Beauty for Life: 6 Steps to Accepting Aging

Step 1: Turn Your Uh-Oh Moments into Aha! Ones

The first step toward making any change in perspective is acknowledging and confronting the issue. You would be surprised to hear how many women are reticent to acknowledge that aging looks bother them. Decide if your concerns over aging and beauty are issues you would like to resolve. Take an honest, courageous look in your mirror and ask, "Do you recall a moment in time that felt like a turning point in your aging process?" Was there a moment when you said to yourself, "I feel and look old"? This first step allows us to own our honest feelings about our changing looks and see clearly through the paradoxical pulls that cloud our vision. Through the stories of the women we interviewed, we see that uh-oh moments are experienced deep within us, as if something fundamental has changed in our identities. This is often accompanied by embarrassment and shame, as if we've been caught off guard and feel guilty that we care. We fear that we have lost control, as if abducted into an unwelcome phase of life. The first step is acknowledgment that our uh-oh moment exists and can be used to gain awareness. Only then can we turn uh-oh into aha!