REINVENTING OURSELVES: IT’S NEVER TOO LATE OR TOO EARLY
This blog is inspired by our podcast, Women Over 70: Aging Reimagined, where we talk weekly with women in their 70s-100s about things that matter to women as we age. See Podcasts>Categories. You can listen to women’s stories in 8 different categories. This blog focuses on Reinvention. By the time you’ve reached your 8th decade or beyond, we imagine you know quite a bit about reinventing yourself, in large or small ways. What has been your experience with reinvention? For some of the Women Over 70 podcast guests, it has involved a dramatic change that makes their lives appear strikingly new. When Donna Marie Scheifler (episode #31) left the convent after 28 years, she had no clear vision of who to be or what to do next. Donna uses the metaphor of the chrysalis becoming the butterfly to describe her...
EXPRESSIVE ARTS – CREATIVITY IN ACTION
Creativity, of all types, is a recurring theme in the stories of our guests. Master storyteller, Advocate Margaret Burk, episode #115, believes in the power of story, not only to entertain but to touch the heart, spark the imagination and embolden the spirit. We couldn’t agree more. The very premise of Women Over 70 is to share the voices of our guests as they tell their stories on our weekly podcast. In doing so, they enable listeners to question, consider, express and give direction to their own aging. Our podcasts are divided into categories to make it easier for listeners to find topics that interest them. Expressive Arts was a natural category to include because so many of our guests are storytellers. As we listen to their stories we see that their art offers insight into who they are and how they...
Hopscotch, Egg Rolls and Snow Angels: Why Play is Important to Your Aging Self
Play has many benefits, across the lifespan. Perhaps it is time for each of us to ensure that play exists in our lives as we age. It can take on many different forms. Playing hopscotch (if we can still hop!), participating in Easter egg rolls and creating angels in the snow are activities we might derive pleasure in. Walking in nature, taking up improv, playing a musical instrument or participating in bridge games, while less physical, are also forms of play. We added Play to the categories in our podcast when we noticed how many of our guests emphasize the importance of adventure, fun, humor, joy, playfulness, and pleasure in their lives. We may have had high power careers, championed women’s rights or reinvented ourselves numerous times. We may have buckled down to take care of homelife, become caregivers...
Women’s Courageous Struggles Over Decades
March is Women’s History Month, dedicated to remembrances of women’s courageous struggles across the decades. While we celebrate women’s progress in making impactful changes, so much more remains to be done. Take, for example, the yet-to-be passed ERA, the century-old 28th amendment to the Constitution to provide women equal protection under the law regardless of sex. Just this month--March 2021--women Democrats advocated to remove a deadline for ratification that expired about forty years ago. With remarkable understatement, the bill’s sponsor, Jackie Spencer from California, said, “It is time to do what’s right and make sure that women are in the Constitution” (3.17.21). Many question whether just making us equal under the law will be sufficient to protect women and advance our rightful place in society....