Where Are All the Wonder Women? My Quest for Midlife Role Models

Have you ever noticed how many role models we have as young girls – the astronauts, the pop stars, the fictional heroines who slay dragons (metaphorically, of course)? But somewhere between tennis practice and PTA meetings, those inspiring figures seem to fade away. This hit me like a rogue wave as I cruised into my 50s.

Gone were the Shondaland characters I secretly aspired to be. Instead, the media was saturated with the young, the airbrushed, and the impossibly perfect.

Feeling adrift, I started looking for women in my own age bracket – women who were thriving, not just surviving, in midlife. Surely, they were out there, navigating careers, families, and the joys (and wrinkles) of growing older with grace and gusto? My search, however, proved frustrating. Mainstream media offered a limited view, often portraying older women as out-of-touch caricatures or relegating them to the background.

But then, a lightbulb moment. My role models weren’t going to appear on a magazine cover – I had to find them myself. I started looking closer at the amazing women in my own life – the friend who reinvented her career after a divorce, the neighbour who went back to school to get her PhD, and the sister who balanced a demanding job with raising a family. These women, with their real-life struggles and triumphs, became my guiding stars.

Here’s the thing: midlife is a rich tapestry woven with experience, resilience, and a newfound sense of self. We’re not aspiring to be anyone anymore; we’re too busy being our own best selves. Maybe that’s why it’s harder to find a single iconic role model – because we’re all too busy being the role models for the next generation.

So, the question isn’t “Where are all the wonder women?” It’s “How can we celebrate the ones who are already here?” Let’s champion the women in our communities, our workplaces, and our families. Let’s share their stories, learn from their journeys, and be inspired by their strength.

Because the truth is, we are the wonder women we’ve been waiting for. And together, we’re rewriting the narrative of what it means to be a woman in midlife – a powerful, vibrant, and unstoppable force.

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