Have you seen Practical Magic 2 yet? I haven’t yet, but I want to rewatch the 1st one & then take my niece to see the 2nd.
Apparently, there’s been a lot of hype around the movie. The most interesting thing to me is a post I saw from someone who has a blog/podcast. She was intrigued by the comments she read from people about the movie. Specifically, comments from women about the actresses, Nicole Kidman (59 years old) & Sandra Bullock (62 years old). Comments ranged from “they look great” to “too much botox” to “when can I enter my crone era?” It caught my attention & so I listened to her podcast.
Do look they great? I don’t know. I guess it depends on your standards for what looking great is? The podcaster who was commenting on all the comments focused a lot on how tiring maintaining beauty is & the monetary cost. She calls it “performing beauty”. She wanted to know when was she going to be able to stop. When could she just “age” & be a crone.
Now personally, I’m not a huge fan of the word crone – it sounds…old (there it is! what’s wrong with that?! Old, I mean). One of the definitions for crone is: A woman who is venerated for experience, judgment, and wisdom. So…what does that have to do with how you look? Does it have anything to do with beauty? I get it, the movie industry, social media & our culture all place a pretty high (unreasonable) value on looks, especially looking young. But for me, it’s a lot less about I look & a lot more about how I feel.
I just turned 57. I think I actually feel better now, than when I was in my 20s or 30s. Did I have more energy then? I don’t know. Maybe? Maybe I just had a lot more free time (that I wasted) & I slept more. I wasn’t very healthy, mentally & emotionally, & I didn’t focus on taking care of myself. I guess I looked good. But I didn’t really feel good – I didn’t have whole being wellness. Now, I feel good. Yes, I get tired. I run out of steam by 8pm (on a good night). But I feel good about who I am. I feel strong too! I lift & practice & swim & walk & do all the things that I do to take care of my body, my mind, my heart & my spirit. Because I want to keep doing the things that I love to do. For as long as I can. I would like to be venerated for my wisdom, judgement & experience…regardless of how I look.
So it’s interesting. The commenter wants to be done with the “work” of beauty. Someone else wants to enter their crone era. My question is…What’s stopping them? If they feel good doing it, what’s stopping them? How about you? What’s stopping you from feeling good?
(& maybe joining us for class this week would help)
