Today launches a revolution, the Global Forever Fierce Day Celebration, where women across the globe who have decided to live a fierce midlife share their stories and the stories of others, to encourage, inspire, and support.
I’m 47. I don’t try to hide my age. Apparently, neither does my face. I believe I wear trauma, illness, and pain from my experiences on my face by way of these pesky lines and wrinkles. It’s a little hard to swallow sometimes, I will admit, watching myself age.
Guess what though? Those lines are gifts. I’ve survived and I’m here to tell you about how I earned those lines, the stories they tell, the triumphs they represent.
I survived the loss of my parents and a husband by the time I was 40. By the time I turned 40 I’d been battling a challenging and painful chronic illness for 22 years. I’d had one perfect pregnancy and one dangerous and difficult one (both were joyful!!) that almost claimed my life and resulted in me bringing a tiny preemie into the world who was and remains a fierce fighter (so is his sister) and is now healthy, strong, and taller than I am.
I’ve survived an abusive marriage…and the day he almost killed me.
Recurrent and important theme here: I survived. My children survived.
As I started to heal from that marriage, I started reclaiming my voice. I decided who I was going to be and began rediscovering and rebuilding myself.
Midlife is empowering if you let it be. You start to really love yourself, just as you are. We’re going through a sort-of second “puberty” with all these body changes; metabolism slows down, peri-menopause, and eventually menopause. You can learn to roll with it, do your best with it, and love and care for yourself through it, celebrating yourself.
Midlife is freeing because you shed that need for others’ constant approval and accept that you’re not everyone’s cup of tea. And you’re cool with that.
You stop chasing your dreams and start harnessing them and making them realities. You know life will give you lemons, but you’ve gotten good at making lemonade and holding your head high as you conquer.
I’ve chosen to have fierce faith. My faith has carried me through some tough things and I need it on a daily basis, on a minute-ly basis! I’m raising fierce, beautiful, loving children. I have fierce confidence and I hope to inspire others to find their fierceness.
The women in this Forever Fierce midlife campaign lead different lives, hold different beliefs, have a variety of powerful stories, have incredible dreams, impeccable senses of style, and tremendous capacities to love and offer support to their fellow humans.
The founder of this campaign is Catherine Grace O’Connell and I’m so honored that she shared about me on her blog! I’m in excellent company over there with other fierce women she shares about so give it a read and while you’re there, you’ll find that 50 bloggers are featuring the stories of 100s of fierce women in celebration of midlife. No matter what your age, you can choose to live fierce!
What does living fierce in midlife (or any stage of life) mean to you? Share in the comments!
Live fierce!
