The Perks Of Getting Older, As Told By Ellen Pompeo aka Meredith Grey

When it's good to be bossy (not to be confused with bitchy)

Ellen Pompeo (perhaps best known as Meredith Grey) doesn’t do anything she doesn’t want to do. I can relate!

In a candid episode of the Ladies First podcast, hosted by InStyle’s very fabulous, very cool-and-chic Aussie Editor-in-Chief Laura Brown, Ellen talks about setting the example for other women who feel the same as her — young, wild, and free at heart, whilst looking to make a positive impact on humanity.

“There’s something that hits you when you turn 50 and you literally don’t give a fuck. We spend so much of our youth worrying about things that don’t matter. You spend your whole 20s criticizing yourself, comparing yourself to other women, thinking you’re not good enough, not pretty enough, not skinny enough, not tall enough.

And then in your 30s, you’re still sort of doing that, but figuring it out. Then, your 40s is when you really start to feel yourself.

Now that I’m 50, I don’t see myself in a box the way I did in my 30s. I think of myself as doing whatever I want, or doing nothing at all.”

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Her I-don’t-give-a-fuckness got me thinking…

I don’t want to wait until my 40th birthday to start “living authentically me.” I don’t want to wait another day to make moves on my business because I’m afraid of the financial risk or what other people are going to think of it.

While I’m a pretty straight shooter no matter where I’m at or who I’m with — i.e. I don’t mold into someone else for the benefit of others — I still find myself in the comparison trap every now and again, telling myself things like, “I should have written a book by now,” or “Look at everything she has done…why don’t I have my shit together yet?”

And the answer is that everyone is different. Everyone goes at their own pace. And we shouldn’t be berating ourselves for that, but chilling the F out because life isn’t a race.

What’s important in life is not our personal achievements, but popping champagne with the people we love and care about, full stop.

Sip Sip is a weekly newsletter dedicated to making moms feel SEEN in the realm of mental health. As the editor, I’m committed to easing your mom woes — one newsletter at a time — through advice, lessons, and humor on how to live your life right.

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Be you.

Xo, Ash