The Reality of a Photo: Looking My Best, Feeling My Worst

Last week I wrote about my horror of feeling old.

I spent a lot of time feeling regret about my past behaviours; why did I not get myself into a gym routine when I was 20? Why did I eat all those takeaways instead of salads when I first met the husband? Why didn’t I implement a good skincare routine 10 years ago? The list of shoulda, coulda woulda goes on.

Until recently getting old and ageing had never really bothered me. I always said I would “grow old gracefully,” but to be perfectly honest, I don’t really know what that entails anymore. I’m not against Botox or surgery. I know lots of people who have these treatments and they look fabulous. For me, there is an underlying fear about not only the effects of them but also the worry that if I started, would I be able to stop?

You see pictures of celebrities and sometimes their appearance changes so much that they no longer look like the same person, and that scares me. But then I also look at pictures of myself from over the years and realise that I am not the same person I was back then.

Take this picture taken in 2009 as an example.

Every time I see this picture, my instant thoughts are along the lines of “I have really let myself go” or “I wish I still looked…