Au Naturel
I’m going on a bit of a rant today.
You know how our devices feed us more news on a topic if we click on one article about it? That happened recently for me after I read about actress Sarah Jessica Parker being commended for letting her hair go gray and being seen in public. (I am a big fan of Sex and the City and And Just Like That.) She basically said stop calling me brave and find something else to talk about. But she had also been the target of ageist and misogynistic comments about that gray hair, while her friend Andy Cohen, himself with a head of gray hair, sat next to her and got no comments.
Such a double standard we still have! The aging process is natural and happens to us all if we are fortunate to live long enough. Each individual should be allowed to embrace it as she or he wants to, without being judged by others. I know Hollywood has a different set of standards and lifestyle from the average person, but I also appreciate when well-known performers take a stand that sends a good message to all of us, young and old.
My own life choices in this area have pretty much been au naturel when it comes to things like make-up and hair color for a variety of reasons, personal values, and sentiments. Today, those reasons include time, money, and chemicals. I have a busy life and many passions I pursue. I’m not willing to trade writing time for primping time. I would also rather spend money on something else or someone else. And as a cancer survivor in a family wracked by the disease, I now pay much more attention to the chemicals in our environment and in the products we use. I am aware of what I put in and on my body, at least more than I was.
I am healthy, active, content, well-hydrated. It shows in my energy level and physical features, facial and other. I am grateful, thankful, blessed, proud of my skin, smile, and my toned arms and legs. Appreciative that my husband Darcy loves me for who I am the way I am. We share our aging woes and worries, and also wisdom, and bring acceptance to our marriage, now nearly 24 years strong.
Consider this: If we do something because we want to—we enjoy it, we feel good, it gives us more confidence—great. If we do something because we feel pressured, or fear we will be overlooked or invisible if we don’t, or that we will be judged and maybe even discriminated, that’s a whole different aspect.
Au naturel or not, we each matter, and we matter immeasurably. The most important opinion we need to nurture is that of the person in the mirror.
