For My Age

Normalize aging and beauty

To normalize beauty at any age is, in my opinion, to accept reality and, be fair and honest about it. To be open to ourselves, to each other, and to our younger female To normalize beauty at any age is, in my opinion, to accept reality and be fair and honest about it. To be open to ourselves, to each other, and to our younger female generations. Pretending, faking, or not talking about aging doesn’t help anyone. I am proud of my age, and as a content creator, I describe things as they are. You can agree or disagree; I only share what I have experienced in my life creating content. If you spread reality (through social media), it will eventually become real to some.

By being honest about age and the beauty of aging, I believe it helps women to age more positively and with less fear. Therefore my Bloomer portraits have a name and an age. They are all beautiful for their age, which varies from 40 to 100. They represent their age proudly. I think there is a need for a fair image of women whose age is highlighted. To provide content for women who need inspiration. I think it helps women to mirror themselves to what they know is true. As a 45-year-old woman, I need to see older women who are proud of their age and the way they look. They inspire me. They show me that it’s great to be 55, 65, or 75, or 85. And I think I am not the only one that needs that example. #reality #truth #agepositive

I love being 45

I love being 45, and I feel fabulous. I don’t feel younger; I don’t feel older. I am just fine with the age that I have. I never lie about my age; I also never ask people to guess my age when they ask me how old I am. It doesn’t affect me when people react with: you look so much younger or older. In the end, it doesn’t really matter; I am my age.

I like the way I look for my age. I like the way my body ages; it’s doing exactly what it is supposed to do. And I am thankful for the opportunity ofgetting older; many people die young. I am middle-aged, and that is precisely where I am supposed to be; hopefully, I live for another 45 years. I am in peri-menopause, I am starting to go grey, I am starting to get wrinkles, and my skin is loosening. I am not in my twenties or my thirties, and I don’t want anyone to think that I am any other age than 45.

Dutch and direct

I am Dutch, down to earth, and I have a direct way with words. I don’t wrap them in pretty paper and decorate them with a purple ribbon. I say what I think, and people either love them or hate them. But whether you love or you hate what I write, there is only one message in my words; owe who you are and be proud of your age because it’s your truth.

Our infantile society cries out enough that getting older is to fear. Anti-aging, anti-wrinkle, anti-cellulite, anti-whatever, and we are, if lucky, all aging. We all go grey, get wrinkles more or less, and 90% of women have cellulite. In particular, our generation can show through social media that it is fun to be older. And more and more women are speaking up. That getting older and wiser is enjoyable, and nothing to fear off. That looks isn’t everything, that looks change, and that is ok. You never know which youngster you are inspiring. I am honest about my age, how I feel, and being 45 is excellent. I am absolutely sure 46 will be great, too, maybe even better. And every extra year to come, I will be proud of my age. Some days pretty for my age, and some days not at all, depending on the day. But I am proud of my story and my age.

We are all unique in our own way

Some women look much younger, better, more beautiful than me (or you). But their story isn’t yours. We are all unique in our own way. I think you should live your life and forget your age, yes. But does that mean you should forget about where you are in life? I think our society’s problem is caused by people who desperately cling to youth by denying their age. And the ones that make tons of money because of those that are in denial or fear.

Of course, you shouldn’t live your life and think about your age all the time, it would make you too aware of every day. Living your life to the fullest without fear is the perfect goal. But to own your age and be proud of it is essential in my opinion, for the others in our lives, especially the youngsters. Only when we are proud of our own journey and the bodies that carry us through that journey can we change something about our youth-obsessed society.

A pearl of mature wisdom

I am 45 and love where I am in my life. I have been in this world for 16.629 days, and I am thankful for it. And if you ask me how old I feel, I couldn’t answer any other than the age that I have. Because how does one feel age? I feel ageless in a way. I feel young and strong, but I also feel a pearl of mature wisdom that I didn’t have when I was younger. And wisdom often means you have lived. It makes me feel aware of specific movements and the consequences. Things that I didn’t care about when I was young(er).

‘But you are still so young; wait until you are my age,’ I can hear some women thing. Yes, I can’t predict the future. But I will keep working on my mindset, ignore big parts of the media that want to sell me lies, and try not to fear my own journey. I will stay honest towards myself and to others. Especially to younger women because lying or denying never helped anyone, in particular them. I hope to keep my enthusiasm for AndBloom to continue to share my beautiful journey intoaging with you. Just imagine, Dee at 60 still posting age-positive messages. 🙂