Cameron Diaz - The Longevity Book - Live stronger. Live better. The art of ageing well.

While I was working on this book, considering the meaning of my life’s journey, it reminded me that Jeff and I had made this pact and that it had been way too long since we had taken a photo. So I called him up and soon I was once again in front of his lens. The photo you see in this book is the result.

With every passing year, my physical body has shifted, of course – that’s easy enough to see in the picture. But less obvious are the shifts that can’t be weighed or measured; the emotional, mental, and spiritual shifts that accompany the passage of time and the accumulation of experiences. If you squint really hard, if you look really closely, you might be able to see some evidence of those changes. When I look at this picture, I can see them and feel them immediately.

Contemplating ageing has a way of making us consider our youth. In order to look forward, we first look backward. We flip through old photographs and read through old letters and journals. We reminisce with friends and family about the experiences that have led us to where we are today. Sometimes we feel nostalgic. Other times we feel relieved that no matter what, time keeps marching on.

When I look at this collection of photographs, I feel the pull of time, forwards and backwards, each image bringing me closer to the woman I am today, each pointing towards the woman I will become. I don’t yet know who she is, but I look forward to meeting her. We all want to know what, when, and how our stories will unfold, and all we have to go on is the life we have experienced so far, the choices we have already made, and the stories we have lived through, from beginning to middle to end.

I wrote this book because I wanted to peek into my future. I wanted to get a sense of what might happen, what could happen, and what I could possibly do for myself now to continue the journey, and to enjoy the journey for as long as possible. In the years that come, I may grow weaker, but it is my hope that I can also grow wiser, warmer, and more resilient. I hope we can all find the power to grow older together, each of us doing the work we must to become stronger and more loving and more at home in our hearts, in our bodies, and in the world.

Photographs make it possible for us to watch ourselves age. We can see ourselves grow taller, observe the cheekbones that show up as we pass from adolescence to young womanhood, notice the wrinkles that begin to appear just a couple of decades after that. What is less easily grasped by a camera lens is the inner growth, the way the heady passions of youth grow into the steadier fascinations of adulthood, or the privileges that time offers with every passing year.

Time can be kept by clocks and calendars, measured in inches and wrinkles, and caught in images and photographs. But if we are very lucky, it can also be counted in a life well spent, full of learning, love, and laughter.

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