#40Plus

Theory No.:017 - When you support others, you support yourself.
#40plusbloggers

Over the past couple of days, I have been planning content for the next few weeks of blog posts. I found that no matter how many notes I attempted to jot down nothing felt completely right. I didn’t understand why I was feeling so uneasy. That was until I was reminded of a recent conversation I had with a friend (a younger friend that is), things began to resonate.

As my mind replayed the content of this conversation, I found myself being reminded of the very reason that I decided to get back into blogging. After being away so long AND at the age of 41, it was very clear as to why I would embark on such a thing. The conversation eluded to inquiries such as, why would you start something like this now? What’s going on in your life that you need or even want to do such a thing? Is it a mid-life crisis because so many younger women are doing it? Are you that unhappy in your life/career that this is something you feel you need to do for some sort of validation? Is this some attempt to relive your past and former attempts at blogging? Wouldn’t you want to do something different? Like why a blog? I mean, hashtag 40 plus blogger, really?

Before you start judging, I’m going to assume that it was all out of love. Besides that, what I pondered on more than the mere quality of our friendship, was the fact that I really wondered why I stopped for a second to question my own motives as if I were unsure. I questioned if maybe they were right... As I think about a few if my favorite bloggers and how they have inspired me, I wondered how many of them are truly my counterparts? Am I fooling myself into believing there is a place for us on the web? Am I really over the hill and allowing this attempt to make me crash and burn?

Lucky for me, I snapped out if quickly and realized that they were wrong – Dead wrong. You see many women that have joined the 4-oh club (or fast approaching it), have come to realize that this decade represents a new season in life. A season where a lot of the hard lessons have been learned and quite a bit of life has been experienced. We are in touch with the things that we like and dislike, in the world and with ourselves. We begin to leave behind stereotypical ideals of who and what we thought we should be. We reconnect with who we truly are and dive deep into the things that we are passionate about. No matter how big or small it may seem. We find a way to build a path for the rest of our lives that inspire, motivate, uplift, and simply bring us joy. We find new hobbies, new ways of thinking, new ways of living, new friends, new dresses, new homes, new partners, new jobs, new destinations to explore, and much more. It’s part of the life cycle, it’s part of change, it’s growth, it is inevitable.

So what conditions people to believe that someone is too old for anything? Old ways of thinking coupled with images in the media. The images that we see every day, even in the blogosphere. We see our millennial daughters, nieces, students, or what have you showcased as bloggers, vloggers, and brand ambassadors, which is absolutely awesome. I love to see real women no matter what age breaking through the barriers and making names for themselves, but it leads me to ask, are are my counterparts? Where are the women that truly represent the purchasing power in this country? Statistics show that 85% of consumers are women, and of that 85%, women between the ages of 35-54 are consuming the most. Whether it’s fashion, travel, food/restaurants, makeup, beauty treatments, life enhancing experiences, it’s our age group that is driving this market and experiencing these brands, so why not have a voice?

So to the countless women that are making their mark on the world by sharing their voices, stories, images and pictures, fashion and style, makeup, recipes, and everything in between. This is no mid-life crisis, a failed attempt for one more go around.. This is us being and doing what we love.

Cheers ladies, be proud of your 40 plus lifestyle, fashion, beauty blogger or 40 plus anything hashtag. Here's to you (oh and me too).