Age

“I love my age. Old enough to know better. Young enough to care. Experienced enough to do it right.” (Angela Bassett) (Black Women Empowered NJ/NY)

I love this quote by Angela Bassett because she has embraced her inner and outer beauty with dignity and grace. Being older women, mainly black women or any women of color, we all have things that we need to deal with because of society. We also know that we are the ones that have to prove ourselves more so than others because we are women and we are women of color, and being a woman of color has a tendency to intimidate others because we exist.

My age has taught me to be better than who and what I was in my twenties and thirties. Angela Bassett said it best because we are old enough to know better about many things we let come into our lives.

I am young enough to care about myself and others. Even when I see that others may not care about me the way I care about them, that is okay because I know who I am. When I get to a place where I stop caring about others, then I need to pause and look at what the other person has done for me to stop caring for them like I used to. I don’t need the negative energies from others that are not doing things better for themselves. I know that I can only guide you to a certain point and if you don’t want to care anymore, then I have no problem with moving on with my life and giving my attention to others who need it more than you do.

I am experienced enough to do it right this time around. Experience is an excellent motivator for all kinds of things in life, but the real question is, what do you do once you have gained the knowledge? Do you sit around and wait for others to lend a helping hand to help you to the next level? Or do you sit around and cry about all of your issues? Life is too short to expect others to give you all the things you know you need to change your life around.

I love people in general, and I love to help others when and where I can, but if the person I am currently trying to help does not get the lesson, I will let you learn the lesson before I invest more time and energy into you. You have to show me that your life is worth fighting for because I know what it is like to be a rock bottom mentally and emotionally, and this is no place for anyone to be if you are trying to move forward with your life.

My age has never been a factor because as long as I can find the beauty in this life, I will always smile and keep my spirits up. I will not keep depositing my positive energy into others if they are only stuck on complaining all of the time about what others should be doing for them, like they earned the right to take all of your vibes and keep it for themselves.

We all need to wake up with the mindset of making this day better than yesterday and going to bed at night knowing that you have done your best to help at least one person each day become better than they were yesterday. We have to be able to save ourselves first to help save others because this is the life blood of a happy life and showing gratitude for all you currently have.