Ageing With Gusto Despite Your Wrinkles

How many women feel conditioned by social pressure to conform to beauty norms? Unfortunately, a lot. That happens because there is still a tendency to homogenize the criteria concerning physical features, the standards of beauty and health in women. Patterns like the definition of the body with “ideal” measures, such as smooth skin that must be free of marks and wrinkles, the “perfect face” that should have a straight-edged nose, plump lips, eyebrows perfectly delineated, slender bodies,  are perfect examples. And these features are the reason why every year many mature women resort to plastic surgery. How can we escape from the beauty trap?

We often forget that looking good is a mix of style, personality and inner glow. And only by staying true to ourselves, we can restore our self-esteem, especially at our age.

Maybe we can get some inspiration from Sophia Loren. She is one of the movie stars we admire most. Not because of her looks but because she has always cultivated a sense of humour and a joyful carefree approach to life. Two traits of her character that make her very intriguing. However, believe it or not, in the past, she has been asked to lose weight and fix her nose. Thank God, she decided not to change. Changing for her would have meant to be one of the millions of Barbies playing in the show-business losing what made her unique: her smile, her curves and her boldness. The same powerful grit that makes her now return to movies, at the age of 86, for the first time in over a decade, starring the leading role in the upcoming Netflix film, “The Life Ahead”.

When I was 20, I didn’t think that one day I would live to 80, and now I think: ‘My God, all this time went by? I can’t believe it.’ – she said to W Magazine-. Of course, the roles change – you cannot at my age do the story of a woman of 30 or 40 years old. It’s impossible. It’s a very normal way of being in the movies all the time and changing roles. It becomes a little more difficult sometimes, but if you have faith in what you do, and if you have faith in yourself, a little time goes by and you can find the right thing for you still.

Ageing with gusto means exactly that: believe in yourself, enjoy life, make peace with who you are, embrace challenges and delve deeply into your passions no matter your age. We are all beautiful works in progress. Let’s give us time to bloom.