Growing old isn’t optional ...but we can all choose how we age

There was a fun Twitter debate recently, sparked by someone asking why people seemed to look so much older than their years in days gone by. It lead to a barrage of vintage photos of parents and grandparents in their 30s and 40s, looking decades older. One user posted a holiday snap of her mum, taken in the early 70s, sporting a bubble perm and smock. She looked more like a granny than a 30-something mum.

It made me think about how our view of what a middle-aged woman looks like has changed drastically. Back then it seemed like you hit 40 and, bam!, you started buying your clothes from Woolworths and wearing a rain mate. Maybe it’s down to our growing interest in beauty and wellbeing, or our friend botox, but women simply don’t age like they used to. Name a woman (of any age) more beautiful than Rachel Weisz, 50, and Marion Cotillard, 45? When this week’s cover star Gabby Logan found herself at a loose end during lockdown thanks to the cancellation of the world’s sporting events, she found herself pondering what it meant to be at that midpoint through life.

In her new podcast she chats to celebrity guests about their own midlife challenges and expectations. She tells us on pages 6&7: “We’re all guilty of using stereotypes of what it means to be in a certain period of life. My aim was to shift that a little.”

Of course, it can feel scary reaching midlife but I take comfort from seeing incredible women continuing to achieve amazing things, well into their 50s, 60s and beyond. Growing older may not be optional but we can choose how we age and live our lives.