Vixen Manual - Karrine Steffans [18]
Second, here’s a revelation: getting older is a victory! It’s like having seniority in life, especially when you utilize the experience of the years to your greatest advantage. With an education and a career under your belt, with your life goals and principles intact, you don’t have to panic or accept less than what you deserve. It’s critical that you realize you’re not the last of the Mohicans.
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Just take the right steps to make sure you’re ready when the man for you—the right man—arrives. That’s what we’ve been talking about all along in the prior chapters and what we’ll discuss throughout the rest of this book. It’s all about preparation. You’ve got to be ready, ladies. But you don’t have to be alone.
Embrace your maturity. Use it to your advantage. The wisdom that comes with age should be the very reason you don’t fall for the same tricks you did when you were a more impressionable twenty-something. Revel in the liberation that comes with knowing better by declaring I’m too old for this shit! when some man tries to step to you with a half-assed hustle that was sure to work on you a decade before. What can a man say in response to that? “No, you’re not”? Ha! Of course, he won’t. He’ll just keep it moving, targeting someone more gullible, and perhaps younger, because you know better.
Now, I’m sure those of you reading this who are older than I may be wondering what the hell I know about getting older. Well, hey, I may not be forty, but I damn sure ain’t twenty anymore. Just like you, I’m getting older, too, growing and learning with each moment that passes. Like many of you, I find that, as the years go by, I hear that proverbial ticking men always like to tease and semi-demean women about. Awareness of that ticking is what makes us women, attuned to the design of our bodies, our natural inclination to mate, the ability to procreate, be the backbone of families, and, yes, conquer the world, if that’s what we desire. Those feelings are nothing to be ashamed of and should not be diminished, but as we all know, it’s not always good form to talk about such things in mixed company or on first and second dates. That doesn’t change the fact that these feelings exist. Like many of you, I feel a little desperate at times; as if I want my whole life to happen right now, before it’s too late! Sure, I’m still young, but in this moment as I write this, this is the oldest I’ve ever been, and the fact that I haven’t accomplished everything I want to do is scary just the same. By the time this book is published, I’ll be even older and, hopefully, even wiser. As my prior memoirs have explicitly detailed, even though I may be younger than some of you, I’ve experienced much more—both positive and negative, in a concentrated amount of time—than many women will (and should) over a lifetime. I can definitely contribute on the wisdom tip. Besides, when it came to preparing advice for this chapter, I made sure to consult women who managed to survive their twenties and withstand their thirties, because I know I don’t know it all, and I’m not afraid to admit it. Ha!
Oh, and before I wrap this up, here’s a tip for you twenty-somethings, a little something to remember every time one of those suspiciously smooth-talking guys slithers toward you with his transparent game: you’re too old for this shit, too. You probably just don’t know it yet.
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Recap
There is a special glow about a woman who wears the passage of time with honor and grace.
Calm down.