As you enter your 30s, the fear of ageing really can start to ramp up
For me, this has resulted in dreading birthdays and buying every device or product that claims it can slow down the ageing process.
Combine that with the fact that so many people online seem to be ageing in reverse, and my worries only intensify – particularly since I turned 30.
It’s an imaginary, self-enforced pressure that I put on myself and I think many other people do too.
Cate Blanchett has a refreshing take on the ageing process, one I needed to hear.
In an interview with The Sunday Times, the actress said that thanks to technology and filters, “nobody’s getting older – they just look like Barbie dolls”.
She said she doesn’t look back at her old photos feeling ‘regret’ or ‘shame,’ but rather, she sees how she has aged and is moved by the memory.
“It’s not the ageing I find confronting at all,” the 54-year-old told the outlet.
“Because that is like when you stumble across a photo of a holiday when you were 16 or one of my husband and me when we got married. It doesn’t produce regret or shame.
“Rather, a recognition of the joy of the experience, or a painful moment. I’m transported right back.”
Ageing is a privilege that not everyone gets to experience and yet we spend so much time, energy, and money trying to prevent it.
Growing old is our fate as humans and we are all destined for it, so why are we all so terrified by the idea of looking old.
Cate’s ability to look back at a memory and rather than longing for youth or looking at how she has aged, she looks at it fondly – isn’t that why we take pictures?
I have often cringed at an old picture, wishing I could go back, wishing I knew what I had then, wishing my hair still looked like that, and so on.
Instead of reliving a memory or experience, I have compared myself to the younger version of myself, which is the harshest comparison of all.
The worst part of all is that I even do this subconsciously.
Cate’s attitude towards getting older has given me a renewed appreciation for it. I’ll probably falter on from time to time, but it’s a start.
At the very least, the actress’s words on the topic have forced me to realise that I don’t want to reach my 50s or 60s still wishing I was younger. Instead, I will start appreciating that I’m young now.
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