How to age well? Chinese influencer, 54, says be proud of your body, wrinkles, grey hair
After years of being self-conscious, it clicked: ‘This is my body, I want to respect it,’ says Ting Ma, who posts about ageing and self-love
Growing up in mainland China, Ting Ma never felt happy with the way she looked. At 1.73 metres (5 feet 8 inches), she was considered too tall and too thin.
“I was bullied when I was a little kid,” she says. “People called me a giraffe because my neck is too long, my arms are too skinny. I never liked the way I looked because I was conditioned by society’s beauty standards.”
She had an epiphany of sorts in her late forties, when “it just clicked” that she should be accepting of the face and body she was born with.
“My parents gave me this face. ‘This is my body, and I want to respect it,’” she recalls thinking. “I want to love it unconditionally, the way I am.”
Realising that she did not want to regret wasting all her life resenting herself was a turning point.
“I said, ‘I am going to fall in love with myself from today. I’m going to shower myself with self-love, and accept myself fully.’”
