There are tons of reasons why this is true. Some of these causes for celebration, like the social influence and clout our numbers provide, are legendary. With a grateful nod to our population bulge, we boomers continue our revolutionary ways: shattering outmoded social norms, molding the culture to our liking, and reinventing the role for what it means to be a post-50 citizen. (Which other generation could boast of forgoing the rocking chair in favor of the rock concert?)

But my thoughts are of a personal nature and I, for one, am grateful for the small things. Here is my list of seven reasons why I consider myself blessed to be a boomer:

1)     I’ve never had to consider piercing anything on my body beyond my earlobes.

2)     For much of my life, when I phoned customer service, I immediately spoke with an actual, flesh and blood person! Plus, (and big bonus here) they were trained to be polite and helpful.

3)     When I was young, there were no entertainment centers—no multiple switches, remotes, wires, and unintelligible manuals. There was a TV with rabbit ears, a dial, and one, elegantly simple, on/off switch.

4)     I’ve never had to deal with the heartbreak of a full-blown Internet addiction.

5)     I remember when people used real words and not just unpronounceable acronyms.

6)     Sixties’ and Seventies’ rock ‘n’ roll was the BEST and I know, without a doubt, that we boomers have never lacked for cool.

7)     We continue to be the grooviest generation on the planet.

So, what do you think? What are the ways you express your boomer bravado? How are you putting gold into your golden years? Whatever you’re doing, you can be grateful for being born into a remarkable generation. Let’s let those whippersnappers know we’re not about to drift silently into the margins of society. To the contrary, let’s shout it loud and proud: boomers forever!

Dana is fighting the good fight and it’s a big one. She is taking on Hollywood’s penchant for blood and gore, speed and explosions, and young, beautiful, half-naked starlets. Dana is crafting a film for grownups. One that stars one of us: a sixty-year-old woman whose life has suffered some unexpected blows.

The Red Suitcase centers around a cross-country journey Ruth Whitney makes with Liz—her phobia-prone daughter with troubles and secrets of her own. The story weaves unexpected revelations, humorous adventures, and colorful characters together to create a tale that’s dramatic, funny, and heart-breakingly honest.

I had the immense pleasure of interviewing Dana on Feisty Side of Fifty Radio and invite you to take a listen. It’s 15-minutes that will inspire you to want to learn more about this remarkable film. Moreover, Dana can use your support to bring her story to the screen.

If you, like me, are aching to see our own faces reflected back to us, this is one way we can take action. As they write in the movie reviews, this film is a “slice of life.” But this time that life reflects our own.

So take a moment, check out The Red Suitcase and help to bring this and more stories like it to theaters everywhere. It’s hard to feel feisty when you’re being overlooked—this is your chance to make a difference!

However, as with all of life, the years of fifty and beyond present choices. Perhaps the biggest choice of all is whether to celebrate our maturity as fully formed women in our own right or to mourn the loss of our youth and all that represents. Again and again, studies show that older women are happier and feel more fulfilled than our younger counterparts. But there’s a major industry out there that’s hoping to take away our power by turning us into youth-mourners.

It’s no secret. The aim of the anti-aging folk is to make us feel so inadequate, unlovable, and invisible (solely as a result of growing older, mind you) that we buy their products in droves. But Barbara Hannah Grufferman, bestselling author of The Best of Everything After 50: The Experts’ Guide to Style, Sex, Health, Money, and More, is on a mission to expose their wily ways.

Barbara is an outspoken advocate for women in midlife and also a frequent blogger/contributor to the Huffington Post at Huff/Post 50. In one of her recent articles entitled: “Is the Anti-Aging Industry Bad for Our Health?” Barbara goes into several ways these malevolent marketers create impossible models of perfection in a concerted attempt to play upon our fears. They must believe that, if they make us feel bad enough about ourselves, we’ll part with our precious dollars in a vain attempt to hold back the hands of time. Selling fear and feelings of inadequacy sets up them up for a ready stream of income. To their way of thinking, Father Time keeps marching on and the boomers are one heckuva lucrative target market.

I’ve written a couple of posts on this topic myself, “Who Do They Think They’re Kidding? We’re Too Smart for This!” and “Miss Representation—A Tale for All Ages.” Barbara and I both feel strongly about exposing these underhanded threats to our self-esteem. In fact, we just held a lively discussion on this very topic on Feisty Side of Fifty Radio. I invite you to take a listen—it’s an explosive 15 minutes that will get you steaming.

So, as Barbara wrote in her article, it’s high time for us “to get noisy.” Let’s use our celebrated flower power to best advantage, let the anti-aging industry know we’re proud of who we are, and that we won’t buy into their methods to make us feel inadequate. Such underhanded tactics might have worked on previous generations… but this time they’re dealing with the boomers. Menopause has never been so powerful!

The fact of the matter is the film industry, in the US and around the world, has pitted women against Mother Nature. It’s an impossible battle to win and we all know it. But when women remind other women of that fact, like Demi Moore has, we blame and label them as unsuccessful, shower them with pity and disgust. We think they are “pathetic.”

The author went on to further disparage the worldview of older women:

The sad fact is as we grow older, women around the world, but especially those working in films, are told that they are worthless. How ridiculous and wrong is that?

I used to hold similar thoughts and feared my fiftieth birthday like no other. But what I’ve grown to know—and what countless woman around the world also share—is the big secret. And that secret is the undeniable fact that, for most of us, there is no better time in a woman’s life than the years past 50.

I’ve filled this blog with several reasons the golden years are aptly named… especially if you’re a woman. I won’t go on to list them again now. Suffice it to say, it’s time for us to share this amazing secret and let our younger sisters know what great things await them. There are a number of words that aptly describe life on the feisty side of fifty and, believe me, pathetic isn’t one of them!

The two hemispheres of women’s brains are far better connected than those of men. Females have up to twenty-five percent more corpus collosum—the brain’s connective tissue—than our male counterparts. Therefore we naturally enjoy more interplay between the logical left side (the part that manages language, practical applications, sequence, and details) and the more creative right side (that largely handles feelings, imagination, intuition, and the big picture).

In practical terms, this means we can think and feel at the same time. We can access emotions while using our analytical skills. We can sense how our words and actions impact others, and we can use the best parts of our right and left-brains simultaneously.

Men, to the contrary, need time to switch from using their analytical processing to utilizing the more creative, emotional side of their brains. (Like maybe a long round of golf or a three-day weekend.) So when your honey says, “I’ll think about it later,” he really means it.

The exertion required to refocus is most likely the reason that, when we ask our guys how they’re feeling about something, it takes a good ten minutes from them to respond. That is… if we get any response other than a grunt and a wave of the hand to leave them alone!

But the big news for society is of course that we’re the boomers—the mightiest generation to ever hit the planet—and we’re not taking any of that crap!

So there I am going about my business one day when I hear the familiar sound of my mail carrier’s truck. Hoping for a message from a friend, I race out to the mailbox as fast as my fifty-plus legs can take me. (Just to be clear, I don’t have fifty legs… I couldn’t quite figure out the correct word order—but I trust you get my drift.)

Rather than the anticipated letter, however, there in the pile of junk mail and ads was a message of another sort… one that took my breath away. It was from a magazine I hadn’t subscribed to in years. They wanted me back and must have decided upon some clever marketing scheme aimed at garnering my business.

Now my guess is that the author of this cunning ploy had to be young, probably male, and absolutely clueless because there on the outside of the envelope in great big bold print stood the words that burned my eyes like a hot poker: YOU QUALIFY FOR THE SENIOR CITIZEN OFFER—DETAILS INSIDE!

Yes, I’m proud of my generation. Yes, I’ve come to terms with most of the changes to my body and my looks brought on by age.  And, yes, I’m a champion for the feisty side of fifty. But PUH-LEASE, leave my mailbox alone! Keep your offers to yourself or this ol’ gal just might suggest where you can stuff ‘em.

Well, that’s my rant for the day—I’d love to hear yours. I know you’ve got them because, without a doubt, there’s a whole lot of reasons to get feisty once you’re on the far side of fifty!

Suzanne Braun Levine writes of the “Fertile Void,” that time in a woman’s life between first and second adulthood when every part of her reality seems to be in flux. Her mindset is shifting away from the cares and concerns of mothering young children, building a career, and attempting to behave like society’s ideal of the modern woman—you know… the one about doing and having it all. At 50, she still wants it all–but less according to society’s definition and more on her own terms.

Gloria Feldt describes the dilemma further by recognizing that our generation is the first to encounter these types of thoughts and issues. In a recent article in Life Goes Strong, Gloria reminds us: “We are the first generation of women to have been responsible for our financial security throughout most of our lives. We never thought we’d be trying—or needing—to craft new careers at 50, 60, and in today’s economy, even 70.”

Yet it is in second adulthood that many women discover their essence. We start to identify that which satisfies our personal drives and learn the keys to finding work that fulfills our hearts and minds. But sometimes we can use a little help along the way.

So for mentoring material that will provide you with answers to your own quest, I suggest you take a look at Gloria Feldt.com and Suzanne Braun Levine.com. These two amazing women have personally inspired me. To my mind, there are no better role models of the true power of womankind at its best.

Also, if you’re looking to find a new job or career, I invite you to take a look at Land the Job You Love: 10 Surefire Strategies for Jobseekers Over 50. Along with job search techniques, there are plenty of self-assessment exercises to help you choose the path to the livelihood that’s right for you.

January is mentoring month… so, if you need one, find one. And, if you’ve had one, take a little time to let her know what she’s meant to you. Especially in the years past 50, we can all use a boost of female empowerment to keep us feeling feisty!

So why not let your own voice be heard? Why not share your personal tale with a mass audience? If you’ve got an anecdote about aging and menopause, have I got the perfect forum for you!  Not Your Mother’s Book on Menopause will be your chance to contribute humorous, inspiring, and even edgy tales of how you’ve traveled that rather rocky road to true maturity.

There are some guidelines you’ll need to follow. Stories need to be true accounts, written in the first person, and between 500 and 1500 words. (There are a few additional requirements you’ll want to check out.) Otherwise, have fun; unleash all that creativity that blossoms in midlife and let menopause be your muse.

When you’ve finished, submit your story here—be sure to click on the book title for menopause. (When the book is published, a brief epilogue will appear after your story where you can share information about yourself, your blog, or additional activities you’d like to promote.)

So have at it and enjoy! Let’s let the world know that our flower power is now in full bloom. In fact, in true boomer fashion, our generation is taking the “pause” out of menopause. And Not Your Mother’s Book on Menopause will be a celebration of the ground-breaking, revolutionary, and very feisty side of fifty—won’t you add your voice to the revolution?

To our youthful minds, there were clear and definite delineations: good and evil, right and wrong, truth and lies. However as we’ve aged, the “whole truth” has blurred a bit. More and more, we’ve come to realize that, for each of us, truth is a byproduct of our personal filters.

In the larger context, our truths are based on the culture of our country of origin, the religious upbringing we experienced, and the mores of the times in which we live. Our more intimate truths are based on our own experiences, how people relate to our actions, and what we believe about ourselves.

Even eyewitness accounts of crimes have now been shown to be unreliable. This is because personal filters and physical limitations also affect an individual’s sensory input–thereby impacting their version of “the truth.” (Wow! These forensic findings would have appalled our childhood heroes, Jack and Perry!)

Nevertheless, this realization can be incredibly freeing. We have a choice as to what to believe about ourselves… and that brings me to my favorite topic: aging. Study after study points to the benefits of having a positive outlook on life. Optimists, especially those with a rich social system of friends and colleagues, are better able to ward off disease, practice habits that promote health and wellbeing, and generally live fuller, happier lives.

So I’d like to pass along a truth I got from a friend. She received this particular piece of advice while sitting in her garden.

The Truth: Life Lessons From a Sunflower…

Stand tall

Back straight

Chin up

Face the sun

If you’re looking for the truth about aging,  I doubt you’ll find a better lesson to follow than that!

Seemingly everywhere one turned, there was a book or an article about this major life transition. Yet most of these pieces, informative as the were, spoke mainly of the discomfort of perimenopause and little of the wondrous freedom that comes with post-menopausal zest.

Suzanne Braun Levine and I have held many conversations on the topic. Suzanne is the former editor of Ms. magazine turned prolific author of books for women over 50. In fact, she’s just come out with her newest one, How We Love Now, Sex and the New Intimacy in Second Adulthood. Our latest discussion is a mere 15-minutes—well worth your time because Suzanne’s thoughts will resonate with you and deepen your perspective on your own journey through this remarkable stage of life.

In addition to enriching our relationships, the menopausal years provide us with numerous life-affirming freedoms. Many women report they’re happier in their third act than ever before.

Here are four freedoms that are true for me and, I’m guessing, for you as well:

The obvious—no more “feminine hygiene” products, uncomfortable bloating, or monthly mood swings. I often forget this freedom because I’ve now grown accustomed to feeling energetic and happy most every day of my life. However the cessation of one’s period is truly a cause for celebration.

Perspective—I’m freed from many of the worries of my youth. I no longer obsess about details, spend hours worrying that my words may have been misinterpreted, or feel wounded by a friend’s oversight. The realization that life is short is both a lesson in reality and immensely freeing. Perspective is truly one of the greatest gifts of age.

Learning to say “no”—This particular freedom is one Suzanne considers to be one of the most important of them all. As she puts it, it is only by learning to say “no” that our “yes” becomes authentic. In other words, we are now giving ourselves permission to “choose to” rather than to “have to.” This simple act of authenticity frees the individual and everyone in her circle of relationships… no more begrudging acceptance for us!

Learning to love myself—I’ve learned that I truly want to take care of my health, my wellbeing, and my-SELF.  As they say in the commercials, it’s “because I’m worth it!” No longer as concerned with how others may view me, I’m finally, finally realizing that I’m a valuable person in my own right. No more, “if I could just lose 10 pounds, I’d be attractive” thinking for me. I’ve become feisty!

So let’s share the good news with our younger sisters who are deep in the throes of perimenopause. Let’s let them know there is light at the end of the tunnel and, better yet, that light is big, bright, sassy, and incredibly freeing.

And be certain to check out Suzanne’s book—there’s no better way to celebrate love, sex, and the new intimacy than with an old broad’s sense of freedom!