May 6, 2022
Halle Berry is the front-cover feature in the current issue of AARP, The Magazine. It is likely that many (most?) of my readers have seen that attractive cover. Perhaps because my brain’s screen retains a sexually provocative photo of Berry, I flinched when I read “How the Actress Dug Deep to Make Life Right in Her 50s.” I decided to read the article.
I learned much that will surely (I hope) modify that big picture on the screen. I hope it will change me. Here are several statements worth remembering.
“Now, in my 50s I have my babies, my career, and finally have love in a real, meaningful way.”
“Sometimes we know something or see something or feel something and we talk ourselves out of it.”
“All the goodness I have in my life now is … because I started to take control of my life in a different way.”
“Not only have I worked in a shelter for 25 years, but it’s how I grew up as a child, with an alcoholic, violent father … . I knew that I had to go toward the truth and not be afraid of putting this light in these dark places.”
“… my children … they’re watching what I’m doing, and that’s what they remember.”
“Like men, women have a lot of pent-up anger and angst and sadness. I needed a healthy way to get this stuff out of my body.”
“Women get stuck in relationships. We want to make it work; we want to fix it … so we stay stuck for ten years. Then we often jump into a new relationship to heal from the old one, and we’re just rebounding and never taking the time to grow and take care of ourselves.”
“I refuse to become someone who just tries to hold on to a youthful face and not embrace what’s most important — how you live your life, how you give back to others, how you strengthen your mind, body and soul, how you give in a meaningful way of yourself.”
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