Full Disclosure (this has been weighing on my mind)

I named this site The Joy of Sixty when I started it last year, but the truth of the matter is that I am closer to seventy than sixty, very close in fact …. next week I turn 69.  Will I be relaunching it next year as The Joy of Seventy?  Well, no.  I am happy to have it as a sixty- plus site, embracing our seventies, eighties, nineties  - and beyond, if we are lucky.

And encouraging our younger friends as well. 

But that’s not my only disclosure.

There’s the small matter of my photographs on the About page, the ones where I look relaxed, sophisticated, wrinkle-free and younger than my 69 years.

They were taken on a photo shoot which was gifted to me last year.  My friend, in her seventies, and I had a wonderful and truly life affirming, energising day out in London at The Gallery SW3 (no affiliation) in Chelsea.  I’ll write more about that in a future post, because you might love to do the same. We were treated to brunch, then our hair, nails and makeup were done by friendly professionals.  The (female) photographer helped us curate our outfits from the clothes and accessories we had brought with us, then photographed us in different studio settings, putting us at our ease. It really was great fun.

All the other clients that day were women in their middle to later years, some with their daughters for a joint session.  My friend and I had over 50 photographs each to choose from and I have to admit we were flattered by how good we looked. At no point were ‘filters’ mentioned and I would like to think it was all down to good lighting and professional photography, but…

The Joy of Sixty is not about trying to look younger, denying our age or placing higher value on youthful looks.  It’s about embracing our age, including all the signs and challenges that go with it.  A quick search for channels and sites that celebrate being sixty-plus will bring a deluge of videos and images of women trying their utmost not to look or be sixty-plus, but The Joy of Sixty isn’t one of them. We are all about self-acceptance, the confidence to be ourselves, to get involved in our communities, to learn, to have adventures.  What’s a droopy eyelid or a softening waistline compared to that?

Anyhow, I promised full disclosure, so I donned the same outfit and jewellery as in my professional photos and asked my son to take pictures of me using just my iPhone 13. No editing  or adjustment has been done, other than to flip the pictures to reflect the originals, so here you have the real me.  Yes, I’m wearing my usual makeup, but not the false lashes I was given on the shoot.  I wish I could wear them, but just the thought of applying glue in the eye area is enough to make me feel faint.

And so, I am about to turn 69.

I love birthdays – I can’t understand people my age or even younger who say they’d rather ignore them.  A birthday is just for you; it’s your day, it's special like you.   Unlike Christmas or other festivals, you’re not sharing it with everyone else, it’s all yours.  Be selfish for once! Do something fun, buy yourself a present, however small, mark the day and the year in some way. 

This year my birthday falls on a Monday so, like royalty, I am having an Official Birthday at the weekend when my younger family members are free.  I bake cakes most weekends for family visits but to celebrate my own birthday I’m treating myself to a day off and a bought cake. If you’re in the UK you’ll have heard of M&S’s Colin the Caterpillar cake – well, I’ve bought his sister Connie the Caterpillar, who sits on a sparkly pink base and is decorated with pink sweets.  I wasn’t going to bother with candles but I’ve changed my mind  - why not?!  Look out for the Instagram post…

Finally, do you make birthday resolutions?  I find it’s a good time to reflect on the past year and think about what I’d like to change or embrace in the next one.  This year I’m starting with a one month challenge:

No watching TV for the month of August. 

This has nothing to do with taking a moral high ground about screen time or the content on TV, but rather it’s about not sitting down for hours on end in front of the ‘must see’ latest series or box set.  I would be better served using those evening hours moving about, maybe in the garden or going for a walk.  I could spend the time crafting, writing, contacting friends or catching up with things I never have time to do. All of these would serve me better than watching hours of made up characters living their fictional lives, which add nothing to my own except maybe a little diversion.  If I want the world news, I can listen to it rather than watch it.

I’ll let you know how I get on in my next post.

Join the conversation in the Comments!

• Do you celebrate your birthdays, or are you stuck at 59 or 69?

• Do you prefer my real life, unfiltered photos? Be kind!

• Are you tired of all the anti-ageing hype aimed at us? Because when all is said and done, ageing is far better than the alternative.

Joyfully yours

Kate