#27
Yesterday's Nice Thing: Going to see The Favourite
I really like this having to do things for me. It stops me from slumping down and not doing stuff. I did not however get the house cleaned and other such chores I should have done, it was very annoying.
But also entirely my fault.
The dancing yesterday made me realise something - I don't know if I can do this every month - unless I of course just dance and come home early. I love dancing but I am a bit too old to do this all night. I didn't dance btw. I just walked from pub to pub and that was enough.
So, after almost a month of doing things which have helped my will, I have also noticed things which are better and more nourishing for me... so there needs to be some kind of rethink around things I have chosen to do.
For instance, I have definitely changed in the way I understand the world. It is still amazing and wonderful, but I don't feel it the same way I feel it when I was younger. The thing though is that I have always felt around 40, so when I turned 40, it felt like the age I was supposed to be. But now, I sort of feel like age doesn't matter anymore. As in, it is literally just a number. It feels a little bit like I have stopped aging. I can't describe it at all. It is weird. Of course I have more and more white hair as the years go past and of course I get more tired and my skin is more wrinkly, all of that, but there is this strange stasis. So if I was to say honestly at what age did I think I stopped having birthdays, I would say around 40 or so.
So, what was also interesting, was I went to see The Favourite and I noticed that all the people there were around 50 or 60, maybe older. I think maybe they didn't get the film they thought they were going to see. But I thought jeez, these are now my contemporaries... do I look like that? I was in my outdoor trousers and my old Benetton jumper and my boots... and they were all in M&S and those beige wool scarves they love wearing so much. I had blue hair and they had silver... I think that's what's a bit worrying for me. When I hang out with people whom I don't usually hang out with but are my age, I feel a bit naked, like I have come to the party dressed wrong or something. It feels like I still haven't quite grown up... but to dress like that, I really don't think so.
I remember once someone said to me, when you wear it it looks fine, when I wear it it would look stupid. I don't know if they meant it as a compliment.
So, this has been vexing me a bit lately.
So before I go any further about the things I feel differently about, I also think that the last thing I want to do is pretend that I am 25 again. I was a proper 25 year old... I always think that I was the age I was supposed to be, so there is no looking back at my life and feeling any regret. I don't want to stretch my face or go on dating apps, or put on stupid outfits which aren't my age... I don't feel as if I missed out on anything at all. The reason I dress the way I do is not to feel young, but it is because I have dressed in a way which makes me feel comfortable all the time.
So the things I feel very differently about are... I don't know how to put this... new discoveries, because weirdly enough, they don't seem new to me at all. I don't say this in a jaded way - I have always known that there is nothing new under the sun. A cursory glance at history will show you that. And I am deeply grateful that I live in this time in history when self-actualisation for women has never been better. But when I mean nothing new, I mean... somehow, it feels like I have entered a new tribe - the tribe of equals - I think what I am trying to say is that for the first time, literally this year, I understand life. I understand what is needed - I just get it. I understand life on its own terms through my own perspective and it is amazing you know.
So this is the big thing: I don't feel the need to prove myself any more - I know that I used to cos now when I don't - it feels very liberating. It is as if to say, having lived this long, and having done the things I have done, and having challenged myself in every which way, I have accumulated this store room of experience. I am no longer second guessing things. I know what I want. If I don't have something, I know how to go about getting it and when I do have those things, I am deeply appreciative of it....
I guess what I am trying to say is that I have become an expert in life. And also, that there is so much more to be lived. And I have the maps and the equipment to go about doing that.
Sunday is always a think about it day....
Well, I now need to think about what I'm gonna do to make the most of it.
The windy wet day seems to have passed... I am now going for my run and then having coffee, followed by the service in Holywood.
I really like this having to do things for me. It stops me from slumping down and not doing stuff. I did not however get the house cleaned and other such chores I should have done, it was very annoying.
But also entirely my fault.
The dancing yesterday made me realise something - I don't know if I can do this every month - unless I of course just dance and come home early. I love dancing but I am a bit too old to do this all night. I didn't dance btw. I just walked from pub to pub and that was enough.
So, after almost a month of doing things which have helped my will, I have also noticed things which are better and more nourishing for me... so there needs to be some kind of rethink around things I have chosen to do.
For instance, I have definitely changed in the way I understand the world. It is still amazing and wonderful, but I don't feel it the same way I feel it when I was younger. The thing though is that I have always felt around 40, so when I turned 40, it felt like the age I was supposed to be. But now, I sort of feel like age doesn't matter anymore. As in, it is literally just a number. It feels a little bit like I have stopped aging. I can't describe it at all. It is weird. Of course I have more and more white hair as the years go past and of course I get more tired and my skin is more wrinkly, all of that, but there is this strange stasis. So if I was to say honestly at what age did I think I stopped having birthdays, I would say around 40 or so.
So, what was also interesting, was I went to see The Favourite and I noticed that all the people there were around 50 or 60, maybe older. I think maybe they didn't get the film they thought they were going to see. But I thought jeez, these are now my contemporaries... do I look like that? I was in my outdoor trousers and my old Benetton jumper and my boots... and they were all in M&S and those beige wool scarves they love wearing so much. I had blue hair and they had silver... I think that's what's a bit worrying for me. When I hang out with people whom I don't usually hang out with but are my age, I feel a bit naked, like I have come to the party dressed wrong or something. It feels like I still haven't quite grown up... but to dress like that, I really don't think so.
I remember once someone said to me, when you wear it it looks fine, when I wear it it would look stupid. I don't know if they meant it as a compliment.
So, this has been vexing me a bit lately.
So before I go any further about the things I feel differently about, I also think that the last thing I want to do is pretend that I am 25 again. I was a proper 25 year old... I always think that I was the age I was supposed to be, so there is no looking back at my life and feeling any regret. I don't want to stretch my face or go on dating apps, or put on stupid outfits which aren't my age... I don't feel as if I missed out on anything at all. The reason I dress the way I do is not to feel young, but it is because I have dressed in a way which makes me feel comfortable all the time.
So the things I feel very differently about are... I don't know how to put this... new discoveries, because weirdly enough, they don't seem new to me at all. I don't say this in a jaded way - I have always known that there is nothing new under the sun. A cursory glance at history will show you that. And I am deeply grateful that I live in this time in history when self-actualisation for women has never been better. But when I mean nothing new, I mean... somehow, it feels like I have entered a new tribe - the tribe of equals - I think what I am trying to say is that for the first time, literally this year, I understand life. I understand what is needed - I just get it. I understand life on its own terms through my own perspective and it is amazing you know.
So this is the big thing: I don't feel the need to prove myself any more - I know that I used to cos now when I don't - it feels very liberating. It is as if to say, having lived this long, and having done the things I have done, and having challenged myself in every which way, I have accumulated this store room of experience. I am no longer second guessing things. I know what I want. If I don't have something, I know how to go about getting it and when I do have those things, I am deeply appreciative of it....
I guess what I am trying to say is that I have become an expert in life. And also, that there is so much more to be lived. And I have the maps and the equipment to go about doing that.
Sunday is always a think about it day....
Well, I now need to think about what I'm gonna do to make the most of it.
The windy wet day seems to have passed... I am now going for my run and then having coffee, followed by the service in Holywood.
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