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This may (or may not) surprise you, but did you know that women’s self-confidence drops when they hit fifty? It’s true, I was reading an article about it the other day that said most women feel invisible by the time they’re 51. There’s just something about that age milestone that drains all the self-confidence from your body and puts negative thoughts in your head.
Naturally, we don’t want this, and I don’t want any of you to feel this way at all! There are a few reasons behind this drop in confidence around the big five-o, and I think the main one is menopause. When you start to go through that and come to the realization of what it means, it just makes you feel old and makes you feel unattractive.
In my eyes, I think a lot of us maybe reach 50 and then have this thing in our minds where we automatically feel like we aren’t sexy anymore because everyone sort of puts this milestone under the microscope. People might jokingly say you’re old, we read studies like the one I mentioned, and it gets in your head that you’re no longer the spring chicken you used to be. Well, just because you’re 50, that doesn’t mean you shouldn’t feel confident and sexy! So, I have some advice on how you can get that self-confidence back once and for all.
Tackle your wrinkles head on
Wrinkles are literally the most normal thing ever. If you’re over 50 and you haven’t developed wrinkles, then you’re either a genetic freak or have been following a fantastic skincare routine your whole life. It’s something that’s bound to happen due to stress, tiredness, and just the skin naturally losing its plumpness. So, first and foremost, don’t look at yourself as an old granny if you have wrinkles at 50, I’m pretty sure most people have them in their twenties nowadays!
Anyway, just because they’re natural, that doesn’t mean you don’t get upset by them. For me, it’s probably one of the biggest things that make people worry and lose confidence. You look older when you have wrinkles, that’s just a fact. As such, if you can tackle the problem head on, and get rid of them, then you’ll automatically feel much better about yourself. Now, you can get wrinkles all over your body, but I think the three main problem areas are the face, neck, and chest/cleavage.
The good news is, there are many things you can do to tackle each of these problem areas. If you want, you could go down the medical route and get botox injections. But, these tend to be pretty expensive, and I believe there are better, slightly more natural options out there. Firstly, you need a good anti-wrinkle cream to try and breathe life back into your skin. These creams basically try and add nutrients, and things like collagen, to your skin cells, so your skin tightens up and looks plumper and less wrinkly. If you’re interested, there’s an article on the 10 Best Anti Wrinkle Creams Of 2018 that’s worth looking through. Staying on the topic of creams, get a moisturizer as well to avoid dry skin. Skin that’s dry will easily become wrinkly if you’re not careful.
Both of the ideas mentioned above apply to all three problem areas. However, the chest area deserves its own special treatment. When you have wrinkles here, it puts you off wearing quite revealing clothes like low cut tops or lovely dresses. As such, you feel like you’re always trying to cover yourself up, which doesn’t make you feel sexy at all. One of the best ways you can tackle cleavage wrinkles is with a patch that almost lifts the skin up and helps tighten it. Think of it as like a surgical facelift, but with no surgery involved, and on your cleavage area instead. Also, aloe vera is very effective in this area of the body.
Likewise, you can get things that give you a neck lift to deal with neck wrinkles. But, one cool thing you can do to target these wrinkles is stretching your neck and doing neck exercises. This can help tone up the neck muscles, which results in much tighter and tauter skin. Speaking of this, I forgot to mention that facial yoga is very much a thing and will help get rid of face wrinkles too!
Commit to a healthy lifestyle
For most of us, the 50-year-old version of ourselves looks a lot different from the 25-year-old version. There are loads of reasons this is the case, one being that you may well have had 2, 3, maybe even 4 kids since then! Giving birth takes its toll on your body, and then you have to deal with the realities of parenthood. You get less free time as you get older, so life almost becomes a case of trying to find the most efficient way of doing things.
Consequently, we slip into bad habits like eating microwave ready meals, getting takeaways, and not being able to go to the gym because we feel we don’t have time. As a result, we can feel really bad about our physical appearance and look back at old photos wondering how we’ve gone from bombshell to stressed out mum!
So, one thing you can do to fix all of this and really give yourself a confidence boost is to commit to a healthy lifestyle. Create meal plans every week, so you know what you’re going to eat for every meal and make sure you eat healthy, natural, foods. Prepare meals in advance as well so you can just pick them up and go, or just heat them up in a matter of minutes. You will find an amazing difference in yourself when you do something as simple as eating more clean food. Things like vegetables and fruit will do wonders for your skin and can just make you feel a lot better about yourself as you know you’re being clean.
Likewise, couple your eating habits with some regular exercise. Thirty minutes a day of active movements can help you burn calories and start losing weight. If you can, try and get to a gym for three days per week, and maybe go for runs or cycles on the other 4 days – or just walk more every day. If you can’t afford a gym membership, then do some home workouts using your own bodyweight as resistance. The benefit of resistance-style training (either with weights or your bodyweight) is that you start to develop muscles. In turn, this can help you see more toned arms, legs, stomachs, shoulders, and even a firmer backside as well! Personally, I recommend getting a fitness tracker as well, just so you can see the calories you burn every day. Trust me, it will make you feel so much happier when you look at how many calories you burn, and you just feel fitter and more confident.
Bring back dates
Remember the early days of seeing someone or getting married? Everything was so lovely, and there was just so much chemistry between the two of you. You’d go on dates and get complimented all night long, just having that attention from your partner automatically made you feel sexier and more confident.
Sadly, as we get older, we almost grow further apart from our other half. Well, maybe that’s not a fair assessment of things, I think a lot of couples are still very close after 50. If anything, it’s more a case of you grow further apart romantically. The spark just seems to fizzle out and die, which makes you feel bad as there are no more dates, no more compliments, and you start to think they don’t find you attractive anymore.
In reality, it’s probably just a case of life getting in the way of things. Sometimes, all you need to do is hit the reset button and start again. Act like you’re in your first days of dating and actually go on regular dates. One night per week, that’s all you need for this to work! Just being in that scenario of getting dressed up for a date and seeing your partner smile as they look at you – it fills you with so much self-confidence.
Going on date nights gives you some alone time where you can chat on a deeper level again. It reignites the spark, which will quickly transform into a burning fire of passion if you keep things up! A woman that feels loved and appreciated by their other half is a much more confident woman.
I know there’s a lot to take in here, but it’s some really great advice that will make you feel so much better about yourself when you’re 50 and older. Don’t let age stand in the way of your life and bring you down. Work on improving your lifestyle, taking better care of yourself, and injecting more passion into your marriage. All of this will make you feel like a million bucks!
