As a teenager and a twenty something I did a lot of stupid shit. Even to this day sometimes I might not make the best choices. It's all part of life IMO. One thing I did learn is that the older you get (typically) the more educated you are on certain aspects of life. That's the way it is meant to be otherwise we would all be born knowing everything we need to know. I know that not everyone will appreciate my life experiences or advice. I'm not sure why though because OBVIOUSLY I know everything. Clearly, I do not.
I typically don't participate in any type of forum discussions online for many reasons. First no one is ever going to agree. Second you have many different types of people from different backgrounds at different stages in their lives and different maturity levels. Even if your "opinions" are backed up by facts or just being stated someone is going to flame your ass. Believe it because it happened!
I recently "let" myself get dragged into a conversation, and I use that term loosely, in a thread about tanning beds. I really threw myself into the conversation fully knowing that it would cause issue. I must have been feeling confrontational that day. I know, really? Yes. I swear there is a point to this that IS health related. The end result was me being called an idiot. Probably not the first time that's happened.
Living in Ohio as spring approaches everyone rushes out to get their glorious orange glow of fake tan. It's almost like a competition to see who can get the darkest and look the LEAST natural. As a younger individual I spent my fair share of time in the tanning beds. Some people like to have a tan for summer - I get it. Until a few years ago I would sunbathe. Last year I was pretty brown from vacation and I use sunscreen EVERY DAY but my skin tone tans easily. I've learned with age that this probably isn't the best health choice to make. As a 35 year old adult you can now see the damage on my face from those decisions. My freckles are larger and more pronounced, I have a spot on my forehead that is sun damaged and when I get really tan it's darker than the rest of my face. My life choices have taken a toll on my overall health and appearance. Smoking, drinking, being sedentary, not eating right.... all of the above. Some of you will argue to death that it's my genetics and they have tanned for years and have no damage or their family member has smoked for years an no one has cancer. I call bull shit. At this point in my life it's just not a chance I want to take.
With all of the dumb shit in life that COULD be bad for us or MIGHT be bad for us why would you want to subject yourself to something that WILL be bad for you? It ranks right up there with smoking for me. I'm not saying that EVERYONE who tans will get cancer or everyone who smokes WILL get cancer. I won't get on that rant. As an ex smoker you know I'm the biggest bitch about smoking.
The moral of the story is we should TRY to take care of ourselves while we can. It seems like the majority of the population is overweight or obese, on a medication, a smoker or has some health issue. Maybe I'm the one behind the times but it seems like we are all on our way to being the characters from the cartoon Wall-E. I wish I could rewind life and have a do over for some things but it can't happen.
Do you tan? Don't worry I won't call you an idiot I just want to hear your thoughts on it and why you do or don't use tanning beds.
Let the flaming begin... I'm prepared for it being the idiot that I am. :)
Considering I'm light completed and a redhead (not Irish, but a result of recessive genes and this is obvious if you look at the rest of my family!) I don't tan easily so when I was younger I'd use the tanning bed to enhance that ability and at least get a base developed before I'd end up in the sun half naked all summer. I'm more capable of developing cancer due to being light skinned. However, the tanning stopped for me when I was 21 years old and my grandmother who was 1/3 Cherokee developed skin cancer. They said it was easily taken care of; she had two surgeries that removed a piece of her forehead and a piece of her nose. They said they could freeze the remaining cells and stop it in it's track and it wouldn't come back. A few months later, grandma developed cancer spots all over the top of her head and it was obvious to us as her jet black hair began thinning as well. She had too many health problems to have undergone more surgeries or other means of care. The point, being light skinned increase my chances but having a grandmother of Cherokee Nation descent (much less likely due to skin tones) develop skin cancer more than doubled my risk. Enough for me! -Tiffany
ReplyDeleteI agree 100%. I used to tan all the time, believe it or not my pale white butt did that- A LOT in high school. For different reasons. And I regret it. But it's moving forward that counts. (I have a lot of moles and was burned badly as a child so I already have a high risk for skin cancer) I have too much to lose now...same thing with eating right, etc. I have taken the step towards healing and taking care of myself and recently have been seeing an integrative doctor, paid for out of pocket, because I am determined to get well and take care of myself BEFORE I am dying with cancer or some other horrible disease. If it happens, so be it, but I will know that I have done everything in my power to prevent it. And I wish more than anything that everyone else would too. Especially the ones closest to me. But they don't get it. And like you said, doesn't matter how many facts you put in front of their face they are going to do what they want. Until there is the realization that yes, it could all be taken away, in a heartbeat. I am not willing to get to the point of treating the symptoms like our western medical professionals would like us to. Julie W.
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