Beauty
Don’t wait for “Monday”, be beautiful right now!
From “The Devil wears Prada” movie. Photo © kinopoisk.ru
From “The Devil wears Prada” movie. Photo © kinopoisk.ru
From “The Devil wears Prada” movie. Photo © kinopoisk.ru
From “The Devil wears Prada” movie. Photo © kinopoisk.ru
From “The Devil wears Prada” movie. Photo © kinopoisk.ru
Ksenia Vagner/ Allure-Russia editor in chief. Photo: © Instagram kseniavagner
How many Mondays have you wasted on ‘starting a new life’? You know, the usual stuff – to go slimming, to go to gym, to make an appointment with your beautician, etc. But your slimming days lasted, like, till Thursday (and it was the best you could manage!) and oh, how you hated those endless, joyless days stretching out before you like those strictly prohibited toffees you love so much. And what happened to your 12 months pre-paid gym membership? Yeah, sure, you went there. Twice. And you cheated on your beautician with Morpheus because after all these squabbles at work and tiresome household duties, he (Morpheus and not beautician) was the only man you could literally dream of.
But it is really dangerous to get trapped inside this endless circle called ‘no time to myself’. Not just because as we grow up (and grow old) it somehow gets trickier to stay slim, young-looking and attractive. But what’s more important – by robbing ourselves of our beauty time, we also get poorer inside. This endless rush wears out the body – and the mind as well. Surrounded by the constant buzz of cars, Iphones, washing mashines and the white noise of office tittle-tattle, we just stop hearing ourselves.
A friend of mine – once a beautiful 30-year-old young woman – after several years of living ‘non-stop’ turned into a shriveled sickie. Muffin tops, crow’s nest for hair and a pale doughy face included. She had a husband, children, a beautiful house and a job – but couldn’t appreciate that. Somehow she could not find a single minute in her tight schedule to just stop and realize how much she actually has. It all has ended in a nervous breakdown. Depressed and fatigued she left everything behind – her job, her family – and escaped to Thailand.
She had to put an ocean between her and the rest of the world and spend one and a half month alone with her thoughts (skyping her family maybe once a week) to become a functioning human being again. Turned out, that it’s quite possible to work seven hours a day instead of eleven and to share domestic duties with husband. Turned out, it’s ok to just have normal kids (they’re even better this way!) and not some superspecial wunderkinds who will grow up to be the exact workaholics she was. But was it really necessary to pay for these discoveries with a nervous breakdown? Wouldn’t it have been better not to let your inner battery die in the first place? To maybe charge it from time to time, no matter what your ‘charger’ is – a spa couch, a fitness bike or a book.
This friend of mine now treats herself to a ‘beauty feast’ twice a week: gym and swimming pool on Wednesdays, steam bath, facials and massage on Saturdays. “How I used to spend this time before? I cleaned, and washed, and dusted the invisible dust. I stayed late at work finishing this or that task assigned to me by my boss, who checked it, like, three days later. I tortured my kids with English lessons. Now I’m just so not an overachiever I used to be. I have learned to live with what has been given to me. While, for example, I’m getting my facials done, my kids having time of their lives with their friends or just playing at home. They don’t really want to spend 24 hours glued to me. My boss hasn’t fired me just because I don’t do extra-time anymore. And my husband is only overjoyed that now I have enough energy to share a laugh, to date and have sex. And I don’t care a zit for those smallish specks of dust, not anymore. There’s absolutely no point to waste my health and beauty on such kinds of things». And for the record: she looks twenty-nine again, although she’ll soon be forty. She lost some weight, fought her wrinkles and crow’s nest (and won!). But what’s more important she is happy again and takes things easy.
Text: Ksenia Vagner/ Allure-Russia editor in chief
