I said my age in the interview without making a joke about it

Dear Delyara, I returned to the workforce at fifty-nine after caring for my husband through illness. In interviews, I became defensive about age before anyone mentioned it. I joked about being “the dinosaur in the room” or promised I still had energy, as if my birth year were something I needed to soften. A career coach pointed out that I was teaching employers to see my age as a weakness before they had decided it was one. At my latest interview, the manager asked about a twenty-year-old qualification. I explained my experience without apologizing for how long I had been alive. I got the role. Even before the offer, I felt different leaving the building. Self-esteem was not convincing myself age discrimination does not exist. It was refusing to participate in it against myself.