New Year’s Eve is here! Happy New Year, darlings! The number one resolution women make is to lose weight and work out in the coming year. I have a better suggestion…make it a priority to stay visible in 2024.

I looked up the definition of reinvention, “The action through which something is changed that it appears to be entirely new.”

To me, that definition defines a fabulous Gucci scarf worn in a new way but not a vibrant, mature woman over 50. I thought to myself, “We don’t want to reinvent what took years to create… our inner selves.” What we might want to consider doing in 2024 is reviving or rekindling something we lost during the aging process – our visibility.

How Do We Stay Visible? Understand Why We Feel Invisible

After talking to several women better than 50 and reading many of your comments, there is a recurring theme that a lot of us face. And it’s not just women over 50, it’s a global epidemic, so much so that WHO recently launched a global initiative! In my mind, loneliness and visibility are intrinsically linked.

Therefore, I think women after 50 should unearth ways to rekindle their visibility because it’s the key to warding off loneliness. It does seem as though feelings of invisibility increase as we age, but let’s be realistic…we are not going to stop the aging process. We are not going to prevent the lines and wrinkles that make women feel invisible. But, we do not have to accept that these changes make us invisible.

Beauty is More Than Skin Deep…at Any Age

I strongly feel that outside appearances – think wrinkles, grey hair, and lines – those that set us apart from younger women, do not take away our visibility if we feel connected to something greater than our outward appearance. Beauty starts from the inside. When a woman is happy, she has her sparkle and believe me, people of all ages take notice.

Aging is the sum of many forces. I live by this motto, “Life after 50 gets better.”

I understand that women over 50 feel they have been erased, made to feel invisible, in a culture that equates ‘beauty with value.’ But I don’t let the feelings of society stand in my way. Nor should you.

I understand that many older women, once respected in the workplace, find themselves invisible, pushed aside because the boss feels the young are more productive.

I know that many older women feel invisible because they live just above the poverty level and don’t think they have the wherewithal financially and emotionally to live a productive and enjoyable lifestyle.

My philosophy for you on the job and you with financial difficulties “get tough with yourself and figure out what you can do.” Every situation has possibilities. I know. I have had my share of trials and tribulations.

Aging Well and Living Well

Yes, aging is the sum of many conflicted inner feelings and external happenings, but when we are faced with contradictory forces we must put on our thinking caps on and explore newfound possibilities. You must drive yourself to find a solution! Finding a solution will put you on a high and you will feel VISIBLE.

Many of you, darlings, may think that it is easy for me to muse about the above because of my lifestyle. I cannot disagree. I am blessed with my ultimate concierge who guards and protects me and who listens to me.

But he cannot wave his magic wand and defend me from aging, physically. He cannot go into my mind and change the negative thoughts I feel. Only I can overcome these feelings.

The buck stops with me, darlings, just as it ends with you. I have choices. You have options. My suggestion is to take a favorable view of a situation that can be perceived as negative. Your situation is only what you CHOOSE to make of it.

Why Do Women After 50 Feel Invisible?

Some women feel invisible, overlooked, because of their aging face and body and the perception of the older generation in American society.

The number one question to ask yourself is…

Do you want to ‘trudge’ through the remaining years of your life after 50, feeling invisible because of aging and what society thinks of aging? Or would you prefer to ‘stride’ with head held high by acknowledging that you are still very visible women, not because of your looks and age but because of the inner you?

I have friends who sat in my home three years ago telling me they felt invisible. They were college grads, many of whom had successful careers, raised beautiful children, were either married or had a significant other, were grandmothers, well-traveled and were financially comfortable. And yet, they felt invisible! College degrees, travel, lovely children, happy relationships, financial security, etc. were not enough to protect them from feeling invisible in a youth-obsessed society.

Rekindle Your Visibility!

The cure is in your mind. What is your purpose for the next several years? What are your passions? My words should immediately start you thinking and put you in a positive mood. Think, think, think. Come up with an answer. Be creative.

If you want to change your pattern of thinking, only you can do it. Set your mind to something and say to yourself, “nothing is going to stop me.” That is your purpose for 2024.

This creates an empowering discipline that will move you into action. You will become self-motivated and inspired and want to explore the options that will lead you down the path of feeling, relevant, visible.

In doing so, you will become connected to something greater than you that gives you pleasure in your changing world. You will rekindle your feeling of visibility.

Find Your Visibility

Perhaps you can…
Commit your time to a charity?
Plan a cruise or road trip?
Go back to college or go to a trade school?

Embrace the ideas that it is never too late. Involve yourself in social activities you enjoy or learn new exercises. It is all up to you, my darlings.

When you remain undisciplined, apathetic and dispirited, you will continue to feel, invisible and 2024 will be a repeat of 2023.

Connect with a group or groups. ‘Think we…not me.’ Women need women.

Finland is the happiest country in the world because 91% of its population belongs to a group or groups. A happy, connected person feels visible.

Joining a group or groups is usually free of cost or costs very little. Your job is to commit yourself to find a group you will enjoy.

A new world will open up to you because you will converse with other women your age on topics that interest you. You have the option to choose a group of your choice from, book and movie groups, to gardening groups, to grandparenting, to widowhood, loneliness, health and financial, travel, pets and if you prefer a group made up of all ages of women called multigenerational groups.

Are you interested in staying connected to other women better than 50? How can you remain visible in 2024?  Do tell! Please share your thoughts with me in the comment section below.