It’s all around you. Turn on the television and a commercial for Neutrogena or some other anti-aging cream hits you in the face. Open a magazine, and a Botox advertisement sits opposite an article you are reading.
Such announcements seem far off. They’re someone else’s problem. They’re just another product promo. However, one closet-cleaning day, an old pair of jeans pops out from nowhere.
“I must have worn these last when I was in my 20s,” you say to yourself.
Curiosity and nostalgia hit you as you try them on, only to discover how tapered they’ve gotten at the knees, and the zipper is practically impossible to close. You wonder why.
The fact that maybe your figure has changed over the years hasn’t entered your mind. Congratulations, just like your other Baby Boomer friends, you have entered the stage of denial.
The denial stage continues as you one day pick up a latest bestseller only to discover that the print is hard to read. “Has it shrunk?” you ask yourself.
To alleviate this dilemma, you begin using a magnifying glass. The dependency on it becomes overwhelming.
The reality sets in one afternoon while holding the device in front of a computer screen at a local library.
The young man in the next cubicle who notices your struggle informs you that the screen text can be enlarged…
Coming to terms with the nuisance, you finally acquiesce by purchasing a pair of magnifying reading glasses at a local drug store.
Young people can certainly remind you of your aging process. It really hits home when a young man gets up and offers you a seat on the train.
How about the local gym during an exercise class when the 20-something participants beside you successfully conduct stretching moves that don’t cut it with your lower back and hamstrings?
Other examples of the physical reality include overall lack of energy. You recall your younger days when after work you had bundles of vitality to pursue endless activities like dashing to the gym and capping the evening off with disco dancing.
Now as a Baby Boomer reliving those times, fatigue takes over. It becomes difficult to hustle dance to the song’s finishing point.
Finally, the denial stage makes a full 360 degree turn to the reality stage when looking in the mirror leads to the discovery of age spots and the early stages of lines and wrinkles.
Thoughts now resurface to those annoying commercials and magazine advertisements you have ignored – until now. Early on, however, you discover that those remedies prove fruitless.
I guess it’s now time to stop whining and head out the door. I’m running late for my laser treatment appointment.
Elaine Kabat is a frequent contributor. Comments on this essay can be sent to: current@hudsonreporter.com.