In the men’s book (we were scared to do it in the women’s book) we said that all of us will, eventually get hit by the “ugly stick” and get a little goofy looking. Goofy skin, goofy hair and so on. Tough.
Generally it is gradual and you don’t go crazy. But the last few weeks I fast-forwarded the process and I did go crazy. It was instructive. To fight off skin cancer spots on a wholesale basis, I had a skin “peel”. You put goop on your face which first raises (in hideous color) the bad spots and then erases them. Fine.
I am half through…covered with flaming red spots…loooking hideous. Here’s the mildly interesting thing: it is hugely debilitating. I do not have much of a stake in how I look but I was horrified. And I felt 90. Not only that, I started to act it. Skipped some exercise days, felt as if I just couldn’t do it and so on. Weird. Because there was no real physical effect at all. Eventually, I pulled it together, went back to vigorous workouts and the like. Felt like myself again.
Here’s the point: eventually we are all going to look like hell. Old, anyhow. It would be terrific if we could persuade ourselves not to GO to hell too. Because there’s no real need for it. We’re going to look a lot worse than we feel, and there is a premium on acting how we feel, not how we look.
That’s it. Just a little tip from your elders about some stuff that will happen to you, no matter what. And some stuff that doesn’t have to, if you don’t let it.