All of us feel the pressure to be forever young and fit, but the key is to find the right balance between looking your best and becoming a slave to ageism.
We are all mortal and we are all aging, and yet it is so difficult to accept this simple fact. From traditional media to YouTube which seems to be populated with kids who eat junk food and believe they will never get old, we are constantly surrounded by the cult of youth. The pressure to stay young in our modern world is overwhelming, and it is so easy to give in and surrender to the toxic ideology of ageism.
Accepting Your Age
It seems so difficult to accept our age. We are constantly repeating the mantras: 30 is the new 20, 40 is the new 30, 50 is the new 40. And we are spending more and more money on our desperate efforts to look at least a decade younger. Can we really age gracefully with this mindset? Perhaps we can try and change it. There are so many wonderful quotes on aging and all you need to do is go online to find inspiration. British actress Emma Thompson once said that “the trick is to age honestly and make it look great so that everyone looks forward to it”. Mind-blowing! If we could only make aging look hip, it would suddenly become cool and nobody would be complaining about it.
Accepting your age doesn’t mean surrendering. In the words of Joan Collins, as long as you are taking care of yourself “physically, mentally and emotionally”, you will look good, no matter how old you really are. The problem occurs when you try to turn yourself into something you are not, be it with a radical cosmetic surgery or the lifestyle of an 18-year-old. Work with what you have, don’t try to become someone else.
Loving Your Body
It will be so much easier to accept your age if you are happy in your own skin. Ask yourself, are you happy with your body? Is there anything you can change to make it look better? Working on your body can be very rewarding when you start seeing results. It can definitely make you stop thinking about aging and you’ll get the best results if you take a holistic approach. Think about what a healthier lifestyle can really do and by that we mean replacing bad habits (i.e. drinking, smoking, eating a lot of sugar, going to bed late) with good ones. Beauty sleep, drinking plenty of water, eating healthy food and exercising regularly can change the way you look and alter your own image of your aging body. Get busy with counting calories, cooking healthy meals, doing workouts and fixing your sleeping schedule to focus on your progress rather than regress.
The more we enjoy taking care of our body, the more it will reward us. And it doesn’t end with nutrition, sleeping, and exercising! Reward yourself with an occasional trip to a spa, indulgent beauty routines at home, buying new makeup, doing a facial or a skin peel and a having a brand new haircut. Anything that makes you feel good about yourself will make you glow from within.
And if you think that a cosmetic procedure will make you feel happier, don’t hesitate to do one. A breast lift, a tummy tuck, a lip enhancement and a whole range of surgical and non-surgical cosmetic treatments can actually help you age gracefully and love your body even more. Just like a new hair dye or a new makeup look, it is a little something you can do to enhance your natural beauty without going overboard and spending a fortune on trendy surgeries prescribed by beauty magazines and websites.
Loving Your Life
All of us have ups and downs, but there is always a way to make ourselves happy with our lives. Do more of the things that make you happy, soak up the vitamin D in the sun, enjoy the great outdoors, stay active and enjoy the little things in life. There is always something you can look forward to, even at the worst possible times.
You will feel better about your age if you love your work or if you find a hobby you are enthusiastic about, such as writing, photography, painting, playing chess or doing anything creative. With so many opportunities for expressing your creativity, everyone can find something they are passionate about. Think of work as playing or going on vacation and you won’t care about how old you are anymore.
A positive attitude towards life is more important than your age. And once you realize that life is a fun journey and that nothing is permanent, it will be so much easier to see the positive in everything that happens without clinging on to the past.
