Aging Is a Privilege: Reflections as I Turn 40
The Beauty in the Rings
As I approach my 40th birthday, I find myself sitting with a quiet ache and a quiet awe.
Aging is such a strange thing. It happens gradually, until suddenly it feels like it’s all happening at once. Lines have formed where skin once seemed smooth. The softness of my face has changed shape. Some mornings, I catch my reflection and find myself tilted between gratitude and grief.
The reality and the truth I’m trying to speak gently to myself and remember is that: aging is a privilege. Not everyone gets to do it. And so, as I enter this next decade, I’m trying—really trying—to honour that truth.
There’s a tenderness in recognizing that the body I live in carries the marks of life. Every laugh line, every curve, every scar, every freckle and fold is a record of living. Would I smooth out the lines in a tree stump, erase the story the rings tell? Why, then, would I wish that of myself?
Trees don’t hide their age—they wear it as a testament. The heartwood, the dense, strong inner core of a mature tree, forms over time and becomes the most resilient part of the tree’s structure. Though the outer bark may crack, peel, and weather with the seasons, the heartwood remains solid, deeply rooted, full of strength. That’s how I’ve come to see myself: although the surface may change with the years, my heartwood—my essence—grows only stronger, more grounded, and more certain with age.
Nature doesn’t apologize for its transformations. The mountains don’t fret over their erosion. The shoreline doesn’t resist the tide. Have you ever looked at an old boulder shaped by centuries of wind and water and thought it should be smoother, shinier, younger? No—we marvel at it. We honour the story it tells.
This is not always easy to remember. We live in a world that tells women, especially, in a thousand subtle and not-so-subtle ways that we should be ever-youthful, ever-glowing, ever-smooth. As if beauty were a race against time. As if worth diminished with age.
I’m beginning to see beauty differently now. There is a glow that comes not from skin, but from the fire that’s been tended in the hearth of the soul. There is radiance in wisdom, in knowing who you are, in not needing to prove so much anymore.
I don’t have children, but if I had a daughter—or a dear friend struggling with self-image—I’d tell her what I’m working so hard to tell myself: Your body is not a battleground. It is a beloved home. A home that’s weathered storms, carried joy, endured change, and is still here—still breathing, still offering you the gift of presence.
Although my “meat suit,” as I lovingly and humorously refer to it (also a borrowed term from one of my favourite podcasters), might be showing signs of wear—weathered from the elements of life—my heartwood remains supple. The inner child inside me, that wild and wonder-filled part of me, is still there. Still laughing. Still curious. Still in need of my protection and care.
Aging gracefully, for me, isn’t about resisting time—it’s about releasing shame. It’s about softening into the truth of who I am and making peace with what I see. And maybe even learning to celebrate it.
So as I turn 40, I don’t offer advice or answers. Just a gentle invitation. To witness yourself with tenderness. To remember that the lines on your face are not flaws, but poetry. To know that the more you honour your own becoming, the more radiant you become.
May we all grow older with grace, yes—but even more, with reverence.
Because this life, with all its change and loss and beauty, is the most sacred thing we have. And to keep showing up for it, in all our aging, aching glory, is a privilege beyond words.
About the Author
Natasha Williamson is a multidisciplinary mystic, intuitive guide, astrologer, tarot reader, and founder of Soul Stellar—a soul-centred space rooted in the belief that we are all stellar souls living this human experience, and that there is invaluable wisdom in remembering who we truly are. With a lifelong passion for the mystical, she weaves together ancient wisdoms and diverse modalities to inspire deeper self-love, acceptance, soul resonance, and connection while navigating the complexities of being human.