Anne is a beautiful, middle-aged woman. She is obsessed with her appearance, and she is terrified of getting older. She feels she could be prettier and is constantly at the doctor’s office getting something tweaked or buying every “fountain of youth” cream advertised in hopes of recapturing her bloom from years past. As pretty as she is, it is difficult for her to accept herself because she thinks flaws are intolerable.
The truth is, if you keep living, the mirror will tell you that you’re getting older. Hair begins to grey, skin flaws and tags get bigger with time, freckles come out of nowhere, joints begin to lock up, reading glasses become a necessity, and everything heads south.
Nothing is abnormal about wishing you could keep some of the benefits that come with being young, but if you are constantly obsessed with your looks and need everything about your appearance to be perfect, then there’s a good chance you were made to feel ashamed about how you looked while you were growing up.
Peers make it hard enough on a child who is overweight, wears glasses, has a lazy eye, or suffers with acne or eczema. It’s even harder to feel the contempt and disappointment of a mother or father who thinks they are helping you by holding a magnifying glass up to each physical flaw. My Grandmother told me, “Beauty is only skin deep, but ugly is to the bone, and when beauty loses it splendor, ugly holds its own.”
May you have the courage to get up first thing in the morning and like what you see, warts and all.
