will when I’m in my forties and so on)… I didn’t appreciate my “youth” as much as I should have because I was so busy being self-conscious in other ways. Was I too fat? Was I wearing the wrong thing? Did anyone like me? I didn’t quite understand how to feed and exercise my body so I felt that it had a life of its own and it could fluctuate according to its own whims. In addition, I didn’t have any experience to base my self esteem on, so I looked for approval from outside sources, The glorious part of maturing is that you become aware of how your body asks to be treated as you ease into yourself… And as you accumulate evidence of your own intelligence and power you begin to realize that if you have a fat day or a bad hair day, guess what? Who cares! Chances are nobody is noticing, and if they are, they’re lame to be judging you and their opinions don’t matter… You’re still amazing.
Ok now, let me get this straight,… “They” are telling us that once we’ve finally become comfortable in our own skins, we’re supposed to fear aging? No offense, but screw that. Seriously. And the irony is that there is no “they.” There is no bad guy. Sure we can blame the media, but the media is only a mindless mirror of the behavior and beliefs we unconsciously adopt and perpetuate as if they’re hand me downs, habits we don’t even remember developing. The media would have no impact (and no market, by the way) if we simply refused to drink the Kool Aid. I remember when I was seventeen, washing my face next to a classmate, and as I dried it with a towel she gasped and told me I had to “dab” my face gently with cotton or I’d get wrinkles. Her mom told her so. At seventeen! Pardon me, but (again) screw that.
Please join me in refusing to believe anything about yourself besides the fact that you are beautiful now and you are only going to get better with age. There is nothing you have to do or fight that is part of the natural process of your life. If you want to tweak yourself or lose or gain a few pounds because it would feel even better, then by all means, do it. But please remember—“you” are your soul. Your soul is only becoming more beautiful and more magnificent every day as you learn and is exposed to love and experience and wisdom. That is what will ultimately come through, regardless of age. Time is irrelevant. Beauty is who you are and the deeds you do. Ok. I am “stepping off the soap box” now. FYI that means I’m done preaching. It’s an old expression my grandmother used to use .
... And by the way, did I mention what a hottie she was? : )
peaches, A
p.s. Loving the feedback! Please keep it up. Much love to you. xx
Hey sweet bloggie friends. I hope you are all easing gorgeously into fall and enjoying every moment of it. A true New Yorker (and now a proud Angelino—yes I think I think have earned dual citizenship), I truly adore the different interpretations of the seasons. Of course they aren’t quite as “obvious” as the seasons in the northeastern states, but California has it’s own subtle changes and beautiful transitions. I love seasons in general because they are so eloquent in their temporality. Always shifting and becoming what comes next…
Really gets me to thinking (surprising, huh? Coming from someone writing a blog)… I live in Los Angeles and I know it is so easy to swallow the cultural Kool Aid that we are ALWAYS supposed to look one way and NEVER supposed to age, as if aging is icky, that the subtle changes in our bodies are wrong, as if nature has to be stopped. It breaks my heart to see breathtakingly beautiful mature women walking around altering themselves compulsively, almost apologizing for their natural development into their next beautiful stage of life. We hear the phrase “young and beautiful” as if it were one and the same. True, beauty can be young, but it can also be many different ages. Since about the time I turned twenty-one it seemed I was aware that accumulating years was something to fear and that I should enjoy my youth “the bloom was still on the rose.“ True, every one should enjoy their youth, but isn’t it hard when people are telling you it’s all down hill from here?
I know many of my readers are young women and I LOVE that (I also know I have women and male readers of all ages and I adore that—but first a word to our young ladies…) Now please understand, if you already feel wonderful about yourselves everyday and do your best to boost your friends’ self-esteem as well, goddess BLESS you. Rock on with your bad selves, you rock stars. I LOVE it. But if it’s worth anything, please know that in my teens and twenties I never felt as comfortable in my own skin as I do now that I’m in my thirties (and hopefully will when I’m in my forties and so on)… I didn’t appreciate my “youth” as much as I should have because I was so busy being self-conscious in other ways. Was I too fat? Was I wearing the wrong thing? Did anyone like me? I didn’t quite understand how to feed and exercise my body so I felt that it had a life of its own and it could fluctuate according to its own whims. In addition, I didn’t have any experience to base my self esteem on, so I looked for approval from outside sources, The glorious part of maturing is that you become aware of how your body asks to be treated as you ease into yourself… And as you accumulate evidence of your own intelligence and power you begin to realize that if you have a fat day or a bad hair day, guess what? Who cares! Chances are nobody is noticing, and if they are, they’re lame to be judging you and their opinions don’t matter… You’re still amazing.
Ok now, let me get this straight,… “They” are telling us that once we’ve finally become comfortable in our own skins, we’re supposed to fear aging? No offense, but screw that. Seriously. And the irony is that there is no “they.” There is no bad guy. Sure we can blame the media, but the media is only a mindless mirror of the behavior and beliefs we unconsciously adopt and perpetuate as if they’re hand me downs, habits we don’t even remember developing. The media would have no impact (and no market, by the way) if we simply refused to drink the Kool Aid. I remember when I was seventeen, washing my face next to a classmate, and as I dried it with a towel she gasped and told me I had to “dab” my face gently with cotton or I’d get wrinkles. Her mom told her so. At seventeen! Pardon me, but (again) screw that.
Please join me in refusing to believe anything about yourself besides the fact that you are beautiful now and you are only going to get better with age. There is nothing you have to do or fight that is part of the natural process of your life. If you want to tweak yourself or lose or gain a few pounds because it would feel even better, then by all means, do it. But please remember—“you” are your soul. Your soul is only becoming more beautiful and more magnificent every day as you learn and is exposed to love and experience and wisdom. That is what will ultimately come through, regardless of age. Time is irrelevant. Beauty is who you are and the deeds you do. Ok. I am “stepping off the soap box” now. FYI that means I’m done preaching. It’s an old expression my grandmother used to use .
... And by the way, did I mention what a hottie she was? : )
peaches, A
p.s. Loving the feedback! Please keep it up. Much love to you. xx
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