The Year of Living Older… And Liking It

January 15th, 2011 | Shonali Burke | 7 Comments

Today is my 41^st birthday.

Yes, shock and awe, I told you how old I am. Actually, if you’ve been paying attention, I told you how old I was a long time ago.

“How old I am.”

There shouldn’t be anything inherently off-putting about that phrase. After all, we start aging the minute we are born (not to mention we start dying the minute we are born, but it’s Saturday and I don’t want to bum you out).

But there is, isn’t there?

When you’re a kid, and someone asks you how old you are, you tell them your age quite proudly. If you’re like me, you are very specific, e.g. “Four and a HALF!” “ALMOST 15!”

Filed under Personal, Shonali Burke | Tags: 41st birthday, aging, being comfortable in my skin, empowering women, growing older | Comments (7)

This Is What 40 Looks Like

March 8th, 2010 | Shonali Burke | 14 Comments

There’s a terrific post over at Women Grow Business today on “the incredible disappearing woman” by Liz Scherer, one of WGB’s regular contributors. As editor of WGB, you could accuse me of being biased, and I suppose that would be understandable… though not, IMHO, accurate, but that’s neither here nor there.

When I read through Liz’ post, these words of Gloria Steinem when told she didn’t look 40, as relayed by Mollie Katzen, struck a particular chord with me:

“This is what 40 looks like.”

What an incredibly empowering phrase.

I celebrated my 40th birthday this year with as much pandemonium as I could muster. My community was incredibly generous, helping me raise money for a cause particularly dear to my heart. And then I had an absolutely amazing time in London, UK, as part of my belated “birthday blowout.”