What is it like getting older?

[iguana_tonante]

Re-reading my answers in this thread made me realize that getting older didn't feel like getting older, but having a kid certainly did!

 

[Taylirious]

36 and I feel horrible. If I can't get on some kind of track toward recovery by my next birthday(MAR) I never will.

 

[cooleddie74]

Like I always say, with age comes experience.

That's what she said.

But I kid the horizontal birthday bop.

 

[Australis]

Reread my comments, and they still hold... so I haven't got much smarter. I know exactly what I want to do, and soon, it's just figuring how to bridge the financial gap that's the problem. But I am working on it.

I'm not as sharp as I was, but I can see further into the past, adn that allows me to get a bater handle on the present, and see a little into the future.

 

[Mary Ann]

Re-reading my answers in this thread made me realize that getting older didn't feel like getting older, but having a kid certainly did!

Ain't that the truth! Having a child also changes your entire perspective on life.

 

[iguana_tonante]

Before the kid, I looked forward to stay awake all night. After him, I looked forward to sleep all night.

It's funny how I often got my first wish, and rarely my second.

 

[Mary Ann]

It won't be long before your young man is a teenager and the trouble will be getting him out of bed before noon. The sad thing is by that time you may have forgotten how to sleep.

 

[Pondwater]

30-39 as I turned 30 some time ago.

Things are a lot harder now than in my 20's....but things have improved since my 20's.

 

[Amaris]

I'm 32 years old. I remember what it felt like to be 25, 18, 16, 13, and so on. When I was in my teens and early 20's, I had energy, drive, stamina, and the willingness to work very hard to attain a goal. My 30's feel different. I feel 'older'. I feel more run down. I feel exhausted, to be honest, like I'm burned out. Granted, I do have chronic health problems and that adds to the general 'feel' of being older, but at the same time, I know getting older doesn't have to be a negative thing.

People twice my age, and older, are living full lives. Yet somewhere in my head, there's this idea that once I get older, life won't be as pleasant, or as sweet, but I don't believe that (or I should say, I choose not to believe that).

So talk to me about your experiences. If you're older than me, and wish to share what it feels like, please do. If you're younger than me, feel free to share how you feel. There is no ageism here. Every age is valid, and everyone is free to participate.

I have a poll above just to get an idea of the board's demographic.

Even though I dislike the more run down feeling (I'm 28) that I have now as opposed to when I was in my late teens and early 20s, I like that I know more than I did then. I feel wiser and have less tolerance for bullshit than I did then. I enjoy no longer being a naive little girl. I do wish that I had this same knowledge at 21 or 22 and could have made different choices then. But I know what I want now (took long enough) so trying to attain it with a clearer head.

I don't dislike getting older as long as I age gracefully and don't encounter too many health problems.

I'm 34 now, and yeah, my bullshit tolerance has reduced significantly these past two years since this thread was started (necro!). I also feel older, much more tired. "Perpetually exhausted" may be the best way to describe it.

Like you, I wish my knowledge of now could be transferred to my much younger late teens self. What an eye opener that would be! Maybe then I could have been successful, had a life worth living, done something important in a body that didn't behave like it was counting itself out before the final bell.

Getting older sucks. Being forever tired sucks even more.

 

[Leviathan]

What is it like getting older?

...as opposed to the alternative? MUCH better.

 

[cooleddie74]

As much as I miss many things about being 18 or 20 years old I'd much rather be turning 40 and have all the current friends, loved ones, knowledge and wisdom that I do than be an awkward high school student or college guy all over again and not have all the things I've learned since at my fingertips. I had some really fun and memorable times back in the nineties but I was so raw, clumsy and inexperienced in so many silly and embarrassing ways.

 

[propita]

51 here. Not having kids, you don't see the years go by quite the same way. A few health issues I didn't have when I was younger, but I've let go of a lot of worries along the way, too. It kinda helps to look 10 years younger than my age--people are constantly surprised to learn it. That's always nice, but I know it won't last forever.

 

[Catarina]

I'm 32. I only feel older because I have two children. It's like they sucked the life force out of me physically. I don't know if it was the pregnancies or the nursing but holy... now spiritually and emotionally I feel wonderful! Just their very presence has ignited my creativity again and I feel inspired to walk my talk. I want my thick hair back, my sharp memory, and energy pre kiddos. I want to be 27 again sometimes haha. But I figure I've healed some issues by simply making life style changes so I figure if I keep regular maintenance going old age won't be so bad. I won't deny I get grumpy I see gray starting or deeper wrinkles. I decided I want to be happy so I have those happy wrinkles and beautiful silver hair one day with hopefully minimal if no health issues right?

 

[Taylirious]

I don't want to go back to being young it is just depressing that I am worse off now than I was at 21.

 

[Goji]

I'm 27, and I've always felt older than my actual age. In my work, especially, I'm still around a lot of older people who tell me how young I am, and it's starting to get annoying since I really don't feel it. And apparently I still *look* young somehow, I got on the bus the other day and the driver automatically charged me the "youth" fare (under 18) until I corrected him. But since I never really felt "young", never thought of myself as invincible or felt full of energy, it doesn't bother me knowing that I'm not. I have much less in the way of self doubt and anxiety now than I did when I was younger, though not in all respects. I'm not anywhere close to where I want to be in life, which seems to be true for a lot of people my age but not all, of course.

So... according to the calendar, I'm 27. As for everything else, who the hell knows.

 

[HIjol]

57 here, and doing ok. Working with kids and young adults helps keep you young and on your toes, I think! Other than going to bed earlier, and some downward imbibement adjustments in the "volume" range, I am looking at 60 with wary but anticipatory eyes!

 

[steveda19]

53 and It sucks! You wear glasses,You don't have your balance. You can't run. And i can't even throw a baseball good now. Everytime i throw it bounces to the ground.

 

[RJDiogenes]

Eh, I'm 53 and I'm fine. I never cared about running or throwing a baseball, and I've worn glasses since 2nd grade.

Okay, a couple of health issues have arisen in the past year. Blood pressure is high, but easily controlled. Some monoclonal protein stuff that turned out to be probably a false alarm. I'm not quite falling apart yet.

It's hard to say if my tolerance for bullshit has decreased, since I always had a pretty low tolerance. But back in the 70s and 80s, I used to spend much of my life in shouting matches with dimwits and throwbacks; now I just laugh at them. On the other hand, there seems to be even more bullshit in the world than there was then. Has the world really gotten stupider, or has my tolerance level changed?

 

[Tora Ziyal]

^ There's even more bullshit than there used to be.

Overall, my 30's and 50's were my happiest years.

My body didn't look or feel significantly different to me until I hit 50. I was pretty fit and very healthy for my age up until I turned 61. People tell me that I still look remarkably young and healthy, considering what I've been through in the past two-three years, but I feel ten years older. I'm tired, physically and emotionally. And, yeah, I have a lot more gray hair.

The good thing about aging is that I am calmer and more secure, patient, and easy-going than I was years ago. I'd like to think that I've acquired some wisdom. As traumatized as I was by being assaulted in 2010, I know it would've been even worse -- much, much worse -- for me when I was younger.

I am not one of those older folks who wishes they were 20 again.

I'm 64 now and actually feel younger than I did when I wrote this at 62. The rest is all still true.

 

[cooleddie74]

Part of age will always be mindset. In some respects I'm still a kid at heart and enjoy things I did when I was a kid almost as much now as I did at age ten or twelve. There's always going to be a part of me that's not grown up or mature and I like it that way. A healthy balance of adult maturity and responsibility and childlike wonder and even goofiness can help a person feel younger than they actually are.

Everybody has their immature and childlike side, but some are just not comfortable showing it off to most other people.