The Journey of Accepting My Aging Neck

Age has a story to tell on your skin.

I see them. They are starting to appear. The stark lines on and around my neck and upper chest. The sagging, crepe skin. The so-called ‘turkey neck’ beginning to show up at certain angles in pictures.

I’ve been waiting.

They are no longer years away from showing up. They are here. Clearly.

I knew the day would come when I would realize that age was visibly happening to my body in ways I could no longer hide.

I’ve come to accept the newer lines on my face as marks signifying my life experience, laughter, stress, and, wisdom. My face wrinkles and I have evolved into a copasetic place over the last few years.

But the neck wrinkles? We have some work to do on that relationship. We aren’t in a good place at the moment.

The aging on my face can be softened or even temporarily hidden by gooey face creams and moisturizing makeup. The wrinkles on a person’s neck tell the tale of aging in a person in a more pronounced way, not to mention telling the story of a lack of sunscreen slathered on that area while suntanning in your 20s. (Oops).

This must be why my mom always told me not to forget to put sunscreen on my neck and chest as I grew into a young woman. She knew — because she was probably experiencing her own journey with neck wrinkles at the time.

The aging process waits for no one. Age has a story to tell and your skin is the blank paper upon which it writes.

The jig is up. I’m an older woman and the skin on my body reflects that fact. There is no true escape from that reality.

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If I want to cover up my neck wrinkles, I can only do it with scarves or turtle necks. I used to wear colorful scarves for fun and fashion. Now, they will serve a new purpose.

So what can I do?

Hide?

Cry?

Take drastic, surgical measures to stay young-looking?

Nah.

I’m working on welcoming the age on my neck because it’s time. I’ve had my stint as the beautiful young woman in the cloak of her soft, wrinkle-free skin. I’ve lived in that skin and I had my time given. Now it is time to live in this new skin.

It’s time to embrace this thing called aging and see what she has in store for me.

I’m leveling up in life and with that privilege comes the inevitable physical changes that I can either accept with grace or rail against with bitterness.

As time passes from here on out, I’ll go out into a world where people will be able to see my age more clearly because it’s written all over my face — and my neck.

This will be okay — because it has to be.

I’ve made it this far in life and now my blossoming neck wrinkles are along for the continuing ride. More will come to the party along with plenty of sagging to boot, of that there is no doubt. There will also be more smile lines, crow’s feet, and frown dents that will show up with or without invitations.

That’s the surprising beauty of aging. You get to see it. All of the physical imprints that mark a body as scars of unique experiences.

I’ve earned the markings of age on my body and, in time, I will learn to relish them.

Especially you, neck. I will learn to trust that you know I’m ready for this next phase of my life. (But I’m still going to moisturize the heck out of you day and night!)

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