We didn’t have to look very far to find the new face of our “Aging Gracefully, Together”campaign. Bev McGillivray was an obvious choice.
We asked her what it meant to her. In her own words, here is what she had to say:
What IS aging gracefully? Well, to be quite honest, I don’t have the answer to that. What I do know is as I age, I feel more and more comfortable in my own skin – figuratively that is, not literally. I can laugh at myself, be ridiculously goofy, wear clothes that aren’t necessarily ‘age appropriate’ and not care one bit what people think. That, to me, is part of aging gracefully. But being comfortable in my own skin, ‘literally’, can be a very different story.
What I want our PS patients to know is we really are on this journey of aging with them. We get it. We know that the face looking back at us in the mirror can sometimes shock us. Where did youth go and how did it happen so fast? Believe me, I say this to myself regularly! The truth is, we are not any different from you and we are here to support everyone on their journey of aging.
For me, I just want to look healthy and fresh. If I’m brutally honest, I really don’t want to look old when I still feel so young! I like my skin to have some kind of ‘glow’ because aging skin can easily look tired, dehydrated and let’s face it, lacklustre! I have learned that good skin, for most of us, does take tender loving care, respect and constant maintenance. As a teen and young adult I struggled with acne and my skin was a source of shame and embarrassment for me. But, I got help and recovered fully from those feelings, never forgetting how troubled skin can make one feel. Now, at 53 (yikes) I still attend to my skin like an acne prone youth. But, trust me, it is worth it! We can all put on our best duds, but our skin truly is our most prominent accessory.
So, aging gracefully can mean many things to many people but at the end of the day, age is just a number and how you feel is what matters. We really are walking this journey, together with our patients, and loving the privilege of doing so!
Bev
