I’m in my early thirties now and I would like to think I am leading s comparably healthy life: no smoking, no alcohol, no drugs, resistance training 3 times a week, running 2-3 times a week maintaining a lean athletic physique, balanced vegetarian diet without sweets or salty snacks, good meaningful relationships, taking hyloraunic acid supplements and using Retinol cream on my skin while making sure to use sunscreen, regular mindfulness meditation sessions, proper sleep hygiene and challenging my brain regularly by learning new languages. Some of these factors I have only introduced in the last couple of years, some have been with me for more than a decade. I often get told that I look like I’m in my mid 20s. However most of those lifestyle choices I specifically and only made because I absolutely hate to age and it terrifies me.

And yet over the years I can see (but still hide) the hair at my temples receed ever so slightly, some wrinkles on my forehead get a little more pronounced, I notice my energy levels are not what they used to be and my pace of learning has ever so slightly slowed down. When I think about it it frustrates me to no end that these things will probably only go down hill from here. Slowly but surely. And so if I could I would love to intervene even more. There are so many things to experience, so many things to learn, so many things to create, I feel like I could comfortably fill 200 years worth of stuff in my life simply based on my bucket list but most of them either require or are more fun in a young, healthy body. So for purely egotistical reasons I want research like that to succeed and be available to me rather sooner than later.

It would probably be best for me to come to terms with the fact that aging just happens and make the best of it but this attitude feels impossible to adopt.