The actress took to Instagram on Thursday to share a black-and-white picture of herself rocking a bikini while directing her followers to a link with a personal essay on Goop she penned. You can ch-ch-check out the stunning post (below):

Gorg!

Related: Gwyneth Says She Doesn’t Miss Acting — But Would Return For One Reason!

Gearing up for the milestone birthday on September 27, Gwyneth looked back on the past five decades in the lengthy post. While the Iron Man star wrote how she “strangely [has] no sense of time passed,” she recognized the physical changes that naturally come with growing older, calling her body “less timeless” and “a map of the evidence of all the days”:

“A collection of marks and irregularities that dog-ear the chapters. Scarred from oven burns, a finger smashed in a window long ago, the birth of a child. Silver hair and fine lines. The sun has left her celestial fingerprints all over me, as if she soaked a brush in dark-taupe watercolor, flecking it over my skin.”

Gwyneth continued to say that although she does everything she can to stay healthy, she has decided to accept her body and let go of the constant desire for perfection:

“And while I do what I can to strive for good health and longevity, to stave off weakening muscles and receding bone, I have a mantra I insert into those reckless thoughts that try to derail me: I accept. I accept the marks and the loosening skin, the wrinkles. I accept my body and let go of the need to be perfect, look perfect, defy gravity, defy logic, defy humanity. I accept my humanity.”

Hell yes, girl! We’re love to hear that Gwyneth embracing her own skin!

But beyond reflecting on her physical appearance, the Glee alum also touched on the mistakes she has made in the past, saying this next phase in her life requires “owning” up to and “praying I have learned from them all.” She continued:

“My errors, which live in the shadows, slippery and dark, are harder to define. Not because I don’t know what they are, but because we keep them hidden, out of the logbooks. … I have hurt people, never intentionally, but I have done so just the same. I have let people down by not being who they needed me to be. I have betrayed myself to keep the peace. I have crossed lines, the thoughts of which sometimes rip me from sleep and suspend me into the hollowness of shame for a long, dark night.”

Despite all of that, Gwyneth noted that her biggest regret in life so far is staying silent about “my truth” throughout the years:

“Most regretfully, and so often, I have not spoken my truth to spare some perceived consequence, that hurting someone will tear us both apart. My most lasting mistakes and the mess that comes with them have all stemmed from me not standing fully in my truth and speaking from it, come what may. Saying the words that could have spared seasons of heartache and repercussions. No. This does not feel right to me. Your expectations are not appropriate. Your behavior is not appropriate. This relationship is no longer right for me. This project is not right for me. You are no longer right for me.”

However, the Shakespeare in Love star doesn’t believe in turning back time to fix these mistakes since “every one of those sleepless hours that came from one of these transgressions against myself or others has led to something.” But moving forward, she wants herself to “slow down,” “retreat a little bit,” apologize to “anyone that had a negative experience with me,” but, more importantly, finally accept her flaws:

“I would like to fully acknowledge myself. I am imperfect, I can shut down and turn to ice, I have no patience, I swear at other drivers, I don’t close my closet doors, I lie when I don’t want to hurt feelings. I am also generous and funny. I am smart and brave. I am a searcher, and I can bring you along on my quest for meaning. When I love you, you will feel it encompass you through time and space and till the end of the earth. I am all of it.”

And at the end of the day, she concluded in the post:

“I really won’t know what it was like to turn 50 until much later, when I can reflect back from a higher perch, perhaps at one of their 50ths, hearts full and broken simultaneously (as that is life).”

Such beautiful and poignant message from Gwyneth. Reactions, Perezcious readers? Let us know in the comments. You can also read her entire piece HERE.

[Image via Gwyneth Paltrow/Instagram]