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There is something going on right now called The Radically Reframing Aging Summit. It’s hosted by Maria Shriver. I didn’t know anything about it until I read about it in this interview with Jamie Lee Curtis and now I’m kind of bummed. I would have like to attend some of these talks but it ends tomorrow. Maybe I’ll catch it next year. Jamie was one of the speakers because Jamie is a wonderful role model for aging. And I don’t mean because she looks a certain way or because she’s maintained a certain body mass, but rather because she’s accepted that she’s aging and says she struggles to accept it like anyone else. Jamie’s secret to acceptance is to stay away from the mirror when possible. She doesn’t completely avoid it, but she doesn’t seek it out just to analyze herself.
Jamie Lee Curtis has a few strategies for not overthinking her appearance — including limiting time in front of the mirror.
The Halloween actress, 63, appeared alongside Vanessa Williams and Maria Shriver at The Radically Reframing Aging Summit, in partnership with Sounds True and Shriver Media, which has a mission to change the way we age and how we talk about aging. Curtis spoke about how she copes in a world that puts emphasis on looking youthful. She explained that she doesn’t like to look at her body in the mirror because it makes her more critical.
“When I brush my teeth, of course, I look in the mirror. When I pluck my eyebrows, of course, I look in a mirror. But when I get out of a shower, I just don’t stare at my now 63-year-old body in the mirror,” she shared. “I’m not denying what I look like, of course I’ve seen what I look like. I am trying to live in acceptance. If I look in the mirror, it’s harder for me to be in acceptance. I’m more critical. Whereas, if I just don’t look, I’m not so worried about it.”
“I am an advocate for natural beauty because I do feel there has been a genocide of natural beauty. It is perpetuated by the media, it is perpetuated by magazines big time, and it is even in our life,” she explained. “There is a Zoom setting where it says, ‘touch up my appearance.’”
“My concern is that we have a generation of young people who believe they have to alter their appearance to post anything, anywhere,” she noted. “That then becomes a baseline of that’s what that is, and we’re never going to be able to go back to looking like natural women.”
[From Yahoo]
This made sense to me because I do the mirror thing. Usually when I’m getting dressed for bed, I’ll turn to the full length and scrutinize the hell out of myself. And what Jamie said is true. When I don’t look in a mirror like that, I feel good about myself and my age. I remember Jamie talking about watching her parents age in Hollywood and how much anguish it caused them. She probably looked for ways to prepare for this. It worked too because on the Summit’s promo video, Jamie said that she’s happy to be her 63-year-old self and happy to embrace it. I don’t think it’s contradictory for Jamie to say she embraces aging after she said she avoids mirrors. But then – hello, fellow mirror avoider. However, I don’t see it as denial, it’s more about not going looking for trouble. For instance, I didn’t even know about about the ‘touch up my appearance’ feature on Zoom before this interview. So I tried it after I read Jamie talk about it . I looked a lot better. Granted I looked like a Real Doll with Vaseline on the lens, but all smooth and soft. Still, I knew it wasn’t me, so I clicked it off. I embrace the face that appears on Zoom and gets posted on IG. I’m fine with it. But I’m feeling good today, so maybe I’ll turn my back to the mirror when I get ready for bed tonight.
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