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Carolyn’s Story: More Beautiful Than Ever at 66
"I have never felt more beautiful, at 66, than ever in my life."
At 66, Carolyn has been a psychologist, artist, sculptor, and happily married for 40 years. Looking back, Carolyn says she feels more beautiful today than ever before.
Watch the video to hear her story.
Video Transcript:
My name is Carolyn. I am 66-years-old.
I mean, I have never felt more beautiful, at 66, than ever in my life. I mean, that’s really true. It’s like, I feel like, I get to claim, hey, I’m not bad looking. You know? And, it was never right before that.
But, it’s a lot of trying not to listen to the negative messaging that our culture embraces. I mean, it was a long haul. Because, you know, one of the things that is sad in life is I think that sometimes if you feel you are not attractive, you can find people who will tell you that. And so, I did have some reinforcement along those lines.
But, I don’t know, I mean, I had some positive experiences. And, I married really well. That helped. And so, I guess, it’s kind of like I grew into it.
I actually just retired from being a psychologist. I just closed my practice.
I am also an artist. And I continue to be an artist. I do sculptures using the vocabulary of textiles. So, I use knitting and stitching and techniques that one uses with handwork, and non-traditional materials. And so, in particular, I knit wire. I work with objects found in nature. Because my son and daughter-in-law are evolutionary biologist and ecologists, their conversations with me have really informed my work. So, I work a lot with themes of ecology and evolution.
The intergenerational friendships are very important to me. I seek them out because I think that people of all ages have so much to offer.
I thought I was pretty wise when I was young, and I was. And I know a lot of younger people who are way wiser than a lot of the older people I know.
But I feel like I’m old enough to have cred in saying that. That, I will tell you, is something else that I believe at 66, is we are always evolving and learning doesn’t end.
I feel visible at this age, even though I hear a lot of women around my age saying, “I am invisible.” But I think because I felt so invisible so much of my life that I feel visible now.
I make art out of sort of an intrinsic drive to create. And, I in particularrespond to the materials and the textural nature of making the materials. But then, as they build, I just feel like there is this inner dance of assimilation of my experience in the world and what’s happening with whatever I’m making.
I believe that each person who creates art has this internal conversation that goes and really does gives a unique voice in our art. So, we all see the world in this very precisely minute way that’s different from each other. And I think paying attention to that allows something to share in the world that wouldn’t otherwise be shared.
Being 66 rather than 26 has been way more fun. And it’s coincidental because it’s also, at 66, I am feeling, unlike 26, “Oh what the heck.” I mean, I’m just going to wear what I want to wear. I’m going to look the way I want to look. I want to have fun with fashion. It’s like, if I want to wear makeup I will. If I don’t want to wear makeup, I won’t. And, so it’s kind of like freedom.
Video Highlights:
0:03 Never felt more beautiful than at 66
0:19 Tuning out society’s negative messages
0:44 Married and retired psychologist
1:03 Artist: Creates sculptures with textiles
1:42 Why she seeks out friends of all ages
2:07 Believes we are always evolving
2:15 Feeling more visible as a woman at 66
2:30 Makes art out of her “intrinsic drive to create.”
3:00 Where artists get a unique voice for art
3:30 Why 66 is way more fun than 26