I’ve been sitting with something for a while now, and it’s been hard to put into words without feeling like I’ll be misunderstood.
I want to be clear—I don’t think taking care of ourselves is wrong. I value health, strength, and feeling good in my body. That’s a part of my life and my work, and I believe it matters. But lately, the anti-aging movement as a whole has been weighing on me in a deeper way, and I can’t ignore it.
What unsettles me isn’t the products or procedures. It’s the growing intensity behind it—the constant push to avoid aging at all costs, the quiet panic around looking older, and the message that youth is something we need to hold onto as tightly as possible.
The more I think about it, the more I realize this isn’t just about appearance. It feels like it’s pointing to something deeper in us.
Aging is one of the few things we can’t control, and it’s also one of the clearest reminders that life here is temporary. And I can’t help but wrestle with the tension that creates. If we truly believe this life is not the end, why does the idea of aging feel so threatening? Why are we working so hard to delay every visible sign that time is passing?
I’m not saying there’s a clear line where self-care suddenly becomes something wrong. But I do think there’s a point where the motivation shifts, where it becomes less about caring for what we’ve been given and more about trying to hold onto something we were never meant to keep.
That’s the part that’s been tugging at my conscience.
Because when so much of our time, money, and energy goes toward preserving youth, I think it’s worth asking what’s underneath that. Not in a judgmental way, but in an honest one. Are we simply trying to feel our best, or are we becoming afraid of what aging represents?
Maybe I’m more sensitive to it than others, and maybe I won’t say this perfectly. But I can’t shake the feeling that the anti-aging movement, in its extremes, is pulling us toward something rooted more in fear than in trust.
And I guess that’s why it’s been hard to stay quiet about it.
Not because I think I have all the answers, but because I think it’s worth asking where we draw the line—and whether, at some point, our efforts to hold onto youth begin to compete with the faith we say we have in something beyond this life.