How to Embrace Your Age to Find Creativity and Joy After 60

Having just had my 64th birthday, I found myself pondering on what ageing really means for me. As a life, body confidence and joyful ageing coach and writer, I knew that it was something more than simply feeling positive about growing older. My feelings ran deeper than that.

I have sensed for a long time a strange energy stirring in my soul. The closest way that I can describe this is that it feels like a yearning, a calling for something wild, free and deeply soulful. It feels close to the feelings of falling in love. And maybe I am. However, this love is not for another person, it is for a part of me that I kept locked away for years, afraid that if she was allowed to be fully expressed in all her wild and creative ways that she would be too much for others.

It probably stems back from my childhood, when as an exuberant and rather headstrong child, I was told that I was too noisy, too excitable, too sensitive and generally just too much!

Let Your Age Shine Through

However, as the years pass by, I find myself rekindling that young, wild and free spirit within me. At 64, I understand the gift that growing older offers us, if we can tap into its wild and wonderful message. It says:

• Let your eyes sparkle with the mystery and wonder of your years.
• Let your wisdom shine through in the way you walk, the way you love, the way you dress, the way you touch, the way you speak and the way that you see the world.
• Let your age tumble around you in glorious life stories that you share with those who will listen.
• Let your history be part of your mystery.
• Let your age nourish your body with safety and pleasure.
• Let your age shine through in the way you live your life.
• Let your age not define you but refine you.
• Let your age be one of the most magnificent things about you.
• Let yourself glow with your age.
• Let your age spill out in everything you do, infusing it with your passion, joy and dreams.
• Let your age be seen and cherished.

And as I allow myself to be nourished by these words, I know that I want to age wildly and wonderfully. I want to see, feel and experience every last drop of the life I began 64 years ago. Who will I be at 74, 84, 94 or even 104? I want all of those early versions of me to be proud of the woman that they helped to shape and sculpt. I want them to know that their efforts did not go in vain.

Enter Your Wild Age, Not Old Age!

Our wild self is unique for each of us and shows up in many different ways. It is the part of you that feels free, light, dreamy, powerful, courageous, fiery, full of passion, sensual, creative, limitless, unbounded, timeless, connected with nature and the earth, drawn by the moon and forged by the sun. It is the part of us that is often hidden away, waiting for the day when we feel safe enough to let her run free and express who she is.

However, more often than not, this wild part of us is held back and pushed down with the so called “rules” of what we should be like, especially as we age.

• Cut your hair short. Women after the age of 50 shouldn’t wear their hair long.
• Wear sensible clothes.
• Ruffles are out. Do you want people to think that you are mutton dressed up as lamb?
• Keep your makeup clean looking and muted.
• Wear neutral colours. You don’t want to draw too much attention to yourself.
• Be grateful for what you have – you can’t expect to earn much more money.
• Stay quiet. What will people think?
• Act your age. You should have it all figured out by now. You’re too old to behave like that.

These old beliefs are often handed down through families and perpetuated by society and the media. They often leave us feeling as if we should shrink our spirits somehow to fit into the box we call ageing. However, more and more people are embracing their age and also their wilder self. Age, it seems, is a superpower and one that can have us living our best life at every stage of our life.

Three Ways to Connect with Your Wild Essence, Joy and Creativity

#1 Reconnect with Your Body Wisdom

Our bodies contain their own unique wisdom and inner knowing about what is right for us, what lights us up, fills our souls and makes us feel truly alive. Rekindle your wild spirit by reigniting the relationship you have with your body. Ageing can be hard on our bodies. Over the years, our body will change and with this change often comes fear, pain or limitations. However, our body is always working FOR us, and it is vital that we find ways in which we can adapt, heal and grow through our physical challenges. As someone who has had arthritis for over 20 years, I understand this so well.

Allow yourself to feel what you feel. Offer kindness to the parts of your body that may feel uneasy or in pain. Notice any resistance that may come up with a sense of deep compassion and understanding. These are often the places that need the most love and healing. Start up a dialogue with your body and become aware of the messages that you receive. A beautiful practice is to tune in every morning to how your body feels.

Spend a few moments to be more in touch with the sensations, feelings and emotions of your body.

Become more aware of your energy levels and sense of “aliveness” within your body. Does your body feel expanded, light and free or do you feel contracted, heavy and closed in? There is no right or wrong way to do this. The key is simply to become more aware of the sensations your body is giving you in response to your life. This may take time and you may feel nothing at all for a while; however, the more you keep connecting with your body, the closer you will become.

#2 What Brings You Alive?

What do you love? Are there things that make you smile and lifts your spirits? What will you go out of your way for? What makes you feel safe, loved, joyful and fulfilled? These are just some of the questions to ask yourself as you connect with your wild essence. The clues are always in how you feel. This is why it is so important to listen to your body and to hear your own wisdom lighting up your heart and soul.

As you go through your day, become aware of the things that make you feel good, peaceful, joyful or excited by a possibility. They don’t have to be big things. Sometimes the smallest joys are found in the sound of birdsong in the morning or the warming cup of tea on a cool day. Perhaps you feel most at home while walking in nature or maybe you love music, art or are passionate about health and wellbeing. I love to dance and feel completely alive when I am teaching my dance and fitness classes.

The key is in allowing yourself to create what you most love. So often we put our own dreams and desires on the back burner and find ourselves feeling tired and depleted at the end of the day. Put yourself on your priority list and make time to give you what brings you pleasure.

#3 Challenge Any Inner Negative Self-Talk

What we experience on the inside, we create on the outside. This is especially true when it comes to our inner narrative or the “story” we are telling ourselves about what we can or can’t do. Self-doubt often stifles our creativity and makes us hesitate about following our dreams. Not feeling good enough will always hold us back and self-criticism will lower our self-confidence and self-belief.

Remember that the things you think about yourself aren’t necessarily true. Self-limiting or negative thoughts often stem back to what we absorbed about ourselves and our life early on in childhood. The key to rekindling your wild spirit is to consciously choose to focus on what brings you joy, what ideas excite you and to follow your aliveness.

You Are You

It is our wild spirit that contains some of the most beautiful experiences and creative endeavours in life. When you dress in ways that make you feel alive, when you eat foods that make you glow with health, when you live your life with passion flowing from your heart and soul, you connect to the greatest, most expanded version of you. It is here that we can inspire others to walk a similar path.

Remember, as you travel your unique life journey that that you are not what happened to you.

• You are not your anger.
• You are not the labels given to you.
• You are not your bank account.
• You are not your job.
• You are not your past or your pain.
• You are not the size of your body or your physical ability.
• You are not your parents or your ancestors.

You are You! Full of your own experience of life. You are wise, worthy and more than enough. Rekindle your wild spirit and allow yourself to rejoice in being wholeheartedly you.

Follow me on Instagram where I share beautiful inspirations on ageing with vitality, energy, passion, wildness, love and feeling fabulous! You would be very welcome!

Let’s Have a Conversation:

What brings you alive? Have you opened up yourself to explore your wild spirit? What are you passionate about in your 60s? How do you respond to constraints society imposes on you based on age?