Dear Maggie,

I am suffering from some symptoms of aging, and I know you’re all about positive thinking and stuff, but how does one stay positive when their body seems to be failing them? My eyes are going. It’s getting harder and harder to see up close. And while I’ve been running to maintain my weight, my knees have started aching all the time. Not only do I have issues about aging (I’m against it) but I need my eyesight, and I need to go running! These are probably the two most important things to me, physically, aside from weight management. So how do I get around the umistakable fact that my body is failing as it gets older? How do I think positively about that?

Signed,

Aging Gracelessly?

Dear Grace,

(I’d say Graceless, but that would be negative.)

Your body is failing you as it ages because you’ve believed all your life that it’s supposed to, that it’s inevitable, and that there’s no fighting it. Because we expect it, it happens. And the more our society focuses on the value of youth, the more we panic at the first sign of aging, and the more we attract those signs. Nothing will give you wrinkles or gray hairs faster than searching for them in the mirror every morning. Stop looking for what you don’t want to see!