More Help Wanted
Dorcas from Mombasa, Kenya wants help with:
"I am more interested in: women's attitude towards age, confidence as we age,
skin care and how to look fabulous after 40, supplements and any other article
that tackles age issues. I am 41and I would like to continue looking good now
and even after 65".
Here's my response:
Research tells me Mombasa city’s population is overwhelmingly African, many of whom are Swahilis, but there is a range of races and cultures from Africans to British expats, Omanis, Indians and Chinese. So, it's difficult to know how to respond to Dorcas who lives in a culture that is so different from ours.
However, I believe this is true: Regardless of the culture you live in, if you have an innate sense of your worth as a human being (even if your culture may deny or belittle your worth as a human being because of your gender) no one can take from you what's in your head and your heart. Even if those around you don't share what you know or believe, that's okay. You can still grow and thrive because you have the ability to make choices about how you think and what you will believe.
As for attitude and confidence as you age -- you choose to be confident. You have confidence when you value yourself.
Skin care? Regardless of where you live, beautiful skin is the result of genetics, diet, lifestyle, and overall health. What you put into your body is far more important than what you smear on the outside. If Dorcas lives in a culture whose dietary habits are not as Western as ours, she is lucky. Her skin will look better longer. In our "advanced" Western culture we are making ourselves sick and ultimately killing ourselves with a diet that doesn't provide the nourishment the body needs to stay well.
Looking good after sixty-five takes determination and a daily regimen. Youth is a short term loan given at birth for a limited number of years. For the short period of time that you have it, you don't have to do much of anything to keep it looking good. The thing about youth is that it is sneaky -- you don't see it slipping away. At age thirty, when youth begins to accelerate its departure, you think you look the same today as you did yesterday, last week, last month, last year. But you don't look the same. It is this seeming unchanging continuity that tricks you. It makes you think you are holding your own, and that you can continue to live life as it comes and you will always look as good as you do this moment. It is in this way that your departing youth cons you into letting go of what you have at the moment.
What most of us don't understand is that looking good after sixty-five starts at age thirty, or forty at the latest. It starts with an understanding that you are getting on -- not getting old -- but "getting on" and if you are going to keep the youthful attributes you have right now, it's going to take effort. The short term loan of youth is coming to an end. From here on, whether or not youthful characteristics stick around is up to you. The older I get the more I realize that "looking good" has everything to do with feeling good, and being in control of how your body functions, physically and mentally.
The "looking good" part is easy. It's being in control of your mind and body that is difficult. By being in control I mean that you establish a daily exercise regimen so that you don't develop middle age spread. By being in control I mean that you eat foods that won't give you a "beer belly" and make you obese. By being in control I mean that you remember to take antioxidants and other supplements that help to control the aging process. By being in control I mean you avoid the senior culture culture that in the West, is a culture of decline. Obviously we can't control everything about the aging process but we do let go of far more youthful attributes than we need to.
Aging well is not difficult. You just need an understanding of
how the aging process works, and have the determination to do what it takes to
manage, control, and slow its progress.
Source: August, 2008 Put Old on Hold Newsletter
Barbara Morris — Image F/X Publications
Barbara@PutOldOnHold.com
760-480-2710
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— Barbara Morris
