The sky is popping orange. The entertainment industry is at a standstill. The world is topsy-turvy — and that’s putting it mildly. But Sarah Jessica Parker is feeling optimistic. For the second yr in a row, she’s partnered with RoC Skincare to advertise the #LookForwardProjectwhich goals to teach young people concerning the scientifically-backed advantages of practicing optimism of their on a regular basis lives. (Optimists have a 24 percent increased likelihood of getting no chronic diseases, no cognitive impairment, and good physical health over time, in accordance with research conducted at Harvard University.)

That’s to not say Parker is unaware of the realities of living in 2023, especially with regards to society’s obsession with youth. Parker’s perspective is that while she’s not attempting to stop the clock, she does need to feel her best every minute she will. And for her, that doesn’t mean carving out time for a 10-step skin-care routine. (She does, nevertheless, stand by the three vitamin C-enriched products included in her limited-edition kit with RoC Skincare, one hundred pc of the proceeds from which will probably be donated to mental health advocacy group SeekHer.) Below, in her own words, Parker shares more of her unfiltered thoughts on age, skincare, and hotel shampoo. — As told to Dianna Mazzone

Women have an enormous amount to supply the longer we spend in experience as parents and employees and employers and friends and colleagues and neighbors and wives and partners and anything in-between. We’re higher and have more to contribute. We aren’t of lesser value but slightly the contrary. We’re an enormous, necessary, and influential a part of life and industry and friendships and love…

I believe the toughest thing for all of us is to know something intellectually and to make it live emotionally for us. Like anything, it takes time to integrate ideas [about beauty] into our lives. It takes time to chip away at old ideas and welcome latest things. But increasingly more I believe you are just hearing women discuss wanting to be ok with themselves after they walk out the door and really meaning it.

I just don’t spend that much time [thinking about appearance]. It’s not that I do not have an ego, that I do not have a good, healthy amount of vanity, but I just don’t need to spend that much time really deconstructing all of it. I wish to be graceful with myself. I’m not delusional. I do know that age adds up, that there are consequences to being 51, 52, 53. I get it.