I want to introduce you to a new HOOK feature - Coffee 'n Breeze with Carole and Louise. #USAToday bestselling authors, Carole Lanham and myself are joining forces for a weekly chat over a cup of brew, and we invite you to join us! We will be shooting the breeze about the things that touch each of our lives. Love, relationships, parenting, aging, dating, books, movies, cooking and crafts just to name a few. So pull up a chair and an empty mug. Leave a comment for your chance to win a FREE eBook, too!
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Today's Topic - Beauty Over Forty
Louise - The recent passing of the fabulous and funny #JoanRivers has me thinking about the perils of perceived perfection. While we are told that Ms. Rivers' death wasn't a result of a cosmetic surgery procedure gone bad - we also know that she, among many other aging #Hollywood performers spent/spend thousands of dollars on the quest for eternal youth. Or - at the very least - the appearance of youth. But this obsession with beauty isn't exclusive to those in the public eye. Women everywhere, especially aging women, are chasing some form of that same dream. I will speak personally for a moment so as not to wield broad presumptions. Open my medicine cabinet on any given day and you'll find an army of creams and lotions meant to help my skin stay soft and wrinkle- free. Hair dye to keep the grays at bay. Gloss and polish and all the trimmings that promise to make me look ten years younger than I am. (Ahem - ever 39?? Not.) As an #author, I'm fortunate that the majority of my time is spent out of beauty's harsh high-def glare. I often say that if #Oprah came calling I'd first have to run for an emergency Botox treatment. That said - the "beauty" industry is BIG biz. Millions of dollars are invested in these efforts. So I know I'm not the only one in a middle-aged panic. It seems that the stripped-down version of who we are is something or someone we are more likely to hide or apologize for.
Carole - One
of the great surprises I’ve found with aging is the sense of secret shame I
have over how much I care. It’s not easy
looking in the mirror and facing an image that doesn’t match up with the one I
carry inside of me. Sometimes I find
myself pausing for long moments before the beauty creams at #Walgreens. I stopped in for a loaf of bread and some
Nyquil, I swear, yet there I am, furtively glancing about to ensure there is no
one around from church or my daughter’s Girl Scout troop who might catch me
loitering in the Personal Care isle. If I
happen to have on the pair of sweats with the permanent barbeque stains
dribbled down the right leg, I might actually dare to remove a jar or two from
the shelf and read of their promised wonders.
The same is true for all those ads in magazines that I used to flip by
without a thought while waiting at the doctor’s office. Now that I’m there for annual mammograms, advertisements
for stuff like ELASTIderm and Masque Bar Brightening Sheet Mask have taken on considerably
more allure. Even so, I peek at them as
though peeking at a naked picture. I
don’t want to be caught caring.
Louise - The trouble lies in the standard set in large part by the mass media in all its photo-shopped glory. I recently heard an alarming statistic that said that only FOUR PERCENT of girls/women perceive themselves to be #beautiful. I venture to say this dismal figure is due largely to the effects of the newly accepted "norm." The unwritten beauty guidebook that constantly asks such urgent queries as: Are our teeth white enough? Is our skin clear enough? Our hair thick enough? Our waists thin enough? Are WE good enough? I venture to ask - when is enough enough?
Carole -
I
was raised to believe that things like intelligence, a good work ethic, and
#creativity were the keys to the kingdom and yet, as women, we’ve all been on
the receiving end of good fortune born of nothing more than the beauty that
comes with youth. It was important then
and it’s important now, regardless of how modern a girl you are. Yes, we are so much more than the face we
present to the world, but does this mean that we should cease to care about
that face completely, simply because it’s not as young as it once was? I feel shallow dishing out thirty-five bucks
for a teeny bottle of water-colored liquid that is supposed to lift my
eyelids. That said, the desire to hang
onto that sense of well bring that comes from feeling healthy and taking good
care of yourself is not something we ever age out of. Maintaining a positive outlook about one’s self
need not include waging an assault on drooping skin, but the fact is, what
makes us feel good about ourselves varies from person to person. If you truly are that intelligent and creative
individual your mother raised you to be, you’ll make peace with what that means
for you. As #MayaAngelou so beautifully
said, “The most important thing I can tell you about aging is this: If you
really feel that you want to have an off-the-shoulder blouse and some big beads
and thong sandals and a dirndl skirt and a magnolia in your hair, do it. Even if you’re wrinkled.”
What do you think? Is beauty harder to maintain the older we get? Are your ideals of what is beautiful and what's not in keeping with what you know to be true about yourself? Comment for your chance to win a #FREE #Kindle copy of The Reading Lessons and The Making of Nebraska Brown.
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