Simplistic Thoughts

How hard has aging hit you?

Posted by simplisticthoughts , Sunday, January 13, 2019 11:33 AM

Every now and again, Facebook trends pop up and many people will follow along and before you know it, your newsfeed is filled with pictures. I don’t typically go along with these trends anymore but with this latest  “How hard has age hit you?” one,  I’d thought it would be funny to post because of some of the radical hairstyles I’ve had in the past. As more and more of my friends posted, and I saw the pictures they chose and the comments that followed, it sparked a few thoughts.

In November, I turned 34. I know it’s not old to some people, yet it is to some, especially the junior highers I teach. This has been the first age where age has been more on my mind. We spend so much time, money, and energy trying to fight looking our age (which I’m still trying to understand what a 34-year-old is supposed to look like). Lately, I feel like I’ve put more stock and pride into the fact that people are surprised that I’m 34. I still get carded a lot, and not the kind of carded where they’re being nice and say they have to card all people under 50. I’m talking the kind of carded where their response is sometimes actual surprise that they mistook me for being under 21. I’ve been mistaken twice now at my school for being a ninth grader (which honestly I don’t see that one). So, what’s the problem with all this? The problem is that when I’m not carded or get a huge surprised reaction, I get down on myself. I begin to see age as a problem and not a beautiful thing.

With this Facebook trend, I’ve noticed a few things. One, how people’s well-intentioned comments of “you’re still beautiful,” “you’re aging backwards,” etc. all insinuates that if you don’t age a certain way, it’s not beautiful. I also wonder how many people out there were afraid to post their before and after pictures because they see themselves as aged and old. When the matter-of-fact is, along with adults, teens are also posting pictures with heavy filters to hide their natural lines and flaws on their face. It’s crazy to think that teenagers, in the pinnacle of their youth, are afraid that they have anything but airbrushed skin.  We wear make-up, get fake lashes, color our hair, pencil in our eyebrows, and all the other things to keep us from looking our age. I’m victim of this too. I also am guilty of looking at myself in the mirror some days and when I see the evidence of my age, I cringe. But why?

The Bible tells us that evidences of our age are crowns of wisdom. The evidence of our age shows that we are human and that we have experience, wisdom (hopefully), and that it’s all beautiful. Today, I am reminded to embrace and love the age I am because I SHOULD look and be different at 34 than 23. That doesn’t mean I have to start shopping in the “old lady” section of stores, or that I can’t wear make-up and use products that will help keep my skin looking “young.” What it does mean is that I don’t have to feel any less of a beautiful, empowered person because I might actually look my age, or if I get carded, or if I don’t look like the 11-year-ago-version of myself. You are beautiful. It’s okay to take care of yourself but don’t hate your age, don’t hate the wrinkles, don’t hate the weird jiggle under your neck (what is that anyway?!!). Instead love it because A) you are loved and B) you can try to change those things, but aging is happening and if you’re so focused on trying to avoid it all the time, you’ll miss the point of that age.