Monday, January 5, 2009

Happy New Fear to Boomer Women by Maggie Rose Crane

Today's guest blogger is Maggie Rose Crane, author of Amazing Grays – A Woman’s Guide to Making the Next 50 the BEST 50 (Regardless of your hair color!).



* Are you a woman approaching midlife?
* Looking to create a fresh start?
* Ready to awaken slumbering dreams?
* Want to give your life more meaning?
* Courageous enough to dig a little deeper?
* Interested in making your life last longer?
* Ready to put your fears of growing older to rest once and for all…and feel “beauty- full” in the process?

Then be sure to visit Maggie's website to find out more about Amazing Grays!

Happy New Fear to Boomer Women
By Maggie Rose Crane

Another year gone by and we boomer women are another year older. Another fear closer to…gulp, our senior years! Does it seem to you like the years are passing by too quickly? Suddenly we’re pushing open the door to years we somehow believed would never touch us. One minute we’re 30 and the next we’re pushing 50! The illusion long held by our generation that we would be “young forever” has been dashed. As a result, many of us are now viewing a future through a lens clouded by fear of what’s to become of us as we age.

Like so many women who have spent a lifetime marinating in our culture of youth and beauty and its negative stereotypes about aging, I secretly feared that I might eventually become a feeble, lonely, prune-faced old woman with her boobs in her lap… and I was nothing less than horrified at the prospect. Having put too much value on the external aspects of my life, my physical appearance, my career and my stuff, I wondered who would I be as these things began to change.

Questions began to surface… Will I become invisible as I age? Will I be loved, respected, desirable? Is this the beginning of the end? Have I done what I came here to do? Is it too late? Will I be all alone? And what’s with this permanent flotation device around my middle?

I decided that rather than succumb to my expectations and fears about aging, I would challenge them by holding them up to the light of day. I suggest you do the same.

What are you most afraid of? What’s the worst that can happen? How do you see yourself in 10, 20 or 30 years? Do not edit the process. Give yourself time to write it ALL down. By taking the time to write down your fears, expectations and limiting beliefs about aging, you will become aware of the chorus of voices inside your head that have been running the show from backstage. Often, just exposing them to the light of day diminishes their power.

Then, ask yourself – Is this true? Who said so? How do I know? How can I change it? What is the future I choose to create? What are some things I can DO to make that happen?

Remember, what you think about you bring about. Our reality if most assuredly influenced by our thoughts. So, change what you think!

So much of what dampens our joy are really just the noisy voices of our past programming. Our internal pictures of what it means to grow old are embedded into our subconscious mind from the time we were young. The only way to change a stereotype is to challenge it. Replace your limiting beliefs with empowering reassurances and pictures in your mind of what you would like your life to look like.

As I worked through my fears, it dawned on me – this was not the end of my life, but a new beginning! This was an opportunity to view life from a new vantage point and embrace a fresh perspective. It was a chance to reclaim the authentic me and design the life I want to live from here on out. By keeping the aspects of myself and my life that reflect who I really am, and changing, transforming or dropping those that don’t, I could create the identity and life that I chose.

And so can you. It’s just that most of us forget to choose!

Adapted from: Amazing Grays – A Woman’s Guide to Making the Next 50 the BEST 50 (Regardless of your hair color!) www.maggiecrane.com

You can purchase Amazing Grays at Maggie's website or at Amazon.com.


The AMAZING GRAYS VIRTUAL BLOG TOUR '09 will officially begin on January 5 and end on January 30. You can visit Maggie's blog stops at www.virtualbooktours.wordpress.com in January to find out more about this talented lady!



As a special promotion for all our authors, Pump Up Your Book Promotion is giving away a FREE virtual book tour to a published author or a $50 Amazon gift certificate to those not published who comments on our authors' blog stops. More prizes will be announced as they become available.

No comments: