"You don't stop breaking out. When I was a teenager, I was promised by every adult in my life that my acne would disappear with time and that I would never have to think about my skin again. Instead, I am typing this while wearing a smudge of a cheap Cover Girl product on my nose to conceal a blemish that has appeared, as regularly as taxes, since 1975."
"But my friend, who is 84, described how the group at large quickly transformed into cliques of the insiders and outsiders, how some people wouldn't give the time of day to folks they thought were "uncool" (her term), and how exactly the worst moments in junior high school were recreated at sea and over seventy."
"There are still Popular Kids vs. Unpopular Kids when you're over 65-or 90. You can spend too much time waiting for people to call you, get in touch with you, and write notes to you. You don't want to be witness to a history that will disgrace and shame you. You want your voice to be heard. You still want to look good in jeans. There's no explanation for this."
Age brings surprising continuities with youth: physical blemishes can persist, self-image concerns remain, and style matters. Social hierarchies and cliques reappear among older adults, recreating insider-outsider dynamics on trips and in communities. Many elders still expect attention and validation, preferring not to witness histories that will disgrace them and wanting their voices heard. Waiting for contact and correspondence consumes time for some older people. The persistence of teenage-like insecurities collides with the realities of aging, producing unexpected frustrations and social tensions that rarely feature in common narratives about growing older.
Read at Psychology Today
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