Obsession With Never Growing Old

Today's culture is so obsessed with looking/acting young, it’s difficult to believe that our founding fathers powdered their wigs gray in order to appear older and wiser. That’s right—being old was in. No more! From hair dyes to Botox to Viagra to wrinkle creams to a plethora of surgical procedures, the race is on to remain forever young.

We are bombarded daily with images via magazines, billboards, television and the internet. It's all about the look and the image, not about the experience and wisdom behind the eyes.

Virtually every public figure from politicians to actors to TV talking heads have had “work” done to their face or body. This mirrors our superficial culture, where anything important can be defined by 140 characters or less.

A full face with natural volume.

If you are someone where one of the first places to show weight gain is in your face (like me!), this means you have an increased number of fat cells (pads) in your skin.

While a chubby face may have been frustrating in your younger years consider yourself lucky since it’s very beneficial for having a youthful look.

As we age, especially starting in the 40s when the estrogen hormone starts to decline, we lose that natural plumpness in our face. To counteract this, people will start having fat or cosmetic dermal filler injections to prevent a hollow, sunken-in look.

When people ask me what they can do to help them look younger, one of my tips is to eat ice cream. However, I realize that this may not be ideal, since gaining weight will also add volume elsewhere! Regardless, volume in the face = a younger look.

Did you know that adding volume (naturally or through fillers) can make large pores, indented acne scars, lines and wrinkles less noticeable?

Any indent in the skin can be plumped up when there is something underneath that helps fill them out.

Disclaimer: The information on this POST is not intended or implied to be a substitute for professional advice. The opinions expressed within this article are the personal opinions of the author. All content, including text, graphics, images and information, contained on or available through this article is for general information purposes / educational purposes only, and to ensue discussion or debate.  

Thank you …There are many reasons people are so obsessed with youth, but perhaps nothing has done more to further the cause than the technological revolution.

Let's face it—the old are by and large slower and not as connected. How many over 60 do you know that have Twitter Facebook or a cutting edge smartphone? But is this a bad thing?

As the world continues to speed up, the wisdom of the ages can be searched by anyone. The analogue world has been replaced by the digital age.

Who needs to ask an old guy for advice when you can become a superficial expert on any topic after 30 minutes on the computer?

Want to add word or two?

Few have time to slow down and become a true expert at anything anymore. Why, that could take (gasp!) days, weeks, or even months!

This constant access to information leaves the impression that a tidbit of knowledge, or a sound bite, is enough to be relevant. It suggests that a quick ten-minute read or video is equivalent to wisdom gained from years of hard-earned experience.

Your comment ….?

There's a mind-set that it's better to multi-task three things at once rather than take the time to do a single project perfectly.

This ever-shortening attention span is a direct result of the ever-present smartphone, a 500 channel TV culture, video games that provides escape on demand and the 24-7 media cycle which provides never ending information.

Throughout the advance in technology the quest to remain young has accelerated at warp speed.

Why, when previously gray hair and wrinkles coincided with patience, self-awareness and wisdom?

As Hannibal Lecter told Clarice in 'Silence of the Lambs', "We begin by coveting what we see every day."

Ads and social media portray youth as sexy, attractive, cool, and oh-so-connected.

Look at any magazine, movie, video game, or TV show and it's easy to see. And there is no greater compliment we can pay another than to say, "Wow! You look so much younger!"

There is no doubt that being young is fast, fun, and exciting. But there is a time and a season for all things.

Trying to hang onto the fast lane too long deprives us of the introspection, self-understanding and deep thoughts that usually accompany growing older.

Just because we can cling to youth a bit longer while life flies by at breakneck speed doesn't mean it's the best way to live. Frank Sinatra (remember him?) said it best in his introspective song “It Was A Very Good Year that traces life from teens to twenties to thirties and beyond:

“But now the days grow short, I’m in the autumn of the year. And now I think of my life as vintage wine, from fine old kegs, from the brim to the dregs. And it poured sweet and clear. It was a very good year."

We’ve all grown up with the idea that a cool, fun life is for the young – old folks need not apply.

This message resonated when we were young; it inspired and united us to stand against our common enemy – growing old and boring like our parents.

All we could do was scream with impotent rage at a bleak future filled with jobs, bills and responsibilities that would eventually devour us

Yet by sending an explicit message that adulthood sucks, rock stars not only short-changed us, but also themselves. Because, guess what? The myth that the spirit of rock is just for the young was a big lie and the real rebellion occurred right under our noses.

Ironically, the very people who were telling us how bad it would be to get old are the same ones who have now shown us how awesome getting old can be.

Modern medicine may have made our lives longer but rock stars are show parents ng us how to make longer life worthwhile. 

Anyone who tells you that genetics is everything and that you don’t have much of a say in the matter of how your skin ages, is misinformed.

While we are genetically programmed from birth to age a certain way (called intrinsic aging), genetics are now only thought to be responsible for 20-30% of aging. The other 70%-80% of how you’ll visibly age depends on extrinsic aging.

This comes from your environment and lifestyle choices—both things that you can have control over.

This is great news because this confirms that how your care for your skin far outweighs your genetic predisposition.

If you want to retain your youthful self from the inside out, you need to focus on what you can control.

You can control what you eat, how much time you spend in the sun or daylight, whether or not you smoke and various other lifestyle factors.