The predictions were that we would all go a bit crazy once vaccinated. Once we’d been liberated from our homes and gone back into the world, we’d indulge ourselves with salon and spa visits, and seek out the Botox and fillers like never before. And it’s true that bookings for post-vaccination beauty appointments are booming once again, with scissors and syringes ready to revive our pre-pandemic looks. And while many have decided to “embrace the gray,” others have realized that their pandemic activities have taken a toll on previously neglected body parts (such as the neck) so that new creams and lotions have begun to fill medicine cabinets and bathroom shelves as we all re-enter the world up close and without masks.

Writing in Vox, reporter Anna North wonders out loud whether the pandemic will finally be the reason we embrace our aging skin along with our gray hair. There are signs that certain celebrities (such as Katie Couric or Kate Winslet or Justine Bateman) are encouraging us to accept what Mother Nature has given us as we head into our later years. But accepting wrinkles and visible signs of aging is an uphill battle, one that’s been with us since ancient times and in opposition to an industry that spends $200 billion a year trying to convince us that our foreheads, eyes, and jaws all need to be smoothed, filled and defined. Add to that the millions of perfect and “perfected” images from social media and it takes a lot of courage to buck the trend and accept your fine lines and deep wrinkles.

For those who lack this courage, there’s plenty of advice to grasp onto. For example, InStyle magazine recently produced an “Anti-Aging Glossary” detailing all of the possible cosmetic procedures you may want to try. Furthermore, there’s a companion piece that provides you with the dermatologist-approved product or treatment essential for all of your “flaws” (i.e., from your droopy eyes to cellulite-laden thighs). And for that aforementioned neck now in need of cosmetic attention, take a look at the Wall Street Journal’s (paywall) recent exposé on everything from neck creams to lasers now that you feel bad about your neck, a la Nora Ephron.

Maybe at a minimum, if we can’t wean ourselves from the need for cosmetic procedures to combat the aging process, we can at least recognize that these procedures are not for “flaws” but rather for the hard-earned resilience and work it has taken to get us through this past year. Maybe we can realize that we are seeking out the salon or the skin doctor not because we feel bad about ourselves but that we feel good- about getting through the pandemic and getting back to our lives. Maybe we’re celebrating rather than fretting- at least that’s a positive message we can tell (and sell) ourselves.