Part of the aging process includes handling practical matters such as ensuring one’s affairs are in order. If you’ve not already done so, in the future you’ll most likely prepare a “Will” directing distribution of your assets and personal effects. But have you given any thought to crafting an emotional will?

What is the purpose of an emotional will? It’s a way to document and pass on the significant thoughts, moments, events, and values that have impacted and shaped your life. It’s an opportunity to leave behind your best advice for living a happy and successful life. It may also include a few “what not to dos.”

Since an emotional will is not a legal document, it can be whatever you want it to be. It could be in written form or even in video format. The resulting document (or other means used to document your emotional legacy) will be a product of your personality, creativity and style. Assuming you’ve managed to reach your 50s or beyond, you should have a wealth of knowledge and experiences to draw from.

Why Bother Creating an Emotional Will?

Here are four very good reasons:

#1: To Pass Along Your Life Know-How

To preserve and pass down your gems of wisdom. In some cultures and instances, elders are a part of “multigenerational” households, so values and other emotional mindsets are organically passed along to each generation. However, this is not the trend for most of us, and younger generations may have little or no contact with their elders.

#2: To Gain Perspective on Life

Creating an emotional will can provide benefits for you as well as your recipients. It’s a great way to reflect on your life and gain perspective. An emotional will can reveal your unfulfilled desires, hopes and dreams, prompting you to correct course as needed to accomplish and experience your best life going forward.

#3: To Preserve Your Unique Lifetime

No one else shares the knowledge, values and experiences you’ve accumulated over your lifetime. You are the only one that can author your unique perspectives on life.

#4: To Provide Advice to Others

You have an opportunity to provide what you believe to be timeless advice to younger generations, which may help them navigate ever-changing social, political, cultural, religious, and social beliefs and trends.

How Do I Get Started?

In exploring this subject, I found an excellent guide to assist you in creating your emotional will. It is in the form a downloadable PDF that can be found at EMOTIONAL WILL. The following are some paraphrased suggestions from the referenced guide as well as some original ones:

• Determine the people you’d like to leave a message for. Your children, grandchildren, friends?
• Your emotional legacy is more about crafting “evergreen content” to leave your loved ones, however you could create different content for different people if desired.
• Consider your most memorable childhood experiences. What did you learn from them?
• Who were the teachers or mentors that significantly impacted your life? How so?
• What is your biggest regret? How would you have handled it if you were granted a do-over?
• What are the greatest sources of joy in your life?
• What is (are) your most memorable act(s) of courage? How did exercising that courage change your life going forward?
• What is your definition of love and how has the love you’ve experienced shaped your life?
• What is (are) your superpower(s)? How did you discover it (them)?
• What are your most treasured travel destinations or places? Why?
• What are your favorite tools or means to manage stress in your life?
• Share one or more famous quote(s) that are meaningful to you.
• What is the most impactful act of kindness you received from another person?
• How have you given back to your community or served others in some way?
• What spiritual advice or scripture(s) has been most meaningful in your life?

Once you’ve created your emotional will, be sure to store it in a safe, accessible place. You might print copies to be stored with your legal will or save a digital version on the cloud or some other online source for safe-keeping. Make sure the person handling your estate can access and distribute it upon your death. You may consider sharing your emotional will with its recipient(s) while you are still living.

Sure, folks generally like to inherit money, property and other assets. But an emotional will has “intrinsic value” and is priceless in nature. It is something to be cherished by your loved ones and future generations long after you’re gone.

Please join in the conversation. Do you think drafting an emotional will is a good idea? If so, what are 3 timeless pieces of advice you’d leave behind?

As a 60-year-old woman who has experienced anxiety in some form since the age of six, it’s been an intense couple of years.

In the past two and a half years, I’ve made the decision to fade out of a career that I loved because it was becoming more difficult to do every day as I got older (a hard fact to face).

I began to pursue my lifelong dream of writing, and set up my website and blog, Life Balance After 50. I did this shortly before the world shut down with a global pandemic. That blog and its community of women was more of a godsend than I could have imagined.

This spring, my husband and I purchased a beach home which is turning into a much more involved project than we were ready for. Not a big problem, I know, but stressful nonetheless.

And two of my grandchildren were diagnosed with Type 1 Diabetes within months of each other.

What Led to My Decision to Work on Being Present

I’ve been doing a lot of reflecting – the events of this spring on the heels of the pandemic did something to me – something that is hard for me to put into words. Especially the diagnosis of my two grandchildren. This diagnosis made me upset, worried, and grateful all at the same time.

It also made me take a look at how I approach everything.

And at the effect my anxiety has on every single thing I do.

I live, overall, a joyful life. But my anxiety robs me of the ability to be present in the moment and fully experience the joy in what I’m doing. I could be swimming with my giggling grandchildren and be worrying about time, dogs, others in the family, my husband flying, or why my toe hurts. The list goes on and on. I never ever run out of things to worry about – real or imagined.

It saddens me to say that, in my entire life, I cannot think of a time or a joyful occasion where I was fully present.

And while I am not too old for anything I really want to do, one thing I AM too old for is to continue to rob myself of the joy in these moments.

My Program Launch

Last year, I created a program for the women in my community who were interested in redefining after 50 in some way.  I launch this program quarterly and this past June, the program was scheduled to roll out. I sent one email to my subscriber list and stopped.

Typically, I get super excited about it. I love my program and am proud of it!

But something was different this time.

I sent out the first email about the program. And that was the only one I sent.

It just wasn’t feeling right this summer. I didn’t need to roll out my program just because “it was time.” I didn’t need to add something else to the mix in my world to distract me from being self-aware.

This summer was going to be about looking inward. And being present.

What Does “Being Present” Look Like?

It requires constant self-awareness. Reminding myself each time I start worrying about something that hasn’t occurred yet, to pull myself back into where I am.

It involves things like:

• Taking an hour or two AND a book in the middle of the day and sitting by the pool without worrying about what else I should be doing OR what time it is;
• Sitting with my parents enjoying a glass of wine for the month that they’re here WITHOUT worrying about time or dinner;
• BEING in the moment. Feeling the grass under my feet, smelling the rain, snuggling my grandchildren, sitting outside and laughing with my husband;
• Taking as many moments as I possibly can each day to think about and marvel at all of the things that I have to be grateful for;
• Being present in this community and in my content creation.

What Does “Being Present” Not Include?

Worry

Getting rid of this is way easier said than done, but awareness that it is an issue is the first step. As I have been working on this, it has amazed me how constant my worry is. And most of the things that I’m worrying about are very likely NOT to occur. It has been real work to stop these thoughts. But it’s happening! Slowly, but surely.

My Phone

For many of us, this is our biggest distraction – the thing that most prevents us from being present in any moment. I have been making it a point, whenever possible, NOT to have my phone right at my side. It distracts me from engaging with the people around me as well as from the work that I’m trying to do in the moment.

I’ve heard from many of the women in my community with whom my struggle has resonated. It’s been validating, yet saddens me, too, that this seems to be so common among us. It’s not too late to turn this around.

Do you feel that you struggle with not being present? If so, how does it show itself? What sorts of things have you tried to remedy it?

Sheree Whitfield’s Leopard Print Hoodie Going to Blue Ridge

Real Housewives of Atlanta Season 14 Episode 10 Fashion

Sheree Whitfield looked grrrreat in her leopard print hoodie on the way to Blue Ridge. It’s a bummer that she had to pair it with a not-so-great-looking boot. But what’s not a bummer is that her hoodie is still in stock AND on sale. Which means we don’t have to break our foot the bank to wear it.

Sincerely Stylish,

Jess

Click Here to Shop Her Generation Love Hoodie

Click Here to Shop the Matching Pants

Originally posted at: Sheree Whitfield’s Leopard Print Hoodie

If you purchase an independently reviewed product or service through a link on our website, STYLECASTER may receive an affiliate commission.

When you’re coming out of a brisk winter, your skin doesn’t magically stop getting dry and dehydrated just because it’s spring. Leave it to one special powerhouse skincare ingredient to nurse your skin back to health. Everyone could benefit from some hyaluronic acid action in their skincare routine, regardless of the climate or season. It’s the type of ingredient that shows skin-altering changes year-round. However, not all hyaluronic acid-packed products are made the same.

In comes L’Oréal’s Revitalift Derm Intensives Hyaluronic Acid Face Serum to rescue your skin from whatever drought it’s been in. Our skincare bestie, hyaluronic acid, has more benefits than we can count. It hydrates, plumps and minimizes the appearance of wrinkles. That’s why this powerful ingredient is commonly associated with anti-aging. Plus, the serum is 50 percent off for a limited-time.

After just one week of rubbing this face serum on night and day, your wrinkles should look less noticeable, your skin should be firmer and your skin tone should appear brighter, according to the brand. With a 4.5-star rating on Amazon, there are thousands and thousands of shoppers who can confirm the amazing results this formula provides.

“I feel I look five years younger. My complexion is incredible,” raved one reviewer who gave the product a perfect five-star rating. “Can’t imagine going without this product ever again. Unbelievable product!”

If your complexion has been craving intense, deep hydration, let L’Oréal’s hyaluronic acid serum sink into your skin. 

RELATED: The 6 Most Life-Changing Vitamin C Serums With Hyaluronic Acid—All Under $30 on Amazon 

Photo: L’Oréal.

We already have hyaluronic acid in our skin, so getting a boost from an HA-infused serum only increases our face’s hydration levels. And as we all know, hydrated skin leads to a soft, plump, younger-looking complexion. This formula mixes low-molecular and high-molecular-weight HA for intense hydration. Once you cover your skin in this product, you’ll understand why. 

The best part about this lightweight hyaluronic acid serum is that it moisturizes without leaving your skin all greasy. It absorbs quickly and doesn’t leave behind a tacky feeling or residue. Because of this, you can also wear this serum as a primer under your makeup. 

“Today as I was putting on my makeup I noticed the mirror looked airbrushed. So I decided to do a one-week contrast and my jaw hit the floor,” wrote one five-star reviewer. “I can’t believe this drugstore serum outperformed a two hundred dollar high-end product. I wish I had started using this 20 years ago!”

It’s also compatible with all skin types, fragrance-free and non-comedogenic. So, whether you use it for moisturizing or anti-aging purposes (or both), you don’t have to worry about whether it’ll mesh well with your skin.

“With just ONE use, the deep wrinkle under to eye was already significantly less visible. I am in love with this product. I’ve only been using it for a few days but I can already see the difference in my appearance and lines under and around my eyes,” wrote another shopper.

There you have it: the face serum that’s next up on your shopping list. It’s about time you try L’Oréal’s thirst-quenching hyaluronic acid serum that does nothing but good things for your skin. Cop yours for 50 percent off on Amazon.