The Experts in Natural and Affordable Programs for Prescription Drug Withdrawal
A DISTINCTIVE STYLE MAGAZINE JANUARY 1, 2012
Aging isn’t faced with grace for most women, but rather we fight the changes that accumulate over time. Some feel cheated while others mourn. A rare few find peace during this natural process. But then again, I live in Southern California where age is certainly not revered.
And while most men may not admit it, they are not immune from fretting over the aging process.
In my 20s, aging wasn’t on my radar and although I saw wrinkles on older women, it puzzled me that they were distraught. This perspective was easy from the stance of youth. Its impossible to feel what it is to age until you are in the skin of a body that is collecting time.
I was given the gift of good looks and felt somewhat invincible. I grew accustomed to gazes of admiration and doors that were subsequently opened. I now realize that my viewpoint was skewed.
It was in my mid-30s that my entire perception shifted, and for the next decade my appearance was the least important aspect of my world.
I went from being a vibrant, healthy, attractive and accomplished woman to one that suffered from horrific pain from a spinal injury which led to years of procedures, pills and a life I wouldn’t wish upon anyone.
The passage of time took on a different meaning and I didn’t care what I looked like. No one glanced my way. I lost that sense of who I once was, and instead became defined by the medical community. I have endured 34 surgeries and I lived my diagnosis and did nothing to change my world for ten years.
Then one day I literally woke up. It started like any other day. I crawled out of bed, hunched over in pain and made the short distance to my medicine cabinet. As I reached to pop my pills I actually saw myself and the reflection was shocking. Gone was my beauty and vibrancy. In its place was a broken woman, old, wrinkled and pitiful. At 45 I finally wanted more.
Visits to my doctors provided the same prescriptions, but I wondered who I was without the thousand pills a month I was consuming. I wanted to find out and this drive became the impetus for my transformation.
Options were limited so I chose to go quit all the pills abruptly. It took months to surface and when I did, the exquisite beauty of nature held my deepest appreciation. The colors and dimensions had gone flat over the years and experiencing the mesmerizing splendor was life changing.
I wondered how many others were trapped and I had a deep desire to make a difference. As I healed, my yearning became the formation of a nonprofit called Point of Return. We have helped people in 63 countries to heal from the clutch of prescription pills - and in the process I healed myself.
Oh my looks returned and at the age of 54 I am finally comfortable in my skin. I look younger than I did when the whole debacle started and yes, I have some wrinkles and war wounds. But adversity defined my beauty and although it would be nice to have the knowledge of this decade in a body that was younger, I wouldn’t change my experience. I am finally at peace with my looks, my life and my purpose.
Agatha Christie once said, “I have enjoyed greatly the second blooming... suddenly you find - at the age of 50, that a whole new life has opened before you.” Adversity is the great equalizer that brought beauty back into my life.
Alesandra Rain is an author and cofounder of Point of Return www.PointofReturn.org; a prescription drug expert for ABC and Geraldo at Large (FNC); and has appeared on hundreds of radio shows and television interviews. She lives in Malibu with her rescued border collie, Sky.
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