Are you aging? Or do you prefer to call it maturing like I do?
Maturing happens to us all. I have chosen to embrace it and do what I can instead of wringing my hands and crying. Frankly, when I stopped coloring my prematurely gray hair, it was a compelling force in my life. It’s been incredibly freeing to be who I really am.
In a minute I will show you untouched photos I took of my maturing (aging) face last night before bed, up close with no makeup with only the facial serums I have used for 2 years.
But first, someone once published a list of Mistakes made by maturing, aging women. I kept it to ponder (fearing the future), I think.
AVOID making these aging lifestyle mistakes if you want to feel as good at 50 as you did at 30:
- Not doing anything at all
- Not investing in basic clothing that really fits and is flattering
- Comparing yourself to you in your 20s and 30s
- Skipping exercise
- Not getting enough sleep
- Ignoring your teeth
- Over-doing anti-aging efforts
- Thinking there are hair “rules”
- Using the wrong or too much makeup
- Wearing the wrong bra /failing to have good and flattering support
- Settling for a boring sex life
And I’ll add a 12th: avoid adding nasty chemicals to your skin which takes a devastating toll on our immune systems, overall health and even our emotional strength and stability. This adds up to a suppression of your life force within that gives you that glow and vitality. I switched over to ‘clean’ products as quickly as I could.
Yes, I probably can improve in all these areas, but do you know what I am drawn to, deep down? I am wanting to concentrate in some of the less visual areas of life that are harder to define or explain to someone. I consider them to be some of the most important in life.
Maturing Proactively Keeps Us Young at Heart
As we mature, we enter our renaissance. If we are asking for wisdom and understanding, we see more clearly and process life through seasoned eyes, not impoverished ones. Prior to our fear of the Lord and our correct assessment of ourselves, all our “wisdom” is actually “folly”.
1. I want the spiritual spunk to fight through life’s challenges with courage and joy and hope. After walking such a long road, I still want to be a warrior, proactive in faith and focus on what the Lord is doing in and through me!
2. I don’t want to stop laughing and looking for the good and noble things.
The Bible says, “She is clothed with strength and dignity; she can laugh at the days to come.” ~Proverbs 31: 25 NIV
3. I don’t want to worry about every. little. thing.
“Worry does not empty tomorrow of its sorrow. It empties today of its strength.” ~Corrie ten Boom
4. I want to think of others over myself. To be driven to extreme self-care, is a way to emotional bankruptcy! It truly is more blessed to give than receive. But on the other hand, I want to represent the Savior with my very best, inside and out (poise: how I dress and carry myself). I hope I am not misunderstood here.
What I am about to show is awkward. But part of me wants to share this maturing woman I’m becoming, too.
“I feel that beauty is not about subterfuge; it’s about authenticity” ~unknown
What I Use on My Face
In my late 50s and early 60s, I used simple virgin coconut oil with specific essential oils (which I wrote about here). But when I hit 62/63, things radically changed. I was just began really significant healing from advanced Lyme and felt like I was going to crack up and blow away. The aging was soo very visible and drastic especially on my face!
I looked for something to reverse the clock but refused several products (some very popular products) with simply scary ingredients that seemed too good to be true. I kept looking and read lots of reviews.
In these untouched photos (selfies) I took last night, I had just gotten out of the shower and while my pores were open from the heat, first thing, I applied the Matrixyl & Argireline and the Skin Daily together.
Just several pumps of each. I pat it on all of my face, jawline, neck and upper chest. I rub the rest on the back of my hands as it helps that skin not be so crepey or looks so veiny.
Don’t apply moisturizer (I still use my coconut oil and essential oils) until later so your skin can drink the serums in. I can feel them toning and making my skin tighter as it dries. I use them morning and before bed.
(No I don’t sell this, but I like it so much I want to tell others!)
The Asterwood Naturals Matrixyl & Argireline contains 3 great things and a short list of safer ingredients you can pronounce:
- MATRIXYL 3000 peptides signal your skin to increase collagen production for firmer, more youthful skin.
- The ARGIRELINE peptide is considered a natural botox.
- MAP Vitamin C which stands for magnesium ascorbyl phosphate. It prevents sun spots, is sunlight and oxygen stable and pH balanced for skin.
Besides the asymmetry of my face, my ear that sticks out, the one eye that is more open than the other, the scar between my eyes from when I jumped out of my high chair, my maturing facial skin is growing jowls and my eyebrows are getting spots of gray. I still have plenty of eyelashes, but they are thinner. My hair is still wet from the shower, so you see the color it used to be.. This was super spontaneous, so I apologize for the poor lighting.
Now I wish I could find a product that would take all the little broken veins in my legs go away! Haha..
Working years of 8-10 hour shifts just standing on my feet scrubbed-in in the OR and (later when I finally could conceive), carrying 2 sets of twins, well, it’s hard on someone who has that genetic tendency from both sides of her family! But, oh, the memories and the love – I would never trade it!
To nurture life, nurture the mind, and nurture the soul. This is a soul’s high calling.
I can not wait for my resurrection body! In the meantime, I will choose to embrace what I have no matter what happens by the grace of God.
“We need to turn off the wrinkle cream ads, stop dousing our heads in dye, and start looking in the mirror to tell ourselves we’re beautiful. Those aging gray hairs you’re starting to see? They’re amazing. Those laugh lines you always look for in photos? They’re wonderful. You are a ravishing Queen in your own right and don’t let anyone convince you otherwise! So smile, laugh, ham it up for the camera and know that your joy is more beautiful than boxed color or Botox could ever be.” ~Lauren Richwine
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