No matter how beautiful we are, or have been, the world seems to demand more of us. Lift, nip, and tuck, they tell us, over and over again. So, when we look in the mirror and see all our imperfections, we lift, nip, and tuck, over and over again.

I’ve come to realize that aging gracefully requires us to appreciate the wisdom of imperfections, to embrace the natural process that we all go through, no matter how beautiful we are, or have been. As it grows more and more difficult to escape the pressures of anti-aging procedures by the world around us, a new norm of false faces has risen. Sometimes it feels as though choosing to age naturally has become the new shame.