Aging…
I’m not yet in the “winter of my life”, but I am in early autumn. As the seasons and cycles of life take me toward my favorite time of year, I’m learning how to embrace the changes to my body, my appearance, and my wellbeing. I’ve never been a person to focus much on looks, but as a younger person it’s easier to look reasonably good without much effort. Youth is effortlessly beautiful. As I age the question becomes, how to experience the later seasons of life as a pretty fall and a gorgeous winter?
Winter aesthetics…
For anyone who has been reading this blog, you’ll know I draw lessons from my favorite season. Winter, to me, is easily the most beautiful season. It’s striking, simple, and pristine. If I were to apply the beauty of winter as a model for personal aesthetics I would say it’s about getting back to basics. Clean crisp lines, like the silhouettes of trees, mountain ridgelines, and silver highlights of clouds cut shape and depth into the winter view. There is little color, but where there is color is it bold and deliberate. That which endures stands out in the winter, highlighted as a point of focus or prominence. For me personally, I think I can assemble a style from these observations. Of my features I would choose my eyes to highlight. My dress can use basic colors with occasional dramatic color. For lines, attention to edging in highlights or lowlights will create more interesting contrast, and physical fitness always serves best for attractive lines and structure.
Along with the diminished easeful attractiveness, maintaining my appearance has become more demanding. I suppose there is always the option to not care, and I’ve considered it. A part of me resists the idea of make beauty routines a regular part of my life when they never have been before – I don’t even wear makeup. But I find that when I feel that I look good or put together I have more confidence and generally feel better about myself. It has a psychological impact on my life. And perhaps there is something respectful toward others to show up looking like I cared a bit about taking care of myself.
Of course the other lens to bring the discussion of appearance is physical health. Maintaining strength and mobility not only impacts appearance, but it has significant implications for overall health, mood, mental acuity, and ability. If I can carry muscle mass and flexibility into the winter of life I’ll likely be able to live a better more active life for longer.
Red light therapy…
Throughout my 10 Weeks of Winter project, I tried a few protocols with the intention of improving my experience of winter. One of these protocols I did not find had an obvious impact on my experience of winter, but it did have an impact on appearance and health. I began using a red light therapy panel for 5 minutes in the morning and 7 minutes in the evening daily. My hope was that it might have an impact on my circadian rhythms, but as I fell off from using it and then started it up again I didn’t notice an impact on sleep quality or wakefulness in the morning as much as from other protocols like abdominal breathing and daily walks. However, using the red light therapy panel seems to have a great impact on the look and feel of my skin and hair. It also seems to have mild impacts on my vision. Now, maybe these changes were impacted by other factors, like higher doses of vitamin D, but my observation of changes seem connected to using the red light therapy panel. I’ve heard red light therapy also can help with physical injury and recovery, though I haven’t tested this. Ultimately, red light therapy is a protocol I intend to extend beyond winter into a regular health or beauty routine to continue to experience some of the physical rejuvenation benefits that I’ve observed so far this winter.
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