Manulife Singapore launched a good-weird ad campaign: #adulting. ‘Preferring to stay in, instead of party hard’; ‘being invited to more meetings than parties’, or ‘worrying about gaining weight during Christmas feasting.’ Manulife offers insurances and financial services, and I guess the pitch is ‘you have enough to worry about – for everything else there is Manulife’ – or in their words: ‘with Manulife, adulting is child’s play.’
They shouldn’t have called it #adulting though — a classic example of good idea, bad execution.
My favorite poster is around cashiers not asking for your ID when buying booze. At that moment, you realize that you do look old, without any doubt.
The last months were puzzling to me. People thought that I am much younger, guessing my age to be around 20, or 23 at max. I didn’t give it much thought as it was mostly Asians commenting on my age. I cannot get their age correctly, so why should they be able to do so?
Then, recently, I went to Europe and was totally surprised. The immigration officer in Heathrow inspected my passport and asked me for my age. Well, there was no secret to it, and he had my passport in his hand!? As I stopped counting, I had to think, but replied quickly enough for him to give me my passport back.
– You look like a minor, and for a moment I wondered ‘what are you doing here traveling by yourself and with a fake passport?’
Well, thank you! Quite a statement. Really? Maybe it was just very early, and we both didn’t wake up yet.
However, people continued misguessing my age. My cab driver gave me 20 wondering how I could have finished my master studies and be working already. A lady cashier didn’t want to sell gin to me. My gym instructor was surprised how I became so independent at the age of 21.
I have only one explanation to this – lifestyle does matter. This last year, I was sleeping a lot, working out plenty, and drinking very little alcohol. All that seems to have led to me looking younger by five years, at least. I have to admit, feeling younger by roughly the same amount, too.
It turns out, the secret to anti-aging is so simple! Botox and other magic can wait.
What is your anti-aging secret?
Take care,
Katya