I'm a septuagenarian. I came of age during the Twiggy years. I fought to attain/maintain the accepted ideal of feminine pulchritude, fiercely for a couple of decades, then came somewhat to my senses and realized what a crock of sh*t we were being sold. I began to accept the fact that even botox and fillers and plastic surgery and health food and yoga and Goop and supplements can't prevent the inevitability of the aging process. No--I don't like that I've lost muscle mass and with it, some flexibility and mobility. Or that my skin, without that magic hormone, estrogen, has gotten crepey. Or that my face has more wrinkles than I'd hoped to see. But I grew SO TIRED of trying to keep it all up--of having to give up time and energy (and plenty of money) and things I enjoy to try and maintain a youthful appearance. And I realized how much I loved my grandmothers' faces, and then my mom's face and began to think, "that's not so bad" and see the beauty in faces and bodies that told the stories of lives lived, rather than lives perpetually on hold. I chuckle to read articles about how millennials are starting to--horror of horrors--see signs of aging. I love your title--Remember You Must Die (And Get Wrinkles). My hope is that we can work with, rather than against Nature and recognize our innate beauty at whatever stage we find ourselves. Cheers.
This series is great, thank you. Also, Bryan Johnson DID have a girlfriend—a fiancée even—who was with him in all of this and employed by him to boot. Until, that is, she got breast cancer and he broke up with her because of the bad optics.
Bryan Johnson is a fool. As are most of the so-called “bio hackers “. Aging gracefully essentially means understanding enough about the biochemical pathways that take us into old age and being able to nudge them somewhat. Most folks don’t. Take it from a practitioner, it’s not the length of life that is important, but the width of life. Which would you rather have: 80 years of full, satisfying life? Or 120 years of mediocrity? Also, we all used to believe that economists were where we should place our trust in running society, until we realized that all of the promises that they made were worthless theories. Then we shifted our trust to tech entrepreneurs, with the same assumption and similar results. Perhaps we should shift gears to trying to understand addiction in its many manifestations. Obesity is a good example of it (high glycemic, highly processed food addiction) and shares the same brain pathways as morphine addiction, albeit on a different timescale. And yes we all must die, but we mustn’t forget to live either.
I'm a septuagenarian. I came of age during the Twiggy years. I fought to attain/maintain the accepted ideal of feminine pulchritude, fiercely for a couple of decades, then came somewhat to my senses and realized what a crock of sh*t we were being sold. I began to accept the fact that even botox and fillers and plastic surgery and health food and yoga and Goop and supplements can't prevent the inevitability of the aging process. No--I don't like that I've lost muscle mass and with it, some flexibility and mobility. Or that my skin, without that magic hormone, estrogen, has gotten crepey. Or that my face has more wrinkles than I'd hoped to see. But I grew SO TIRED of trying to keep it all up--of having to give up time and energy (and plenty of money) and things I enjoy to try and maintain a youthful appearance. And I realized how much I loved my grandmothers' faces, and then my mom's face and began to think, "that's not so bad" and see the beauty in faces and bodies that told the stories of lives lived, rather than lives perpetually on hold. I chuckle to read articles about how millennials are starting to--horror of horrors--see signs of aging. I love your title--Remember You Must Die (And Get Wrinkles). My hope is that we can work with, rather than against Nature and recognize our innate beauty at whatever stage we find ourselves. Cheers.
Thank you—This is my hope too. I refuse to waste finite resources (time, energy, money, care) on tricks rather than treats ;) Cheers!
I love the writing! This post is everything. Thanks!
Thank you for reading!
This series is great, thank you. Also, Bryan Johnson DID have a girlfriend—a fiancée even—who was with him in all of this and employed by him to boot. Until, that is, she got breast cancer and he broke up with her because of the bad optics.
https://people.com/human-interest/entrepreneur-spending-millions-reverse-aging-left-fiancee-after-breast-cancer-diagnosis-lawsuit/
Bryan Johnson is a fool. As are most of the so-called “bio hackers “. Aging gracefully essentially means understanding enough about the biochemical pathways that take us into old age and being able to nudge them somewhat. Most folks don’t. Take it from a practitioner, it’s not the length of life that is important, but the width of life. Which would you rather have: 80 years of full, satisfying life? Or 120 years of mediocrity? Also, we all used to believe that economists were where we should place our trust in running society, until we realized that all of the promises that they made were worthless theories. Then we shifted our trust to tech entrepreneurs, with the same assumption and similar results. Perhaps we should shift gears to trying to understand addiction in its many manifestations. Obesity is a good example of it (high glycemic, highly processed food addiction) and shares the same brain pathways as morphine addiction, albeit on a different timescale. And yes we all must die, but we mustn’t forget to live either.