What Can Senior Women Do to Regain Their Confidence and Fight Ageism?

When I lived in Malibu many years back I met a lovely couple. The husband Bob and his wife Lea had recently separated from their children to live independently. Bob once shared that his wife was a victim of ageism. She was fired from a retail job, adults at her job made fun of her weak health. I was astonished as I had never seen Lea depressed once, nor she looked weak. I was then told by Bob that she loved to bake Japanese sponge cakes, and whenever someone made fun of her, she made a cake extra. And then I understood how her bakery was born and she became the Queen of Japanese Sponge cakes in our neighborhood. She fought ageism in the softest and sweetest of ways I could have imagined.

That made me think how hard it can be for women to stand up to ageism, and how difficult it is for them to regain their confidence. As per research I read, our level of confidence is like a bell curve, it peaks at a certain age, and it drops as we grow old. It’s our reasonability to prolong and even in some cases diminish the fall from happening.

Hence, I would like to share some tips for senior women who have been victim to ageism jokes and have lost their self-esteem due to frail skin, wrinkles, or inability to pursue their dreams.

• Refrain from negative self-talk irrespective how difficult the situation,
• Engage in daily mindfulness activities such as meditation, yoga, exercise or reading,
• Know that having a beautiful heart is more important than a wrinkle-free skin,
• Never stop at finding your passion and creating new memories that you can cherish.
• Irrespective the difficulty or disability, find ways to stay independent,
• Continue to break stereotypes by creating new and powerful social connections,

I would like to share an example here of how ageism is being tackled in Hollywood.

My favorite actress Meryl Streep is working towards ending the issue of ageism by creating a community of senior women writers, who are often neglected. According to her, ageism happens because women are neglected, and their chance to shine is taken away by successful men. Her Writing Lab initiative has in the past 4 years led to many senior women in Hollywood getting acknowledged for their work.

As Meryl Streep said, “My advice: don’t waste so much time worrying about your skin or your weight. Develop what you do, what you put your hands on in the world.”

The Stop Acting Your Age Course will help you regain your confidence irrespective if you were a housewife, mother, banker, a nurse, or a retail worker. It doesn’t distinguish but gives a platform to find your passion and confidence back while fighting ageism as it happens.

Don’t be afraid to drink from the fountain of youth, YOUR MIND. B Bop!