A Woman is Never Old! (Don't Be Silly)
In the movie "Mermaids" Cher plays a mother who has an edge and who has a daughter who is just the opposite of her, shy and reserved, while Cher is bold, loud and out there. At one point in the movie Cher who dresses with tight clothing that would seem more like outfits a young lady would wear puts on a tight pink dress for a date. Her daughter looks at her and says "Don't you think your a little too old for that?" (referring to the tight pink polka dot dress). Cher turns and looks at her and responds with "Don't be silly Charlotte, a woman is never too old".
Today I am watching Super Soul Sunday with Oprah and she is interviewing an author who wrote a book called "A Goddess is Never Old". In her book she points out that we place women in a category or box based on their age. Women also believe that if they are this age or that age they cannot do this or that of which they would like to do, feeling they are too old. I recalled the times I have myself said that I would not start an interior decorating career because I am too old for that. Like me there are many people who tend to think that if they are of a certain age we cannot start something new in our life like a new career or a new hobby, when this is the furthest thing from the truth.
I for a very long time have noted women who are 60, 70, 80 who look beautiful. I saw these women when I worked in a retail store called Macy's now that use to be Marshall Fields in an area of Chicago that is of a high income. The women would come to shop for their husbands in the men's section where I helped them decide what to buy for them, even introducing new colors or shirts and ties and through questions putting together something fresh and new for their spouses. What i noticed about these women is that they looked great and were impeccably dressed from head to toe. Their gray or dyed hair looked gorgeous and their shoes were often times hot and trendy. In the winter time many of them wore their long mink coats and scarves that were colorful and sharp looking. What I realized at that moment and when I saw "Mermaids" with Cher was that women are never too old to look beautiful. These women were timeless and ageless because they were happy and embraced who they were, never seeming to care about their age and the stereotypes attached to women of their age.
"Getting old is inevitable, aging is optional". This quote tells me that we don't have to age or at least we don't have to act as though we are too old for anything. when we believe that aging is optional we think young which is what I tell women I know all the time. Aging is optional, truly optional. I believe in my heart that the reason young people and others have told me I don't look like I am 61 and in fact some young man told me I looked like I was 40. At first I was going to refute him and make him wrong but then I thought about it and just said "Thank you". He then asked me what the secret was and I said "I refuse to think I am old but rather I think young". It is true of people who look wonderful at any age that they think young. I am one of those men who learned this from women who appear in the book "Advanced Style". These women dress like dressing is truly art and they look incredibly different from others their age. They dress as though they are ageless and they layer anything and everything. They wear linens and silks. They love who they are and where they are in life. These are women who one photographer decided to photograph because they looked different from other women who cow down to this idea that they are too old to look great, artisitc, different,, over the top or fabulously bold.
I am going to be wearing scarves around my neck and skinny jeans as long as I want to. I am going to love salsa music and listen to new releases forever. I feel like I am as old as I think myself to be and many times I announce my age and then compliment myself by saying things like "I am 61 and I can still kick ass" or "I am 61 and I refuse to be referred to as old. I am seasoned". When women tell me they are too old to wear this or do that I respond with a resounding "Are you kidding?". I look at them in the face and I say "you have to stop convincing yourself of this lie". I then point out that the "Gap" used a model that looked to me to be at least 65-70. This model wore these big mod glasses and an outfit from the store where we usually see younger women. I almost peed on myself when I saw this ad and wanted to make copies and plaster her on huge billboards that would say something like "Don't be silly, a woman is never too old".
If you are a woman who thinks yourself too old you will look it. If you think you are too old to do something new then you won't. If you buy into this lie that to be beautiful you have to be of a certain age you are crazy and setting yourself up! If you believe that beauty only has a certain size then you are being irrational. You my friend are never too old.
Elliott Collazo
Today I am watching Super Soul Sunday with Oprah and she is interviewing an author who wrote a book called "A Goddess is Never Old". In her book she points out that we place women in a category or box based on their age. Women also believe that if they are this age or that age they cannot do this or that of which they would like to do, feeling they are too old. I recalled the times I have myself said that I would not start an interior decorating career because I am too old for that. Like me there are many people who tend to think that if they are of a certain age we cannot start something new in our life like a new career or a new hobby, when this is the furthest thing from the truth.
I for a very long time have noted women who are 60, 70, 80 who look beautiful. I saw these women when I worked in a retail store called Macy's now that use to be Marshall Fields in an area of Chicago that is of a high income. The women would come to shop for their husbands in the men's section where I helped them decide what to buy for them, even introducing new colors or shirts and ties and through questions putting together something fresh and new for their spouses. What i noticed about these women is that they looked great and were impeccably dressed from head to toe. Their gray or dyed hair looked gorgeous and their shoes were often times hot and trendy. In the winter time many of them wore their long mink coats and scarves that were colorful and sharp looking. What I realized at that moment and when I saw "Mermaids" with Cher was that women are never too old to look beautiful. These women were timeless and ageless because they were happy and embraced who they were, never seeming to care about their age and the stereotypes attached to women of their age.
"Getting old is inevitable, aging is optional". This quote tells me that we don't have to age or at least we don't have to act as though we are too old for anything. when we believe that aging is optional we think young which is what I tell women I know all the time. Aging is optional, truly optional. I believe in my heart that the reason young people and others have told me I don't look like I am 61 and in fact some young man told me I looked like I was 40. At first I was going to refute him and make him wrong but then I thought about it and just said "Thank you". He then asked me what the secret was and I said "I refuse to think I am old but rather I think young". It is true of people who look wonderful at any age that they think young. I am one of those men who learned this from women who appear in the book "Advanced Style". These women dress like dressing is truly art and they look incredibly different from others their age. They dress as though they are ageless and they layer anything and everything. They wear linens and silks. They love who they are and where they are in life. These are women who one photographer decided to photograph because they looked different from other women who cow down to this idea that they are too old to look great, artisitc, different,, over the top or fabulously bold.
I am going to be wearing scarves around my neck and skinny jeans as long as I want to. I am going to love salsa music and listen to new releases forever. I feel like I am as old as I think myself to be and many times I announce my age and then compliment myself by saying things like "I am 61 and I can still kick ass" or "I am 61 and I refuse to be referred to as old. I am seasoned". When women tell me they are too old to wear this or do that I respond with a resounding "Are you kidding?". I look at them in the face and I say "you have to stop convincing yourself of this lie". I then point out that the "Gap" used a model that looked to me to be at least 65-70. This model wore these big mod glasses and an outfit from the store where we usually see younger women. I almost peed on myself when I saw this ad and wanted to make copies and plaster her on huge billboards that would say something like "Don't be silly, a woman is never too old".
If you are a woman who thinks yourself too old you will look it. If you think you are too old to do something new then you won't. If you buy into this lie that to be beautiful you have to be of a certain age you are crazy and setting yourself up! If you believe that beauty only has a certain size then you are being irrational. You my friend are never too old.
Elliott Collazo
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