Women Afire!

Over the hill...haggard...old crone...wrinkly...out to pasture.... There are probably other less than complimentary adjectives used to describe women at midlife and beyond. Typically, judgments like these arise from superficial evaluations of women's worth based on short-sighted values of physical beauty, youthfulness, high income, and a frantic pace of activity. For too long, women have accepted these judgments. The unspoken prejudice often leads mature women to defer to wrinkle-free, bubbly, and less qualified younger people. They not only throw in the towel, but also pull the covers over their heads, to become invisible, to spare themselves ridicule and rejection. Or, at the other extreme, they subject themselves to undergoing plastic surgery, sporting clothes designed for co-eds, and spending energies chasing the elusive butterfly of fading youth. The time has come to change these unhealthy patterns so that women can rewrite their life scripts and chart a new course for their lives. This book suggests that mature women can model a different pattern of aging that honors their worth and demonstrates the gifts of growing older. The title, Women Afire, reflects the image they can create by living lives that are on fire with purposeful, fulfilling, activities. Through practical information and engaging exercises, readers are offered the basics of caring for their changing bodies, elements of emotional health, and spiritual principles and practices that enable them to live life to the fullest. Beyond supplying women with knowledge and skills to foster their own optimal physical, emotional, and spiritual well-being, the book challenges women to cast an enlightened vision of aging that not only will serve all women, but society as a whole.