Time to face reality
THE WAY I SEE IT... Wise words from our feisty, fearless and funny columnist
‘It’s so rare these days that anyone, especially a woman, ages naturally or gracefully. Why should we, though? We have the technology, and what’s wrong with a few cosmetic enhancements, why not always do what you can to look your best? It’s a fair point and it would be a good one if things hadn’t already gone too far when “best” isn’t good enough anymore and too many women are developing a form of facial dysmorphia caused by a needless pursuit of perfection and eternal youth.
Even if you don’t have any physical enhancements, there are some genius apps that, in my view, are just as damaging. I’ll admit, they’re addictive. I was in the garden the other day and Mark took a few pics of me for Instagram. They never made it on there because looking at the pictures I decided
I looked too good!
Not like me at all, I was super svelte and satin smooth all over! I didn’t realise that after messing with my phone I’d upped the ‘beauty’ and ‘shape’ settings to maximum. It took me a while to find them and return to the horrible reality – and when I did, the results were not so great, but at least I looked like me. Even worse, a friend of mine put my face through an app to see how I would look if I was more ‘Hollywood’. Look above, it made me look like Chucky. It was horrific. What was more disturbing was that it’s a look that some people not only aspire to but think is a good one. Yes, I know, I’m a hypocrite because I had a facelift, but I was 58 years old! Now, teenage girls are getting Botox and fillers and God knows what else. What will they look like in their 50s, I wonder? And how will they cope when they can no longer afford the lifelong expense?
Of course, we can’t put the genie back in the bottle and I’m not saying we should, but we need to start facing the reality of ageing more or we will end up with an epidemic of selfesteem issues or mental illness.’