A reader wrote to me recently. She is a brilliant and careful person. She wasn’t describing pushback from the outside world. No one had dismissed her, passed her over, or spoken to her as if she were invisible. The ageism came from within.

“It had to do with wrinkles that reached a certain depth. I was an ageist toward myself. Recently, something shifted. I challenged my own assumptions. I’m looking at reality — and that is what is rewriting the narrative.”

It takes wisdom to see that clearly. And courage to say it.

Ageism — prejudice, stereotyping, or discrimination based on age — is easy to spot when it comes from outside. It shows up in workplaces where older workers are passed over, assumed to be slower or less adaptable, and quietly pushed toward the door. Even forced to retire.

It lives in patronizing language — sweetie, dear, granpa — aimed at someone who has forgotten more than the speaker ever knew.

It hides in healthcare, where symptoms get dismissed as just getting older.

It affects the young, too — the eye roll, the ‘you’re too young to understand this. Not experienced enough.’

But internalized ageism operates in silence. You look in the mirror, and the detailed prosecution, your inner bully, begins criticizing before anyone else has said a word. You decide you are past it. Less relevant. Less vital. No external voice needed. You have already done it.

This is what I write about every day — the vintage choice. You as a sager in your 50s, 60s, 70s, 80s. You have lived, built, survived, and learned things that cannot be taught any other way.

The vintage life says: own that. Be proud of what you have made of your years. The alternative is to dismiss your own experience and quietly fade — and that is a form of ageism too.

My reader didn’t push back. She looked clearly. And what she saw is rewriting her story.

Please sit with this:

Where are you being an ageist — against yourself?

Thanks – Michael (he, him)

Please share this Daily.
This matters too – Sagerism – The New Philosophy of Ageing.

#2283

Please join my email list and learn more – Commit2Change.