HOW TO AGE WITH JOY

Getting older is a miserable affair if you fight it - rather embrace the inevitable with gratitude and gusto, says a new book

AGE. It happens to all of us yet we often fight against it and rant and rave about it.

The loss of looks and flexibility, the onset of wrinkles and frailty ageing can be a lot.

But what if we stopped freaking out about it and started embracing it? This is the message 86-year-old author Margaretha Magnusson drives home in her new book, The Swedish Art of Ageing Exuberantly.

Embracing the inevitable and seeking the positive is what it's all about, as she says in this inspiring extract.

TAKE CARE OF YOUR HAIR 

A lot of people seem to think wrinkles can be fixed, but I don't think that's for me.

I once saw a film where a woman talked so sensibly about how much she admired the strength of her own body but I cannot for the life of me remember the title of the film.

I think about her words when contemplating my own arms and legs and everything. Those thoughts go something like this: my body has borne five children, plus one who didn't live. This body has sheltered me in storms and baked an unholy number of cakes.

This body has laughed and planted gardens, worn gloves and loved. I will never put a knife to it for being wrinkled.

No one has been unkind to me because of the way I look and I've never really been horrified by the wrinkles on others either. If others had grown used to looking at me, then surely I could get used to looking at myself. You must get used to it, unless you depend on your looks for your career or your joy. Hinging your life on looking young is such a bad idea.

I feel it's more important to take care of your hair. No one's head of hair can be truly great if you're over 80. It'll have most likely thinned and lost its lustre. But if you care about your appearance which I do - then your hair is a better workplace than your face.