Why age gracefully when you could age powerfully?

When you hear the words “age gracefully,” do you also break out in hives, or is it just me? 

Aging “gracefully” sounds a little like walking on eggshells, like shrinking, like staying quiet, like staying out of the way.

Like fear. 

Why age gracefully when you could age powerfully, loudly, passionately? 

Healthfully.

Don’t get me wrong, I’m all for grace.

But “aging gracefully” is not the path forward. 

When we think of aging beautifully, we must ask ourselves one fundamental question— are we truly nourishing ourselves? 

That doesn’t just mean growing our own organic carrots, eating our collagen, and choosing the best serums. 

It means living a life of purpose— a life that thrills us. 

A life on our own terms. A life of passion. Of boundaries. Of getting to say hell yes and hell no. Of loving ourselves fiercely. Of not settling for less. Of getting loud. Of justice. Of healing. 

Aging beautifully requires us to be truly alive.

Being truly alive can look like many things— quitting your job to pursue your higher calling, waking up every morning to enjoy your cup of coffee while the house is still quiet, writing poetry just for the sake of it, making your own art and hanging it up in the living room, or traveling to that far away place you’ve always wanted to visit.

Being alive also looks like loving and taking care of ourselves fiercely. 

Not apologizing for wanting to feel fabulous, healthy, energized, and beautiful. And not apologizing again for making the time to actually do those things that make us feel so good and cultivate life inside and out. 

That sounds like power to me. 

So, for this women’s history month, I ask you once more— why age gracefully when you could age powerfully?