"Yeah buddy, I think my looks have aged more in the last 3 years since menopause than they did in the previous 20. Sudden wrinkles and the sagging chin and jowls out of nowhere. Seems like it all happened almost over night. When the hormones run out the whole package goes to hell in a handbasket without warning. Who knew this was going to happen? It's like running into a brick wall at 100 MPH."
Oh yes.
"I looked pretty good up until 50, but after 10 years of menopause, I look like an old woman."
Oh boy - I'm not quite that far down the line yet - but ... getting there!
Those are bad enough - but this one
"How do you cope with the emotional feelings about looking older? I have found that people treat me differently. No one seems to care what I have to say and no one really wants to hear it, either. Sometimes I get irritated when I'm with my husband, and although both of us are talking to someone, that person only looks at my husband and not me."
That sounds familiar ...
"It really gets to me that I look bad and sometimes I feel obsessed when I meet someone new or see someone that I haven't seen for a few years. I keep wondering if they are thinking, "Gee, she looks old." I know this all sounds small-minded and maybe I should be grateful I'm not sick with something serious. But this is hard, looking old and getting treated differently. Men age, too, but they still look like men and don't have the facial changes that women go through."
Don't they just! (Men - age, that is!)
Isn't this sad? But, unfortunately, it is all too true. I KNOW how it is to be ignored like this! For instance, I did all the talking and working out and everything else with the darned doors. Hub was completely silent. But it was HIM they asked to sign the form and HIM they sent letters to! And this happens all the time!!
It's so unfair. After years of feeling ill, you feel much better (maybe the best in your life) and you are an intelligent being. And yet, you now LOOK ill and tired and old - and nobody takes you seriously - or even really notices you!!
The Frownies arrived the other day. I licked them and stuck them on the sides of my mouth. RIDICULOUS! I swiped them off again! I see myself from the inside and I like me - if people who look at me from the outside don't like me or respect my opinions etc, just because I've got (deep) lines around my mouth, then they are missing out! :)
Don't look at the wrinkles (not that you can see them in this pic! :)) - look at the WISDOM!!
I think I'll get me a cat ....
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