Reasons to act your age, not your shoe size.

Unless you have at your disposal the wrinkle-fighting witchcraft that Messrs Will Smith or Jared Leto quite obviously do, you will at some point begin to visibly age. Big sigh. Your back will stiffen, your face will sag, and when you look in the mirror you will be greeted by a wizened raisin-man unrecognisable from the smooth-skinned fellow you once saw. It’s inevitable, of course, but that doesn’t mean people aren’t desperately trying to avoid the whole process – you may have seen in the news earlier this year that Silicon Valley investor Mr Peter Thiel made headlines for his (reported) scheme of injecting himself with teenagers’ blood to prolong his youth. That’s one way to go, certainly. But might it not be a little more genteel to accept the whole thing and get on with it in good spirit?

Mr Thomas Moore thinks so. The bestselling author’s latest work Ageless Soul focuses on the art of growing older, and is filled with lessons on how to come to terms with your age and so avoid turning into a bloodsucking vampire. Ageless Soul is not a handbook on how best to prevent wrinkles (you’ll have to peruse MR PORTER’s grooming section for that), but instead a guide on how best to get comfortable in the skin you’re stuck with. As we appreciate there’s not much time in this fleeting existence, we’ve helpfully condensed some Mr Moore’s lessons into the three snappy points below.

Ageing, by nature, is marked by painful moments, such as illness, adjusting to a new job or relationship, or the passing of a friend or relative. Embracing those moments as part of life, and recognising the “sting” of our fallibility, writes Mr Moore, is crucial to ageing better. “Every advance in life involves a sting. It wakes you up and encourages you to pay attention. If you avoid the sting or explain it away or numb yourself to it, you don’t age, and that is a tragedy.”

While this one can be tempting, Mr Moore warns that being honest about your age is a necessity if you want to maintain a measure of dignity. “People may think you’re younger than you are, and you play into this error. If you tell them your age, they may be less interested in you because of a general social bias against old age. But that’s who you are. You are someone in a category that today doesn’t get much appreciation. If you can acknowledge this fact, then people won’t be able to manipulate you with your fears. You can’t blackmail someone who isn’t afraid of being blackmailed.”

“Ageing is a challenge, not an automatic activity,” writes Mr Moore, extolling the idea of approaching ageing as if it were something to actively engage with, rather than avoid or pretend it isn’t happening. “In the end, the most effective way of dealing with ageing is to be exactly who you are. Don’t try to avoid ageing by imagining how it could be otherwise. Don’t think about people younger than you being better off. Don’t wish for your youth back. Don’t deny the negative aspects of ageing. Be exactly who you are and exactly what you are.”

Ageless Soul (Simon & Schuster) by Mr Thomas Moore is out on 19 October