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Boom. Can you hear it? It's not a bomb. It's not an auto's backfire. It's not even the sound you hear when the other shoe drops.
Rather what it is are voices. Millions of voices. Millions of Baby Boomer voices. Women’s voices.
First let me give you 3 Tips for Boomer Women:
- Don't let yourself become Invisible.
- Boom your voice.
- Refuse to go quietly into that good night.
Let me tell you why.
I'm a Baby Boomer; I have gray hair and look a bit like my grandmother. Actually I look like a grandmother because I am a grandmother and so very proud of it. I attended the BlogHer11 conference and have already written about my personal invisibility experience. I wrote that the question about aging and beauty I brought up at the Own Your Beauty breakout session resonated with quite a few women. The question asked by one person that has stuck with me is: how did I all of a sudden cease to count?
So, and hence, my tips. I have a personal observation that the Baby Boomer generation just might be the first of our species who won't retire...not if "retiring" means ceasing to be heard in the marketplace or any other arena of influence. In January of this year there was a plethora of articles about the fact that the first of the Boomers turned age 65. The articles tended to talk about Social Security and how aging Boomers will fade into the ether. Instead I would like to suggest that maybe there is a different way to think of the fact that every day for the next 20 years 10,000 people will turn age 65 and that they are:
- still viable people who have something worthwhile to say
- a huge dollar sign and marketing presence
- still able to vote...I think politicians would be wise to remember this
- mature, experienced and a wealth of creativity and innovative thinking
Here's the suggestion: let's indeed change the conversation. Let's abolish the word "aging" and accept the descriptor "mature." When my mother was my current age she actually did consider herself to be getting "old." I do not. My generation is healthier than our parents' generation was so it is not outside the realm of dreams that those Boomers now age 60 can live another 40 years...that is quite a window inside of which to build a whole new career. To invent new things. To seed and grow new ideas and innovations. To find a cure for cancer and to help fix the legacy code of a troubled planet. I want to say: Boomer Women: find your voice and do not go quietly into that good night.
I have discovered I want to write about this in greater depth and give other women a way to be heard and encouraged to do so. I’ve developed a survey and invite Boomer women to sign up to receive this survey. Sign up at: http://bitly.com/BoomerEmail and I’ll send out the survey. Let’s get loud. I hope you’ll join me.
Linda C Smith, Artist and Writer
