The Invisibility Cloak
There is a right-of-passage as we enter our older years that can be very disconcerting. Suddenly we realize that no one is speaking to us – as older women. Marketing of products leaves us out in the cold. We don’t see ourselves anymore. The prime demographic I learned, capped out at 54! How can a large generation of women be completely lost in the market? How do we, or can we, wrap our heads around this external mindset of our age and value?
Seven out of 10 (70%) of women believe they become invisible as they get older. The frightening part of this statistic is that they feel this phenomenon begins around age 52! This is very bad news in the age of longevity. In contrast to men, nearly two-thirds believe that older women tend to be more invisible than men of the same age, putting this trend down to society being obsessed with youth (62%), ageist (54%), and sexist (35%)! (gransnet.com)
How do we react to this? For me, I believe these statistics validate my thoughts on the matter. The perspective that we are indeed ‘over-the-hill’ is blasted on birthday cards, reinforced when we see the only marketing aimed at us is pharmaceutical based. And the worse insult is marketing created by younger people who think they know what we want or feel!
Over the years I have been adamant that our brain doesn’t know how old we are. Our brain ages by the lifestyle that we lead. It can be a challenge to keep our brain functioning at a high level. It becomes our impetus to change our brain and change our life. So, what can we do? First, reclaim your age! It is not necessary to try to appear younger than you are. I thought I understood that because I am a gerontologist. I believed I understood that age didn’t matter as you got older. However, what I learned was, that it does matter. After going back to grad school in my fifties, I was primed to be an expert in aging because I was already passing those aging thresholds. What I learned was, I needed to appear younger and think faster if I wanted anyone to pay attention to what I had to say. I had worked hard to get a master’s in gerontology degree and hold a nursing home administrators license. It turned out that I couldn’t even get an interview. That left me in a quandary about what’s next!
It was time to reclaim my brain! I knew I had a good one even if it felt that no one younger could see me. We choose our outcomes I believe. We need to be a part of our own tribe. These were people who understood what I was feeling and were willing to support me. Once I felt comfortable in my own skin again, I had my confidence back! My goodness, how could I have ever let anyone, or anything take my power away? Then I doubled down on my wisdom and knowledge. It was at that point I realized how common it was for women of my age to feel invisible! It became my passion to spread the word about how powerful our brain is and to start shifting the paradigm that is invisibility in ageing to power in aging!
We are not invisible – we are powerful. Reaffirm your power everyday so that your brain is never in doubt mode but in power mode. We have a lot to do!
Reference:
Gransnet. Invisibility in Later Life. Retrieved from https://www.gransnet.com/online-surveys-product-tests/feeling-invisible-survey
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