First time making a “personal” post and I just wanted to share some thoughts.
I find it appalling how society pressures people, especially women, to remain youthful - appear younger, have clear skin, stay the same weight since their early years. I see the effects of this on my older sister who loathes wrinkles and grey hair. She grew up with reality shows in the 2000s that highlighted appearances and superficiality, all about how to look on the outside…
I feel grateful to spend so much time with my parents (in their 50s). My mother has started growing grey hair and I find it beautiful. She, just like my father, has wrinkles and “imperfect” skin that I can’t help but admire. Wrinkles tell such a story; of the times you smiled, laughed… they tell people you have lived a life of joy.
I can’t wait until I grow older. Grow grey hair (it’s like being blonde but without the yellow… and as a brunette, it seems like such a fun shift), grow wrinkles from laughing and spending time doing things I like. I look forward to travelling in my young years and looking back on it in my older years. I can’t wait to drink coffee with fellow 60-year olds and speak of how fast the world seems to change, yet time for us moves so slowly whenever we spend time together.
I don’t know. Maybe it sounds ridiculous. But I can’t wait to grow as a person. Become 20, 30, 60… I hope one day society will embrace aging and see how pretty life can get at the later stages.
I would give quite a lot to just go back to 2020. I was in the best shape of my life. Since the pandemic happened, I isolated myself to avoid sickness, but lost all my fitness, and gained weight. Two years later, when I tried to go back to my previous level of activity, I injured myself in a way that will not heal and is going to limit me for the duration of my time here. I didn't visibly age since my early thirties. I still got carded at bars until my early forties. But now, when I look in the mirror, I see someone who is finally growing old. Aging is better than the alternative, but no I don't like it. On the other side of that, if you take care of your body, it will do its best to take care of you.
My father never gave a shit about his health and now he's dying young. It's happening right now, and it's an absolute shitfest that defies description. And don't even get me started about the profit-maximizing end of life care in the USA. If you can keep yourself reasonably healthy until the end, you may be lucky enough to sidestep a great deal of that.
I plan on doing my best, but as other users have stated, the wheels eventually fall off at some point. I've recently hit the tip of that iceberg and I've got a lot of anger, resentment and sadness about it.