[Beach Patrol]

I'm 48. I'm cool with that. Hey, aging! - can't get away from it!! (Until you die, I mean, but that's a whole nuther post!!! )

Here lately, tho, I've been "dreading" getting older. It's EXPENSIVE to try "not to age" quite so much, and yet I feel like I have to TRY, ya know??

I've colored my hair since I was a teen (I get into "moods"... blonde, brown, red, whatever) but now I color it once a month, cause HEY - gotta cover that gray!

I use a certain face cream (one for day, one for night) and a certain eye cream. Gotta keep those fine lines at bay! -not to mention trying to dispel the REAL wrinkles... and OMG... AGE SPOTS. Must.Have.SUNSCREEN.All.Year.ROUND! Apparently it's not OK to use the same facial wash I used in my teens & 20's, ("older skin needs more moisture" blahblahblah) so I buy a certain one of those, too. Same goes for my make-up. And let's not forget body lotion, shampoo/conditioner, etc. And it's not just the face (which is "what people identify you by"....) it's all over! The chest & neck are very tell-tale signs for a woman's age. And I've begun to notice even the skin on my hands... my arms, around my knees... it's just so... not youthful at all. Why do I mourn this??

Why do you suppose we fear aging so much? What's so wrong with "getting older"? Why is it "unattractive" to have gray hair, wrinkles, and "uneven skin tone"?? I mean, we spend countless $$$$ on products that are supposed to "help hide" our true age. Plenty of women flat-out lie about their real age (at least I don't do that...LOL) Some of us go so far as to spend really big bucks on surgeries to turn back the clocks. Botox here, monthly appt with a colorist there, nip-nip/tuck-tuck, and $1000's later, upon our death bed... with our totally wrinkled skin & snow-white hair (if we're lucky enough to still HAVE hair!) what did it really matter?

Then I see certain celebs, like Raquel Welch ... who is SEVENTY-ONE by the way! - and there's NO WAY she hasn't had "work" done, but she doesn't really act anymore, so what's the point to maintain that "youthful" appearance? Even tho she is showing some wrinkles, etc, now, she still "doesn't look 71"... And apparently that is quite a feat. Every time I read an article about anyone who is 40-something, such as Jennifer Anniston, there's always some mention about "how she STILL looks SO GOOD", or what her "secret is" (there's always a SECRET! shhhh!!!!) to "maintaining her youthful glow" ...as if 40 or 42 or 45 is akin to a corpse!

Aging gracefully doesn't seem to exist. We fight it at every corner. At least, I do, and I'm really not sure why. Why can't we (and by "we" I mean *I*) just grow older, year by year, & be OK with that?

And yes, weight loss comes into play here. The one thing about being fatter, I've noticed, is that "fat plumps out the wrinkles"... the more weight I lose, the more "gaunt" my face appears. Where's the fairness in that? Where does it all end? Besides in a coffin, I mean.

Sorry y'all! Just rambling I reckon!

[yoyoma]

I'm turning the big five oh in a few weeks and I hear ya! Aging is a battle we can't win, but many of us feel we must fight it. At least with the weight battle, we know it is possible to become thin. But it is not possible to become younger. So many try to at least appear younger.

Our culture generally finds younger women more attractive than older women. This makes sense from a fertility/evolutionary point of view. It's probably hard-wired so it's unlikely to change. So, if we want to feel attractive, we try to appear younger.

We could choose to focus instead on some other attribute entirely -- career, creativity, generosity, etc. And there are other dimensions to attractiveness, including important ones that have nothing to do with appearance.

I'll think about it some more while I am applying my SPF 40 day time face cream all over my body.

[runningfromfat]

You know what, though? Pretty much all the women I work with are quite a bit older than me (somewhere between pushing 40-early 60's). They might not look youthful in the sense of having perfect skin, no gray hair etc. But that doesn't take away from their beauty at all. I'd say their success in their careers, how they raised their kids, their kindness for other, and their ability to be amazing role models are what people notice (it's hard to miss!) and if anything it makes me look forward to that time when I'm more settled, my kid(s) are older, and some of the struggles of youth aren't there anymore (like buying a car/house/money struggles at the beginning of ones career etc).

I know as women we're told all the time to fear aging but I refuse to. I'll be thirty soon and I know that's not very old but I'm looking forward to it rather than stressing over it. Ok, but in full disclosure, I do die my hair and try to make sure to use a lot of sunscreen (but that last bit is more due to skin cancer running in my family than anything else!).

[Ruthxxx]

Hey! When you examine the alternative ... I'm 72.

[JoJoJo2]

Well, I'm 85!!! Aging is mandatory, let's do it as gracefully as possible!

My DH is 92, and he is still going strong.