Miranda Lambert Credits Her Mom with Her Take on Aging: “You’ve Just Got To Lean Into It”

For country music superstar Miranda Lambert, life has always revolved around family, friends, faith, and a table full of good food. “Every one of us makes memories around tables,” Miranda tells Woman’s World. “We were pretty poor growing up, but my mom would always set the table and use the good china. She made beautiful meals and was a stickler on sitting together as a family at dinnertime. I appreciate those lessons: how to make a house a home, to celebrate always and often for no reason, and to use all the good stuff.”

For “The House that Built Me” singer, her mother’s wisdom has helped Miranda thrive through the good, bad, and the ugly of life, including a painful divorce in 2015 from country singer Blake Shelton. And with her 40th birthday coming up this year, Miranda is prepared to carry all of that with her as she blazes forward. “I’m excited for the future — I feel like some days, I’m just getting started!” she says. And with a house in Tennessee with new husband Brendan, her current hit album, Palomino, galloping up the charts, and her Walmart home goods line — named Wanda June, after her grandmother, Wanda Louise, and her mother, Beverly June — flying off the shelves, it’s true the sky is the limit for the hitmaker.

“I see my mom and her girlfriends who are in their 60s acting like they are 30, and I feel like what Dolly Parton says is true: ‘Age is just a number!’ I have so many strong women who are older than me living their best lives at 60, and it helps me see there’s beautiful things about every decade: You’ve just got to lean into it.” 

Here, Miranda shares her six tips for living life to the fullest and enjoying every year.

1. Lean on your faith.

“I grew up in church, and my faith has gotten me through all the heartbreaking things I’ve had to go through,” says Miranda. “I really have relied on my roots and definitely relied on Jesus so many times to really get me to where I needed to go. I’m thankful for my upbringing because it’s hard sometimes to find your footing when you are floating around trying to live your dream and figure it all out. Growing up in a really strong faith-based household has helped me.”

2. Be perfectly you.

“Be who you are and stick with it no matter what,” says Miranda of her best advice for finding confidence in yourself and your body. “Women just need to trust themselves. We’re unstoppable if we trust our gut and listen to our own heart and surround ourselves with people who will tell us the truth. There’s nothing more powerful than being honest with yourself, telling your own truth, living in and standing in who you are, and operating in your gift.”

3. Give back to gain happiness.

“It’s a gift to be able to give back,” shares Miranda, who launched MuttNation, a nonprofit that supports animal shelters and promotes shelter dog adoption, with her mom, Beverly. “I grew up in rural areas where people dump dogs on your driveway, so we had a ton of rescues. I feel so lucky to have the platform that I have. I can speak for these babies who can’t speak for themselves. I’m so proud to do that and raise awareness for shelters and rescue dogs.”

4. Enjoy girl time.

“Having a healthy marriage is obviously important to relieve stress, but girls’ trips are too!” Miranda says. “It is a different thing, letting your girlfriends love on you or hold you up through the hard things or celebrate the good things with you. There’s nothing like girlfriends lifting each other up in the good and the bad. That definitely helps my stress level.”

5. Soak in the moment.

“I’ve found a lot more joy by just slowing down,” Miranda shares. “I’ve learned to sit in the moment, unplug, and soak in the small things that we maybe rush through in life, like just sitting on the grass, taking a deep breath, or spending time on my farm with my dogs or sitting in the sunshine petting my horses. We often forget to just sit in the moment. Spending five minutes just soaking in something is truly beautiful.”

6. Don’t suffer alone.

“Divorce was not fun… that was a hard one,” Miranda admits, referring to her split from Blake Shelton. “It’s a very hard, dark thing, and I’m someone who retreats when I’m going through something, but I have good girlfriends and family who made sure that I talked it out and stayed healthy. Staying grounded in those relationships has helped me through.”

Don’t miss Miranda’s new book!

During the pandemic, Miranda, her mom, and her friends started a tradition that inspired her award-winning new book, Y’all Eat Yet? (Buy from Amazon, $24.48). “Our husbands would each pick an ingredient and we would each cook something,” Miranda says. “We’d talk about what we made on Zoom and it was a way to communicate when we couldn’t be together. I want people who read the book to get a laugh or a recipe to make with their mom or best friends.”

A version of this article originally appeared in our print magazine, Woman’s World.