I’m on a trip with my mom Pam, Aunt Shelley, and kids. We are spending the day at Le Club 55. Le Club 55 is the beach club for “lifestyles of the rich and famous” in St. Tropez, France. Here one can sit and watch stars “beaching” with their kids. Check out the crazy yachts and paparazzi (who just said hello to me by the way. LOL, nope I wasn’t who they were looking for. What? Mommy blogger doesn’t make me worthy of your pics, Mr. Paparazzi? Jk.). We (my aunt, mom, and I ) got into a conversation after looking around at the perfectly bronzed and shaped bodies soaking up the sun in their skimpy bikini bottoms and ummm lack of tops.
Naturally, one could start to compare and feel self-conscious in a situation like this. I for one don’t allow myself to go there. I decided long ago in high school when many of my friends were falling victim to eating disorders that I needed to be proud of my body. My goal needs to be to be healthy. I’m not going to say that there haven’t been times when I looked at myself in the mirror and asked myself, “Where did I go . . . ?” especially during and post pregnancy. I have had to have a few talks with myself when I was an actress in LA and my skinniest was ALWAYS bigger than everyone else on set.
Okay, I got sidetracked. Back to the point. How many times have you looked back at pictures and thought, “Man, I remember when that pic was taken and I was paranoid about my tummy, thighs . . .”? And you look at it now and think that was ridiculous. I looked hot. Those pics are framers.
The phrase “youth is wasted on the young” was thrown out. I had never heard this before. It’s so true. Truth is we are never going to look as young as we do right this second. So let’s please stop criticizing, complaining, and comparing ourselves and start celebrating what we have. Our nails will eventually become brittle, hands marked with sun spots, faces wrinkled, and well, droopy. Our eyes may go. Our skin will sallow. Nobody is perfect, but let’s be thankful for what we have.
My mom’s thought on this is that women my age need to be focused on maintaining. So use sunscreen. Eat right. Exercise. Eliminate stress in your life. Don’t party too hard, and for goodness sakes don’t smoke. I won’t even get started on that one. I’m neither for or against plastic surgery; I know it has basically become a norm. But if your plan is to work with what you have, then celebrate, maintain, and Shelley hit it home with, “ENJOY!!!”
(Reality: in fancy pants spot carrying porta potty.)