A rose is still a rose and still as fragrant and beautiful as it fades. There are people who panic at each milestone age, hate birthday celebrations and/or trim years from their true age. Other people get botox, facelifts, and other surgeries to maintain a youthful appearance.
The concept of trying to deny the aging process is alien to me. Recently, I have removed the color from my hair and let the gray shine through. I colored it for years for two reasons, I started getting significant gray when I was in my early 20's and I love to experiment with colors. In regards to the former, I don't mind being my age or even looking my age, but silver strands at 25? I am not immune to vanity, either. For the latter, each month was an opportunity for me to experiment with the spectrum from bleached blonde to dark purple (OK, so that was a mistake).
Don't get me wrong, I don't appreciate the aging process any more than the next person. I would love to have the energy to dance in the supermarket aisles because the whim hit me rather than needing two or three steps to get my go going. But, I am proud of my age, I have accomplished more than I would have ever tasked my teenage self to reach for. So I celebrate each birthday with joy. I have some wrinkles and some sun spots that testify to my years cycling and running in Japan and Hawaii.
Age is a mindset. Once we get over 40 we seem to want to be ourselves from 20 years ago. I hear people say that they would love to be 20 again or 30 again. Well, think about this my dear 92 year old friend tells me that he would love to 70 again!
I want to embrace getting wiser and enjoying a host of memories. I don't want to rush to the finish line but I also don't want to regret the journey. I want to wear my adventures proudly and I don't want to fight nature anymore than the cost of moisturizer, sun screen and hair color. To do anything more is putting ourselves at risk, for what? An illusion? Really the only things that will help the aging process are diet, exercise, mental outlook and good genes.
Embrace life. Life is a cycle and no amount of mental denial is going to halt that cycle. I would even hazard to guess the strain trauma of denial would actually speed it up. Rather than chasing after an elusive fountain of youth, celebrate each milestone, celebrate who you are, where you have been and that the journey isn't over yet.