Cameron Diaz’s new book, The Longevity Book, was released today. Hey, you know what? So was Duana’s first book, The Name Therapist. Cam’s in New York today for promotion. I’ve attached below her interview with Good Morning America. They had her with a live audience, taking questions. But all the answers came back to acceptance – being prepared to age as we age makes us more comfortable with aging, and therefore ready for it.
I quite like Cam’s point about getting older – that getting older is preferable to NOT getting older. Because if you’re not around to get old, well, you know, you’re not around. This is by no means new wisdom. But, for me, maybe because it’s so simple, it’s often forgotten wisdom. I really came around to this when my ma, the Chinese Squawking Chicken, was hospitalised for almost a year in 2011. There were days when the outlook was sh-t. Last year, when she was back in the hospital for a chemotherapy and a stem cell transplant and she was bitching and moaning about the multiple myeloma coming back, I tried to remind her to put it all in perspective. That 5 years ago, we would have been hoping for treatment, for options, and to be positive about having something to look forward to, as opposed to not having anything to look forward to.
Still, Cameron’s philosophy about longevity, to educate ourselves about aging, and to live in acceptance of it, well, it’s happening side by side with another constant conversation that’s called “anti-aging”. Eat this food, it’s anti-aging. Try this serum, it’s anti-aging. Nothing “anti-aging” is claiming to STOP aging. Is it to “slow” aging then? Or is it to age BETTER? In the end, do they actually all mean the same thing?
When you’re “anti” something, you’re against it. You’re trying to prevent it, and the implication here is that it’s bad. But Cameron Diaz isn’t saying it’s bad. She’s saying it should be embraced. Some of her best friends however are “anti” all over the place. If they’re all having a similar conversation though, and trying to get to the same place, maybe the nuance is in the wording. It can be confusing, non? I’m confused. Like, I’m not ashamed of my age. Hi. 42. But I also moisturise and sheet-mask and cream and bells and feathers and all that sh-t out of my face. Is that wrong?
Don’t be afraid of aging, they say. Let’s be inclusive about aging, they say too. Let’s not discriminate against those who are aging, we all say. But they also say fight it, fight the f-ck out of aging. Stop that motherf-cker any way you can. That’s not to say that these contradictions are intended. I’m not sure they’re not. So perhaps it is the language. Perhaps we need to find a better way to talk about it, if we’re all talking about the same thing.
