Thoughts on Aging

Age. It creeps up on you while you're busy with life. You're not as excited about birthdays, and it seems you're surrounded with more people younger than previously. Sure, you're wiser, more experienced, and possibly economically better off than you were in your early 20s, but these all come at a physical cost none of us want to think about. 

(Sauce: My FB Feed)

I've seen it called "second puberty" in comic skits, and snickered as I identified much of what was described as my personal experience. Unfortunately, it stops being funny really fast. Usually, as a result of a particularly bad back cramp.

Aging in Pieces

Second puberty doesn't hit all at once. It's little things you don't even notice. Teeth start to go bad. Specific joints start to ache when you move them "wrong" or when the weather changes. You can't drink as much alcohol or eat as much junkfood, and you find yourself choosing a good night's sleep over a night of partying pretty much always. Not that sleeping is easy - suddenly you have trouble falling asleep or having a hard time waking up refreshed.

This is when you start to really look through your family medical history - types of cancer, chronic illnesses that might pop up (like diabetes) and all the fun things you will be poked and prodded to test from now and till you die. For women, it's breast exams and PAP smears, while men need to start getting their colon and prostate checked at early as 30 (if you have family history, 40 if you're African-American and if you're lucky then 50). And nobody wants to invest time in THAT.

Aging While Female

Women are more scared of aging than men. It makes sense as for many centuries, the value of a woman was set by her youth and ability to give birth. Today, it's mostly about the fear of being unattractive and the idealization of the "barely legal" appearance as sexy and attractive. 

So while we deal with wonderful new developments to our body as part of second puberty, society looks at us judging, expecting us to look like 15-year-old boys with giant boobs while having just the right number of spawns to be "normal". So it really is no wonder that the anti-aging products industry is blooming, with an emphasis on the external appearance of age.

Not-So-Gentle Reminder

Me, I don't care much about how old I look. In fact, I prefer my looks to be as confusing as possible in determining my age. Between pink hair, 1.56m of height and good skin, my age is rarely written on my face. But you needn't wait long before it reveals itself - I complain of fibro pain, bad sleep, aching joints, decaying teeth and bad digestion pretty much all the time. And walking around without a child attached to me at my age attracts the weirdest looks (and sighs from my mother).

Perhaps it's necessary. Perhaps the world reminding us that our time here is growing shorter by the minute is something we need. I just wish it didn't happen quite yet. I wish I still had the energy of my early 20s for a few more years.

*Medicine, I am looking at you. Please to be fixing this.