Friends for Life!
Numerous studies have shown that having a group of good friends you can count on is invaluable and necessary for a healthy lifestyle. These studies are now demonstrating the importance and benefits of friendship using scientific evidence, but we all can relate to situations in our own lives that point to these same conclusions.
Studies are showing that having good friends is likely to increase longevity, reduce stress and improve self-esteem. One study shows that people with the largest number of close friends outlive those with the fewest by 22 percent. Another study of women with breast cancer found that those without close friends were four times as likely to die from the disease as women with 10 or more friends.
Friendship improves mental health by helping us maintain brain function and improve memory as we age, adding to the quality of those extra years. The happiness of our friends is infectious and breads a more positive attitude on life. Having social support can protect against dementia, reduce the risk of depression and improve our outlook on life and life’s challenges.
Comfortable in Your Skin – The Glory of Mid-Life
I do my best to avoid “pushing against” anything. I know it’s a giant waste of time. I also know that regardless of how much we say we aren’t, by the mere pushing we ARE giving it our attention. Near as I can tell, you get what you focus on. Every time. No exceptions. So…I do my best to avoid pushing against.
That being said, there are some things that just trip my trigger so fast that I’m compelled to expel the fury of words that want to come screaming out of my mouth. Or, in this case, my fingertips. Am I pushing against? Maybe. Or maybe I’m simply aware that the reason it trips my trigger is because I have something of value to offer…and maybe even help a few people get past some old thinking. Either way, I’m going to pose this little dialog and let you decide.
I came across an article today that was beautifully written by a woman who owns a website called “Feisty Side Of Fifty”. She is a marvelous, humorous, brilliant woman who does a terrific job helping women move past their fears (of aging) and into the glorious adventure of this new start in life. I adore this woman for her spirited deliveries and her incredible humor. In any case, she wrote this article about a little ‘aha’ moment she had while perusing a Talbot’s magazine. She noticed that the models in the pictures were actually smiling. She also made note of the fact that while very (very!) young models may look perfectly fine with those sour, pouty faces on the cover of high fashion magazines, it just wouldn’t suit for women over a ‘certain age’ to do the same. In short, she was basically saying “It’s okay to smile!”
Developing Your Own Fashion Style
Your style is important. Ask yourself every time you buy anything, every time you make anything, or have anything made: Is it in accord with my style? Does it meet the requirements of correct dress for me?
If you live in a little city or a village and suddenly found yourself on Fifth Avenue in New York City, would you feel conspicuous in your clothes? If friends from the fashion centers of America were coming to visit you, would you feel out of place in your costume? You should not. You have the same opportunity to be correctly dressed as any other woman if you will study and persevere toward perfection in dress.
We must realize that we have a style of our own and that we are of a particular type. This is recognized by every fashion authority in the country, and by every fashion publication, for if all women were to adhere to one fashion, one fashion only would be shown in the fashion books instead of twenty, thirty, or fifty different designs.
Look through any fashion book today and you will find round-and-round and up-and-down lines in the same issue–all with the idea of helping women to clothe themselves correctly and of giving suggestions that will help them individually to find appropriate styles.