Happy!

My friend Wendy said in a recent blog post: “What makes you feel better about yourself regardless of what the scale says? How do you see what's within?”  I’ll take the liberty of changing that to “What makes you feel better about yourself regardless of what the MIRROR says? How do you see what's within?” 

Possibly like Wendy, I’ll likely never again weigh the 110 I did when I got married; more than that, my hair has gone from dark brown to gray, my formerly smooth and soft skin has developed wrinkles and spots, and my waist and a couple of other body parts have...let’s say…shifted.  Some mornings I look in the mirror and think to myself: “who IS that old person?” because I don't like what I see; other times I look in the mirror and think “not too shabby for an old broad”.   What makes the difference? 

For me the obvious answer is that I perceive that I look good when I am happy.  I can be grimy from working in the garden, but when I look in the mirror I see happy eyes and a smile on my face, and sun-touched skin that makes the gray of my hair appear to sparkle – I like what I see. When I’m dressed to the nines, but feeling sad, I look in the mirror and see a furrowed brow, pasty skin, and dull eyes – I look and feel OLD.   Even if you are young and beautiful, think about how often someone says to you “Are you feeling alright? You look [sad, ill, worried].”  How we feel SHOWS, and that - more than the color of your hair, or your current weight, or the shoes you wear, determines whether people think we look good or not.

The advantage of being in this stage of my life is that I’ve finally stopped caring what everyone else thinks of me or expects of me, and am happy just BEING. I am delighted to have been blessed with the continuing good health to do the things that I love to do, the time in which to do them, and a life-partner/best-friend/husband who encourages me to do the things that make me happy and likes me just as I am.  Does life get better than this?   I am one very lucky lady! J