With age comes wisdom, and also white hair.
My life odometer rolled past the big 6-0 in 2021, and I already had the gray hair to show for it. I’d colored my silver strands for twenty years, and I can see now that I was also covering up who I was. Perhaps even resisting who I was becoming.
In 2019, before the COVID pandemic, and the gray-hair-out-of-necessity movement that ensued, I chose to go au naturale. I was tired of spending so much time and money on my hair. It was interfering with living my life. It didn’t go any deeper than that.
I quickly discovered it was about more than embracing my hair.
It was about embracing my life, as imperfect as it was. It was about becoming comfortable being me. Not trying to live up to expectations, mine or anyone else’s. Not trying to prove anything. It was about settling into the life I’ve created through every little, and big, decision I’ve made along the way.
In my six decades on this earth I’ve collected countless life lessons.
And plenty of strands of gray hair! Those strands decorate my journey, and my head, like silver tinsel on a Christmas tree. They’re something to be celebrated and revered, not covered up, just like the lessons they represent.
I’ve embraced my age and hair, now I’m embracing my wisdom.
Perhaps it’s more accurate to say I’m unpacking it, one story at a time. As I look back on my life, writing stories is helping me process all that’s happened. It’s uncovering the meaning behind the hardships and the happiness. It’s helping me learn and grow.
As I write, I’m sharing what I learn.
Writing is helping and healing me—an unanticipated and welcome consequence. I hope by sharing my stories they can also help and heal others.
I share my writing on my blog and on Medium.com. If something resonates, please take a moment to share a comment. I’d love to connect!