ageless solo woman empowered at 60
the hot goddess

3 Things I Wish I’d Known in My 20s, 30s, and 40s

This isn’t what I originally planned on writing for today’s post. Actually, I was supposed to post last Friday, but last week was my 61st birthday, Mardi Gras, and National Drink Wine Day, so I ended up recovering on my sofa, lounging lazily while nursing a headache, and lingering among the memories floating in my head.

On my Instagram today I posted about my travel memories of warmer climates. But what also emerged from my residual celebration fog were thoughts of lessons I’ve learned in the last decade. Lessons we all should learn in our 20s, 30s, and 40s.

1. Being different is good. Silent suffering is not.

Like any true Aquarian rebel, I have always been different. Marched to the beat of my own drum. Didn’t follow the other sheep. Quirky. A not-shy-but-needing-her-space-to-recharge introvert. Now, I embrace and revel in my different-ness. Hell, my personality tests all equate this non-conformity with vision and creativity. Ha! But in my 20s, I wanted desperately to conform, and cared mightily about what other people thought and said about me. I hadn’t yet entered my current midlife Whatever, Bitch period. In my 20s I struggled silently with depression and zero self-esteem as I finished grad school in Chicago, worked a bit as a fashion and print model, and got some of my freelance writing published in various local newspapers and magazines. My internal battle was completely undercover. Never discussed (black folks didn’t really “do” depression or therapy back then). Never known. That is until spiraling bouts of Percocet-popping and overdoses made it undeniable. Oops.

2. Happiness is deserved.

In my 30s things were going well. After becoming the first black and youngest VP and officer of the oldest independent PR firm in the country, I left to start my own tiny, local practice. It was doing well, winning some little awards, and snagging larger and larger accounts. I finally got pregnant with the help of fertility treatments, and realized my dream of becoming a mother. I was married and living in a nice house on a street I never thought I’d be living on. Everything was great. So of course I had to blow it up because I did not deserve to be that happy. I knew something bad had to happen so I figured, let’s just get it over with because I can’t stand waiting for the shoe to drop. Why do we think we don’t deserve abundant happiness, when simply giving ourselves permission to accept it is all we need to do? Now, I’m accepting every drop of happiness and am joyful AF.

3. We are good enough.

In my 40s, as the mother of a school-aged child with dyslexia, I wanted to learn more about how children learn to read. I thought about going back to school, but my inner critic kept telling me I wasn’t good enough, wasn’t smart enough, wasn’t focused enough to start over and learn something completely new. I did end up going back to grad school and getting a second master’s degree as a straight-A student, but that inner critic continued to tell me I wasn’t good enough to actually change careers and take a job actually teaching children. I wasn’t good enough to be able to make it as a now-single mom on a 60-percent lower salary. I wasn’t good enough…I wasn’t organized enough…I didn’t know enough…I wasn’t patient enough…I wasn’t young enough to start teaching other people’s young children. What the f*ck was I even thinking? Oh yeah, and there was the swearing thing, too. But I did ultimately decide to teach, because I was good enough.

Now I’m trying to learn all kinds of new stuff in my 60s, as I wrote about here. I may or may not be good at everything I’m trying to do, but now I know I am good enough to try anything I want to do.

Travel is one of those things, and I’m so much better at it now. I thought I’d share my photos from some of my favorite over-50 trips:

  • Turning 60 in Colombia
    photo credit: Cruellsg
  • Solo travel in Indonesia
  • Solo travel in Thailand
  • Solo travel in Japan
  • Exploring Germany
  • River cruising in Hungary
  • Solo travel in Portugal
  • Paradise in Portugal
  • My future home in Portugal
  • Solo travel in Morocco
  • Portugal winery sculpture garden
  • Falling in love with Portugal
  • Discovering the Czech Republic
  • The beauty of Morocco
  • Winter in Iceland
  • Black sand beaches in Iceland
  • Winter’s four hours of daylight in Iceland
  • Portugal explorer
  • solo female traveler
    Felucca sailing on the Nile in Egypt
  • Solo travel in Egypt
  • The High Atlas Mountains in Morocco
At my happiest, most content, confident, and empowered in my late 50s and beyond

If you enjoyed this please remember to Share, Like, Follow, Comment, Subscribe. (This is my “call to action” I’m supposed to include in every post. Thanks so much for your support❤)

25 comments

  3. This is so relatable. I spent a lot of my life thinking I wasn’t good enough. I still second guess my abilities. Plus I am a huge introvert who was/is always different. Congratulations in learning to understand all these things about yourself and for rewarding yourself because of them.

    Liked by 1 person

    Reply

  8. Interesting blog. I want to see your take on the topic of “loving a stranger”, the usual man-woman thingy. Have you written in detail about that, based on your own experience with love? Pls. do point me to any such blog post of yours. Totally appreciate your time in reading this comment. 🌹

    Liked by 1 person

    Reply

    • Hello Amir, and thank you for your comment. I just read your post on social media and completely relate to it. As for posting about love, I’ve not tackled that heavy subject yet. Just a couple light posts on dating. At times loving ourselves can be like loving a stranger, no?

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      Reply

      • You’re welcome. See if you can gather your thoughts someday on such an interesting (or heavy in your words) topic i.e love and write your detailed take on it.

        Like

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