Cover Up Your Age Girl

Sensa.  Thigh Master.  Alli.  Stacker Pills.  Quicktrim.  Fen-phen.  Ab Circle.  So many products offering an easy way to a thin, toned body.  If it were only that simple.  If there was a quick, easy way to become thin & toned, everyone would do it.  Believe me when I say, no one enjoys their thighs rubbing against each other.  No one.  No one says I wish I had more jiggle to the wiggle of my arm.  Nobody.

It's the same idea with aging.  So many products out there promising, tighter, younger looking skin.  Anti-aging.  Billions of dollars are spent every year by people hoping to discover the Fountain of Youth within a bottle.  Eye cream, face cream, day solution, night solution, lip fillers, Retin-A, collagen boosting.  We all hope to find that miracle potion that makes those wrinkles disappear.  No more circles under the eyes.  A facelift at your fingertips. 

You can fight the battle of the bulge with smart food choices and exercise.  The easy answer is burn more than you ingest.  This just proves too hard for most to do.  However, there is no answer with aging.  We can't fight Mother Nature.  Wrinkles, grays, sagging...it's bound to happen. 

I am well aware of the aging process in my early 30's.  I am remarkably more tired, on a daily basis.  I love you caffeine.  I see the fine lines appearing, the grays whispering in my hair.  I find it increasingly more difficult to find new music that I enjoy.  I keep returning to the music I grew up with.  I remember when 9pm was just the beginning of my night and now it's pretty much the end of my night.  I remember when I would wear push up bras, heels and huge hoop earrings.  Now I love the feeling of sports bra, long sleeved floral night shirts and what is jewelry?  I will always choose comfort over style.  I prefer nights in to nights out.  I can no longer pop, lock and drop it without popping a bone out of joint, locking up my knees and dropping in pain.  There are snaps, crackles and pops as I walk.  If me 8-9 years ago could see me today, she would down several shots of Southern Comfort in horror and disgust.  That girl is but a memory, tucked deep into my mind. 

I attended a Mary Kay party this weekend.  Facials and makeovers.  I showed up in gray leggings, flip flops and a size 2X hoodie.  Hey, it was super comfortable.  We did facials, which involved like 8 steps.  Exfoliate, cleanse, dermabrasion, moisture, tone, prime, powder...then it was time for makeup.  Three different colors of shadows...upper lid, lower lid, crease...eyeliner above and below the eye...mascara...lip liner, lip color, lip gloss.  I needed a nap after all that work.  I looked in the mirror and felt like a clown with all that makeup on.  I never realized how truly low maintenance I am until that point.  We are so willing to take the time, the money, the energy to invest in trying to look younger, better without really asking what we are rubbing on our faces.  I am willing to bet the ingredients they use to compose your favorite product will end up doing more long term damage than Mother Nature does. 

I think we should embrace life, age, fine lines.  No matter what age you are, there are millions of people who never got to experience that age.  All that glimmers is sure to fade and looking young in my casket is not going to matter to me.  Sure I like a little color, I dab on mascara daily.  But at the end of the day, I want to be know for the woman I am under the makeup.  I want to be remembered for my smarts, my efforts as a mother, as a friend, as kind, loving and opinionated.  I don't want to be known as someone who spent my life trying to defy my age.  In the end, it just seems like a waste of time. 

The next time you look in the mirror and think about buying a product or seeking professional help to fix a flaw, just think of those who took it too far.  Like Bruce Jenner or Heidi Montag.  Michael Jackson.  Jocelyn Wildenstein.  Natural you is always going to be more beautiful than plastic you.