Aging is a Monster

Aging is a monster if you don’t accept it graciously. I know a few women that embrace the march of time with grace and beauty, forgiveness and love… to self.

I want to be of that mindset. Instead…

I say wrinkles go A-way.

I say waistline come back.

I say gray hair disappear.

I say gravity take a hike.

I say energy REturn.

I command thee, Age, go jump in a Missouri river where the water runs deep.

I can only speak as a woman, because frankly I don’t understand men. But, we women are fighters. We fight our gray hair by dyeing it. We fight our bulges by over explaining it. And we fight the “fall” of our kingdoms (otherwise known as our bodies) by joking about it.

Looking good is so much work and becomes more work as we age.

I say all of this to qualify what I am about to say. To over explain my aging and to joke about the extremes of what some of us do for beauty. Not me…or would I?

I have in my possession a sample packet of "Lip Injection".  The claims on the back is that it is a serum that gives long term lip volume. My luscious pouting lips from my youth are becoming thin lines of skin trying to cover the opening of my mouth. (Isn’t that poetic?)

I wouldn’t puff up my lips with injections for any amount of money. I had a friend who was a little over 30 who did that. Ouch and ewww. But with a free sample of lip puffer, I could apply and see what happens. I mean come on they have tested it on college kids who needed the money- right?

This is what happened.

I tore open the little packet. It had a very nice scent. I applied it to my lips. It produced a nice glossy texture. I smiled at myself in the mirror, but frankly it was a big blur because…I couldn’t see me…because…my eyes are going too. You know.

I went back to my computer.

A couple of minutes later, it happened, a tingle in my lips. Oh.well.I.guess.that’s.ok. However, the tingle turned into maximized stinging. I ran to the mirror thinking I might see new and improved voluptuous lips in that five minute span.

For all the pain and suffering there was nothing. No puffing. No pouty lips. No Hollywood miracle. All it did, my experiment, was irritate the skin around my lips.

But before I forgot the experience,  I ran back to my computer to...blog about it. I mean isn’t that why we jump out of planes, go on a reality shows, write a book, date George Clooney (or is that just me?) and birth babies- for the experience? Now that I am a blogger, I have to log all of life’s experiences for my blog- painful or not, stupid or not because you my followers -might want to know…right? Oh and yes I took photos, but I had to draw the line somewhere in the sand dunes of my craziness. 

You can tell me, I won’t tell a soul. What will you do to preserve your youth? Or are you saying to Age, come hither and make me your friend.



Comments

Anonymous said…
Teresa, first of all I want to thank you for your encouraging comment on my blog. You are so kind.
Second, you are really so pretty that you don't need those 'Hollywood things'. They are the tools of those who pomp consumerism over people. This is a kind of psychological war. 'Spend your money to be more beautiful'.Yet you are already beautiful. I want to see the photos.:) Aging is inevitable; it ha its own beautiful aspects.I also have some white strands.

Loves a lot. Keep well.
Hi JW .. it's life!! The thought of messing around with my body somewhat terrifies me - they don't always look so good ..those that have tried to repair the ravages of time.

However as I had a birthday this week - the staff up at Mum's Nursing Centre and my mother! say I look so good with some totally unprofessional done by me - cover up! So I guess I need to make the best of me .. as is, with a bit of a face over!

And yes - I eat pretty healthily, enjoy the vino, but need to exercise and that will help taughten a few things and lose a few pounds - I hope! The willpower to start .. is here.

As long as you are you - that's what counts ..
Hilary Melton-Butcher
Positive Letters Inspirational Stories
Oh, I feel for you! My skin gets so easily irritated that even lotion or makeup can make it raw.

I'm one of those people who usually doesn't even wear makeup. Until recently...the aging really stood out lately and I dug it out of the drawer!

Elizabeth
Mystery Writing is Murder
Mystery Lovers’ Kitchen
Robin Lambright said…
I am right there with you. I am a very low maintenance kinda girl. I don't spend much time with make up or hair styles.

However, I did not anticipate how much the grey hair would bother me but it does. I have now started coloring it, in fact that is on my aged for this weekend. I have a handheld microderm abrasion facial thingie that i use to wash my face in the shower. I think it really helps with those wonderful age spots that suddenly appear on my face. I hate those lovely little beauties. However beauty spot they are not.

I'm not overly obsessed with staying ahead of the aging curve but I am doing what is convenient/affordable for me.

No botox/collagen or expensive jars of non aging cream for me! My $7.95 Oil of Olay works just fine!!!!!

Blessings
Robin
Mason Canyon said…
I feel your pain. I tried some lip gloss once that was suppose to "pump up your lips." I was like you, I felt a tingle and thought this is working. I looked in the mirror, my lips were glossy (but no fuller) and the tingle quit.

Aging is hard work. If you find the secret to accepting it, please share. For now, as a approach another birthday soon, I will flee from it as fast as my tired legs will allow. :)
CM said…
Pictures, must share pictures!!! Just teasing, sorry you had this reaction. I hope you're feeling better today.

You are beautiful, my friend!

Personally, I've been contemplating dying my hair. These little grays are really taking over!!!
Ha! This one's easy for me. What do I do to preserve my youth, you ask? Nothing. Why? I never HAD a youth. I was known as the forty year-old teenager. I grew from that into The World's Most Boring Person! So, easy, no youth=nothing to preserve. (Grin)


Best Wishes Galen.
Imagineering Fiction Blog
Tamika: said…
I probably don't qualify to answer this question since I just turned thirty last year, but I'm fighting gravity with both fists!

Breast feeding does more than restore your waistline, it deflates!
Patti Lacy said…
What a GREAT blog!
Sigh. Does coloring my hair and exercising five times a week and getting pedicures every six weeks signify a battle with age?

I do it because it makes me feel good...and there must be vanity in not wanting to see gray just yet.

Thought-provoking as usual.
Patti
www.pattilacy.com/blog
Indie said…
Oh this post is way more familiar than I want to admit!

Really funny JW!

Indie
Brandy said…
I haven't dyed my hair yet and am not sure I will, I earned all the silver hairs that are starting to pop up. I work out faithfully, but it's not because I'm fighting time, I'm fighting genetics. (My Mom died young, I am determined not to make her mistakes.) I don't wear make-up, I'm allergic to most. I AM fighting dry skin. *G* Hope your lips are feeling better today!
JW, I love this post. Thank you for being so real.

I've always said I'll age gracefully, but I realize that for now I still have youth(ish) and a good metabolism on my side. I suppose we'll see.

It's all those life experiences I enjoy so much in this blogging world. I appreciate that you share yours.
Just in this last year, (and a hard one it was for many reasons), I now frown when I look in the mirror. How can aging creep up on a person so hard and so fast? I would love to say that I have accepted these changes gracefully, but I would be lying. I hate it! There. I said it. People might think I'm vain. And maybe I am but I'm not ready for my skin to lose it's elasticity, to be old, older, oldest. Yuck.

I bought some eye cream that promised to do for my eyes what that lip balm promised to do for your lips, same thing happened. Ouch. No thanks. I'd rather frown in the mirror than to be in pain with no results.
Angela C. said…
Hey, I have always known you are witty and funny...so it was no surprise to read your blog and find myself laughing out loud.
This year, actually next month I'll turn the BIG 40...hearing the ticking time bomb about to blow in the distance...tick, tick...TOC.
I admit to having my best friend "Clairol" visit me every month or so...we are so close I feel like she's in my hair all the time. Oh yeah...I guess because she is (Ha).
I'm a simple gal but gray hair is something I refuse to accept quite yet. Graciously, that is.
LOVE your blog!

Angela C.
Devon Ellington said…
Your point is almost a counter-point to the first part of my Saturday post. Great minds, and all that!
MedSchoolWife said…
Hi! Found your blog through a line of others and am enjoying it, especially this little anecdote.

Although I am still only in my 20s and my lips have not yet lost their volume, I already begin to fear aging. I tell myself I will be one of those who gracefully age, like Meryl Streep or Audrey Hepburn, but to be honest, I wonder...
Becki said…
Well! Have you been reading my mind?

I am turning 50 on February 1, and I am not overly impressed by that thought. Although it will be considerably easier than this past decade. I lost my only daughter to a brutal murder only months after I turned 40 (rough) I love your honesty and wit.

This blogging and writing thing I have begun in the past decade is something that I intend to stick with, and hopefully finish...

My hair...gray and brown and Preference 6G, my waist, only 2 times the size it was at 21 when I got married...change what I have learned? I think not!.

Thanks!
Unknown said…
JW, I have dyed more hair for so many years that I really don't know how gray it is. As for other props against aging, I have none. I try to eat healthy, take my vitamins, and turmeric for arthritis pain. I am, after all in my 50s. I worry more about keeping my mind and body young than my face.

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