A Quick Celebration | State of Gray
I wanted to quickly mention resuming the blog - aka the reinvention of a now 67 year old. What about the State of Gray now? The state of me and the state of you - now that we’re a tad older.
How are we dealing with it? Are we aging well? How do we do that - is there a trick? What to wear? Where to go? Originally I wanted to start a dialog. And we DID! Let’s get back into it!
We are all multifaceted humans, and so I wanted the blog to reflect that. Life is not all just about pretty lipstick and beautiful gardens, fabulous travel and the right diet. It’s also about navigating loss and grief and disappointment, and ever more, mental health.
I am now fourteen years post Whitten, and have clawed my way back to a life of some sort. How did that work? What have I learned? There’s good stuff to report and bad stuff to admit. And there’s fresh grief along the way.
I try to share all sides and try to be relatable. Like I say on the home page - “Complete honesty. I’m pretty much an open book, always authentic.”
I go there
Most of us have a positive transformation after we retire or once we are in an empty nest. We reinvent as we all long to be purposeful and relevant, no matter what age we are. We also want to connect with others about the realities of our season of life.
I also believe that what gives meaning to your life changes over time and certainly over circumstances. For many of us, our children give the most meaningful purpose to our lives. How does your life progress when that purpose is taken away? It is not an easy progression, but it was the task at hand.
The blog has grown slowly but steadily, and my readers seem engaged and are starting to connect. Many of you do not comment here, but rather send me an email or a private message on social media. These days, it seems that to gather a following, you must invest so much time in marketing on Instagram and YouTube - videos, reels, stories etc. It is frustrating for a newish blogger who is still learning the blogging end of it, and I've fretted so. And since I’ve come back - AI!? Onward ladies…
As I bring the conversation back around to us, society seems to have done so as well. We do seem front and center these days, in one way or another. My reading swings back and forth, from the buzzwords of longevity and ageism, to the vilification of the “evil boomers”.
I gave myself another peptalk and decided not to worry about enticing everyone and if I am providing something of value, they will come. I'm just going to talk about what interests me and what I think might be helpful to you. If they find me, they find me.
I read a beautiful piece on Lyn Slater’s blog, the Accidental Icon a few years ago. After retiring from teaching and her influencer work in the fashion industry, she moved to upstate NY out of NYC. She was then writing on the blog about aging and was also writing a book. She wrote so beautifully…
“In this reinvention time, if I think about beginning something from scratch, it would make me feel frantic about the time left to do it, time to practice, and to live one’s deepest desires. So fraught, you may decide to not do it at all.”
In my reinvention time, I did begin something from scratch. And I’m doing it AGAIN! Geez. I bet there are many of you who are doing the same thing. We must be proud of ourselves for that. I do feel fraught about the time I have left, in which to make some kind of difference, do you ever get that feeling?
And here is another lovely article by Sharon Santoni from My French Country Home, about reinvention. She had just turned 64 and is now 67 too.
Thank you all so so much for reading and for your wonderful support as the State of Gray re-emerges. Let me know in the comments if there is any topic you are super interested in these days! You are the best readers ever and together, we are the State of Gray!
We are Savvy | We are Curious | We are Thriving
“When I get older losing my hair, many years from now, will you still be sending me a valentine? 🎶
🎶 Birthday greetings, bottle of wine?
Give me your answer, fill in a form, mine forever more. 🎶
🎶 Will you still need me, will you still feed me, when I’m 64?”
……You Know Who
When I listened to that song on my Sergeant Pepper album, I never dreamed I would really ever be 64 years old…much less 67…
Let’s go ladies!
Next up, the return of Gadabout.
