‘I’m Aging. My Pants Don’t Fit. Help Me Do This.’

Remaining visible to yourself is the only job.

A Force Égale (1935), Yves Tanguy

Dear Polly,

I’m in my early forties, and I’m aging. I’ve been gaining weight slowly, and the thing that used to work in my early thirties (not eating) doesn’t work anymore. I have not been intervening in the other ways my body is changing with age. My hair is going gray and my skin looks like the skin of a middle-aged wom…