Does aging scare the crap out of you or do you welcome it with open arms?

-- Anonymous, March 14, 2000

Answers

Very mixed feelings. I'm 25 years old, and approximately 1 out of 100 hairs on the sides of my head are gray. Not that anyone notices, of course; I pulled them out before anyone could see them, haha! But sometimes you can spot an unpatrolled white follicle poking its head out from the undergrowth. The aging process has been good to me until just about the last year or so. I mean, why not? Getting older means new freedoms and privileges. As far as the physical aspect, I wasn't too happy with my body when I was younger, and it seems the older I get the more those unwanted features go away. Now I get to discover the negative effects (and corresponding adventures) of time on a body. But I think I'm doing alright, for now. Incoming midlife crisis!

-- Anonymous, March 15, 2000

"Adventures?" Is this strictly a guy thing?

I dunno, this is something I freak out about from time to time. I'd like to say that aging didn't worry me at all, but if that were true I wouldn't use sunscreen on a daily basis.

-- Anonymous, March 15, 2000

Aging doesn't scare me, but things ABOUT aging scare me. Mostly it's the fear of suffering from a disease like "alzheimers". My grandmother has it, and watching her slip away from us mentally and emotionally, while she still retains her body and some of her physical quirks.. frightens the hell out of me. As for grey hairs and wrinkles, I don't worry about that. I think they're cool. And seeing as I like myself more today than I did five years ago, I look forward to aging, and changing, and evolving.. I'm just scared I'll one day lose the ability to think...

-- Anonymous, March 16, 2000

You know, you have a point there Christine. I suppose aging itself doesn't really scare me -- I won't mind having some wrinkles -- but I'm terrified of being trapped in a body that will no longer do what I tell it to.

And yes, I'm scared of Alzheimer's Disease too, although it doesn't appear to be in my family (my grandmother had something like it, but she had contributing medical problems as well).

I promise that when I get my first wrinkles, I'll photograph them immediately and put them up on the site. Honest.

-- Anonymous, March 16, 2000