What does 45 look like?

Happy November everyone! I recently celebrated a birthday and have been thinking a lot about a phrase that I think many of us are guilty of saying out loud or at least thinking at some point and that is:

"Whoa, she looks amazing for her age!" or perhaps "Whew, they are really aging poorly!” When we say someone is aging well, what we really mean is that they are looking younger than they actually are and if they are aging poorly, then they are looking older, right? And I think we can all agree that the goal is to always look younger than our number, which can just feel downright impossible most of the time.

So, let’s change our perspective regarding what we think others, and especially ourselves, should look like at any age. Mind blowing, I know.

What someone is supposed to look like is exactly what they look like at whatever age they are at. What does 45 look like? It looks like me in this picture dressed up as Fifi from Beauty and the Beast a few days before my birthday, because I’m 45. I’m not 40, I’m not 60. I’m 45. And I’ve spent many years playing outside in the sun – tennis and rugby matches, swimming in the ocean, skiing. I’ve gone through IVF, pumping all kinds of hormones into my body to have a kid. I’ve scarred myself cooking on the stove and pulling cookies out of the oven. I hit up a tanning bed a number of times when I was 18 because I wanted to look amazing when I returned to college to impress the guy who had ghosted me (this word didn’t exist at the time so thank you for coming up with a word that describes him blowing me off) that summer (and as luck would have it, I ran into him right after I got back to campus and he said, “I like your nails, your tan and your pants” because some things we never forget. Was the damage I did to my skin in this case worth it? Absolutely not, but hindsight is always 20/20).

But being comfortable in our own skin doesn't mean we shouldn't take care of it to the best of our ability. After all, our skin protects us from the environment around us and it does its job best when it is healthy. So if you're skin is starting to get dry as the weather gets colder and the heat kicks on, make sure you change up your skin routine so that you look like the best version of yourself - whatever age you are.