Like me, you may be a woman over the age of 50. And, like me, you may have a lot more going on in your life than simply growing old gracefully! FabAfterFifty.com reports that six in ten of 2,000 women over 50 felt that modern life is geared toward a focus on younger women, while 46% thought that a lot of what older women go through wasn’t seen or talked about…………!

Sorry, we can’t ask Mom, either. Our mothers washed out the other end of the divorce tunnel or lost a husband to death and felt no pressing need to join the working world, and certainly not the dating world!

That’s not our world, is it? Our situation may be a bit more complex. We are the Baby Boomer generation, the sandwich generation. We’re caring for our elderly parents, and maybe our grandchildren, too. We may be juggling a career with that. If we have a breath left, we may wonder where we’re going from here.

Apparently, when they have time to look at themselves, a lot of women over 50 don’t like what they see.  According to the blog FabAfterFifty, the picture isn’t so rosy! The survey there reports:

Many women went so far as to say they felt ‘ignored’.

The women who said their confidence hit a down-hill slide after 50 blamed changes such as gray hair, or the fact that they needed reading glasses. I will be the first one with my hand up for menopause! Remember the days when you wished you wouldn’t have to deal with your period? Ha-ha-ha-ha-ha! The joke’s on you.

But, moving on from that particular highlight,  many women said they felt ‘left on the shelf’ and ‘judged negatively’ because of their age. In fact, the study reports that only 15% of women over 45 claim they have high or very high confidence. Many said that they  felt that their ‘image had deteriorated.’

 Sheesh!  After at least 30 years of NOW, ladies!

There’s a vital component to this that we must address.   According to Your Health, by Lisette Hilton and Laurie Miller, ” A little self-confidence goes a long way in buffering the stress” of women 55 and older. ”

They continue: “A new, four-year study at Concordia University in Montreal measured the degree of self-esteem, levels of cortisol, stress and symptoms of depression in 147 people aged 60 years and older. Researchers found that if a person’s self-esteem decreased, levels of stress hormone cortisol increased and vice versa.”

WOW. Low self-esteem actually affects a person’s health!

What would enhance your self-esteem?