They once told me, with a grave seriousness, Youre past your prime, dear.
At first I hadnt the foggiest idea what they meant. Excuse me, what does that imply? I asked, hopeful for clarification.
They answered as if the answer were as plain as day: You know theres no room for bright dresses, boisterous laughter, dancing, singing, and sheer joy like there used to be. Now you must be modest, calm, grownup.
I kept my tongue shut, not out of offense but from wonder at how easily people draw borders where none exist. Then I smiled, turned my thoughts inward, and said calmly, Ive never read a rulebook that tells a woman when she must stop being herself.
For truly, who decides the moment a woman should no longer be allowed to laugh until she cries? Who decrees the age at which a crimson lipstick becomes untouchable, or a beloved song must no longer be belted at full volume? A calendar may add years, but it does not erase our true selves.
Much has passed over my shouldersyears heavy with pain, experience, and great happiness. I have watched soaring triumphs and crushing falls, losses and fresh beginnings. And now I am differentnot older, but calmer, deeper, wiser. I have learned to cherish silence, to listen to my own heart, and to understand that real youth lives not in a passport but in the eyes, in the ability to delight in small things, and in the wonder we keep for the world.
I no longer need to prove my worth to anyone. Im not chasing a younger face; I simply want to liveauthentically. I laugh when joy bubbles up, I dance when a favourite tune comes on, I wear what feels right to me, not what belongs to my age. Most of all, I allow myself to be alive.
Life isnt a stage where you must play a part appropriate to your years. Its a journey, each day a gift. How sad it is when folk give up their joy simply because someone said, Thats no longer fitting for you.
It still fits me. It fits me to laugh when my spirit sings. It fits me to don bright dresses even though Im no longer in my twenties. It fits me to be exactly who I am now, without excuses or fear.
There is no such thing as the wrong age. There is only a momentwarm, true, alive. If you feel a light within, if your heart still wants to laugh and love, then you are very much alive.
And now, my time to live is heretruly, without limits, without shame, without the endless list of shoulds and mustnts. No one has the right to decide when a woman stops being herself.
I simply exist, and each dawn I tell myself, Yes, this is my age. The best one yet.
