As I celebrated my 40th birthday yesterday and as my friends and I contemplated turning forty this year, I find myself not fearing this milestone (though some of my friends are dreading it). Rather I look forward to what the next decade will bring. I guess because I’ve already reached menopause (thanks to my hysterectomy several years ago) I’m not so afraid of aging. I’m already confronted daily with white hair, more wrinkles, and thinning hair. There’s nothing to fear about aging, and I prefer to just deal with it as it comes.

And by dealing with it, I’ve added a couple things to my skin care regimen recently. I’m definitely not a 10-step Korean skin care routine kind of gal (I mean who has the time!). But I’ve tried skin care gizmos in the past (my review of the red led light therapy mask here). And my newest gizmo, since the red led light therapy mask failed on me (and left me with a large chunk of plastic that I had to guiltily throw away) is this red led vibrating wand. I’ve been using it twice a day (whenever I put on my AB rich cream), and wow-oh-wow it has made a difference. I don’t know if it’s just the red light wand on its own, or the combo with the AB rich cream (the vibration and heat of the wand is supposed to allow creams/lotions to sink deeper into the skin), but my skin is so so so smooth these days. And the overall redness of my skin has gone down so that I have a more even skin tone. I 100% recommend getting this red led wand and using it daily. As much as I loved my red led light mask, having to lie down and use it made me use it a lot less than this wand. And this wand is also small enough for me to travel with to keep up my daily routine.

I’ve also added back to my routine my off-market, ultra-strong microcurrent tool— basically a cheap nu face (which you unfortunately can’t get anymore). The results from this tool take a lot longer to show up, but if used consistently it will make a difference. The microcurrent is supposed to improve muscle tone to reduce the appearance of wrinkles

If you start fearing a number (an age), when does it end? If you’re lucky, you’ll be seeing your 40’s, 50’s, 60’s, 70’s, 80’s, and maybe 90’s. To start fearing a milestone now is too early! Why fear the passage of time (something you can’t control)? It’s probably more productive to fear something like not using the time that you have well (whatever the definition of “well” means to you). As for me I want to live it with gratitude and love (cheesy as that sounds lol).