This week, we’re Being Body Conscious. I turn 30 this year and I’ve started to notice some changes in my body. The waist of my pants hugs me tighter. My cheeks look rounder and fuller. Under my strategically placed bangs, my hairline is slowly receding. All these subtle changes are barely perceptible to others, but to me they feel magnified. Hyper fixating on myself in the mirror only adds to the stress, which is also taking a bodily toll. Living in a body can be hard, and learning to embrace the changes can be harder.
I think a lot about Bryan Johnson, the 47-year-old tech millionaire who spends his fortune trying to revert his body back to his 18-year-old self. He’s the subject of a new Netflix documentary “Don't Die: The Man Who Wants to Live Forever.” He has a team of doctors and scientists monitoring every health biometric to ensure he keeps up with his algorithm-based body care system. He follows a militant exercise and sleep schedule, and a strict diet along with more than 100 vitamins and minerals. He’s even swapped blood with his 18-year-old son. It’s so much effort to defy what the body inevitably does: change, decay and die. It seems to be an exercise in ego, this Sisyphian task to be the healthiest person in the world.
Here I am on the other side of that spectrum, trying to get by with my weekly meal prep and at-home workouts. There is nothing wrong with trying to be your healthiest self, but it is a privilege to use your vast amounts of wealth and resources to stave off a changing body. As I’m reaching the end of my 20’s, I’m trying to remember that living life in a body that experiences change over time is its own privilege.
- Angelo