Suddenly feel like I’ve aged quickly..

[flia42]

I know no one will have any answers to this but I guess venting helps! I’m 42 by the way!

I’ve been one of those people that always gets comments like ‘how do you never age’ ‘you look amazing for your age’ etc. I still get rarely ID’d..yet lately I feel so run down and aged.
My neck is thinning, it’s panicking me something chronic. I’ve always had a fairly heathy diet, exercise enough, not overweight. Every time I look in the mirror I hate it.
I’ve not long had my hair cut, I felt it was long and stringy aging me, no ones really said they like it..I don’t really so that’s knocked me.
Wrinkles and feeling dizzy are just making me pretty naff!!!
Please tell me I’m not alone..

I’ve had this feeling a few times (at 35, at 45) but it always passes and at 50 I now simply care less about how I look. I do a shedload of sport, a lot of my spare time I am active and yes I can see sagginess but also better muscle definition

You can still make changes

Imo exercise does more for looks and mood than diet or make-up

At 42 when I suddenly looked like shit I had

• Botox for 11s
• cheek filler to help with under eye bags
• HRT (estrogen)

All has been amazing and I feel / look soooooooooo much better.

A saggy neck before 50 is often caused by loss of muscle tone. You might get more joy with 3 sessions of pilates per week than any makeup or cosmetic procedure. I only do it once a week so far and it has dramatically helped my crepy cleavage

I’m 40 but also felt this a few years ago when I noticed I looked like someone in her mid-30s and not a glowing young ‘un anymore. I think acceptance is a part of and that the goal should be to look like a good version of your age rather than lament not looking younger. I also agree with others that the staples of good health help - good diet, exercise, water and sleep. I’m being a hypocrite though because I rarely maintain them all myself!

Those aside, I’ve found that I actually look better since the lockdowns - it’s been a surprise but I think I’ve spent more time sleeping (no 3-hr round trip commute), outside in nature (walking has been my staple exercise) and wearing brighter colours (a coincidence, but much of my corporate gear is monochrome and my more casual stuff is brighter).

On the colours - I had mine ‘done’ as a teenager and was very dismissive of it. The consultant was a lovely woman in her sixties who gently observed that I’d appreciate it more when I hit my forties. Damn she was right.

Thanks all, in the nicest possible way it's nice to know I'm not alone. I think it's my neck that's really done it for me. My skins good and it looks aged wheras my face doesn't. Any surgery /magic tricks?!
I'm also working stupid hrs that will drop in spey so I maybe just need to learn to relax!

Wait til the menopause hits....it's like stepping off a cliff.

@Aliceclara

Wait til the menopause hits....it's like stepping off a cliff.

I didn’t find that at all. I looked no different post menopause. Two big bereavements six months apart did it for me - I aged dramatically after those. Stress will do it every time.

You can always bounce back again, OP, yes ageing goes in one direction, but I feel a new lease of life with grown up kids

So yes, am 50, but more body confident than I was at 40

Face… yeah, so what, a bit older but I am still me, I am still here, I look how I look

Hope you get to that 50s feeling like I did, there is a certain freedom in it