I have to say that I don’t think that growing old is a bad thing. I often feel like I am in the minority with that statement. I mean I live in an area that is teeming with superficiality. It is a place where people worry more about the cars they drive, the purses they carry and whether or not their breasts are big enough. It speaks of self-consciousness and competition….but it also reflects that age old-or perhaps age-young desire to retain our youthfulness, which can be a compliment when you refer to someone as being “young at heart.” But here I think that phrase has been reconstructed to read: “young from my botox-injected forehead to my French manicured toes.” There is really nothing mentioned about the heart and actually it has very little to do with youth at all.

But nonetheless I pass by the shiny colorful little bottles lining drug stores and boutique shops that announce their ability to de-wrinkle the lines around your eyes, I’ve seen those late night infomercials that encourage you “to lose 25 pounds in three days,” something I wouldn’t recommend if you want to actually stay conscious during that period. And I’ve seen those promotional diet commercials that convince you that you too can look like you are “18 years old again!” And if you want to be hit on by immature, sleazy 16 year-old boys and get carded every time you want to throw back a few beers after a long day at work- maybe this is the option for you. I, on the other hand believe in the phrase, “aging naturally,” which these days seems to be sort of an anomaly.  There are plenty of options to keep yourself feeling and looking beautiful on the outside without undergoing surgery or investing in $80 bottles of anti-wrinkle cream. Eating healthy, getting plenty of exercise and protecting your skin from sun damage are three natural and relatively easy ways of ensuring that you won’t be that overly tanned, crinkly old woman who chain smokes cigarettes and carries around a pet chihuahua. Okay, maybe you’ll still carry around a chihuahua, though I don’t recommend it, but at least you will do so with class.

Perhaps there is that fear in all of us….the first wrinkle, the first gray hair that pops through your brunette locks…that realization that you are no longer that spunky, popular 18 year old with plenty of charming male callers. But with your gray head of hair, the little creases around your eyes and the poise with which you carry yourself, you will have gained a lifetime of wisdom and all the respect that goes with it.