What's the worst part about growing old?

[Deja Q]

:shrug:

[Indi Guy]

1. None of the above...

The worst part about growing older is the distance from the idealism we're born with.

[LaurenG]

10. I haven' lost that, just everything else physically

I'm still 23 on the inside. :7

[lizerdbits]

12. I used to be confused by "crotchety old men"

And later I figured out they just had a much better understanding of how the world really works.

[Deja Q]

29. Nobody's perfect...

:rofl:

[Deep13]

58. Some jaded souls might call that "wisdom."

:shrug:

[Perry Logan]

2. Wondering when this "wisdom" thing is going to kick in.

[Deja Q]

3. Let me know.

:D

[zanne]

8. Good one, Perry!

Some 20-somethings can make me feel immature.

[pink-o]

13. Yeah, I thought I'd be wise too!

...and when I was young I hated how frustrated I got when I had to wait for anything too long. I figured I'd mellow out and be all nirvana-ish as the years went by, but I'm more impatient than ever now! I have an excuse: I'm too old for this, more than half my life is over, why the hell am I waiting for stupid shit and stupid people, I've earned the privilege of getting what I want when I want it....total entitlement now!

So I just had my 53rd b'day and my 22 year old cousin was visiting me so I ran him all around San Francisco, made him climb Russian Hill since the cable car line was so long, and I was so proud of myself that I could keep up with the child. But once home, after relaxing for a couple hours, I stood up and it felt like I'd been kicked in 10 different places by a very angry elephant. Cousin, OTOH, was dancing around after a 2 minute rest! It really brought home the biggest difference of all: the amount of time it takes me to recover from freakin' ANYTHING!!

From my youth, I miss everything physical. Aside from that recovery time, I miss my bounce-back metabolism, my keen eyesight, my ability to grasp a concept immediately, instead of having it explained to me 5 million times! But I don't miss the emotional roller-coaster rides, not the insecurity that made me a cutting, sarcastic bitch. So it's a trade-off, I guess!

[Skittles]

46. but...you're only 53!!!

I am 50 and still swim across lakes for fun! When does that nasty stuff kick in? :o

[pink-o]

61. When you stop swimming is my guess!

When Jack LaLanne turned 90 a few years ago, the press all gathered around and asked him the cliche questions like how he stayed so healthy, et al. They also asked him if humans did only one exercise, what's the best one to stay fit?

He said, swimming, hands down! So you're not gonna feel "the nasty stuff" for awhile if you keep that up!

Me, I'm just neurotic about my health, so any sign that I might be deteriating is gonna freak me out. I don't care how long I live, I just wanna have all my faculties as long as possible.

So my advice to anyone who wants to stave off the aging demons is to find an exercise you love to do. For me, it's cycling and running and I'm convinced it's been my saving grace. My sister, who's a year older, doesn't take care of her health, she's diabetic and takes more prescription meds than our 84 year old father. Trust me, you thirtysomethings, you don't wanna end up like that!

[lizziegrace]

4. Becoming more and more

invisible in this society.

[Deja Q]

26. Welcome to my world.

:hide:

[hisownpetard]

Not you, sweetie. I just wonder how you're able to labor every day under the weight

of that huge heart of yours!!!!:pals:

[lizziegrace]

40. You're a sweetheart

:hug:

Seeing someone's heart means you have to take time to get to know someone. The real world is work in a small office and home alone with the cats. :shrug:

My grandmother left my grandfather in the early 60's. She lived alone for 40 years. Just not thrilled about that kind of a life. bleh

[hisownpetard]

42. She was a pioneer! And, even though you may not feel it right now, you

ARE awesome.
Really.

[hisownpetard]

32. Delete-another damned dupe

[graywarrior]

5. Knowing there is no cure for growing old.

It just keeps advancing.

[zanne]

7. Oh, there's a cure all right.

But who wants it?

[graywarrior]

9. Who knows? Live long enough and you might pay for it.

:rofl:

[Deja Q]

27. Do what the Chinese do with software and media: Steal and pirate it.

:hide:

[zanne]

6. May I add one?

Never being able to say "awesome".

[JustABozoOnThisBus]

11. If "they" legalize drugs ...

.. then I'll say "that's awesome"

:rofl:

(voice from the wrong side of sixty)

[Breeze54]

14. Idiots asking What's the worst part about growing old!

:P

[Breeze54]

15. This poll sucks! There aren't any sex questions!

:grr:

[Deja Q]

24. Damned if I do; heckled if I don't.

I wonder when I jumped the shark...

[femmocrat]

16. The realization that Gen-X will be supporting us someday!

:hide:

[Breeze54]

18. WTF? ~~ ROFLMFAO!!

:wtf: ~ :rofl:

[Deja Q]

23. Not really; your lot is offshoring all the jobs away...

:hide:

[Kucinich4America]

17. Watching your friends die way before their time

that pretty much sucks :evilfrown:

[Breeze54]

19. That happened to me when I was 17...BTDT

What else? :shrug:

I just made new friends. You can too! :hug:

[Prisoner_Number_Six]

20. Aren't you still somewhat in the "Growing UP" stage?

You don't need to worry about that ol' age thang for a few years yet, child.

:evilgrin:

[Deja Q]

25. I wish.

35 with neck and lower back problems, doing multiple small reps of exercise as the springboard to doing a far more extensive exercise routine so I can live longer. Hey, I like technology...

Oh, I started getting hair on my ears 2 years ago, and I used to know a guy who went bald at 22. :( He was psycho as he wanted me to help him blow up his ex-GF's home, but nobody's perfect... (okay, that was technically 14 years ago and he was a loonie...)

[hisownpetard]

33. Thirty-five, THIRTY-FIVE=??!!? Go away, little boy, and stop bothering me with your

silly questions.

Thirty-f**kin'-five.
Just kill me, now.

[Deja Q]

35. I do not believe nor condone murder. It's like assisted suicide, only coerced instead.

I am chronologically 35.

Physically 47.

Mentally 250.

Emotionally 12.

So it averages out. :D

[hisownpetard]

36. I'm glad you're not my accountant!

:crazy: :hi:

[CreekDog]

51. how senile are you if mentally you are 250?

:shrug:

[crim son]

21. I'm voting for the chronic health conditions, which limit my ability

to combat the other dreaded sign of aging, joint and muscle stiffness and pain.

[Deja Q]

28. Same here.

:pals: :hug:

I've got a few that make walking very difficult to do too... the psoriasis on the ankles tops the cake...

[Prisoner_Number_Six]

41. You mentioned in another thread a possible mis-diagnosis

The psoriasis on the ankles is a strong indication of psoriatic arthritis- which is what I suffer from.

Have a talk with an arthritis doctor. You may find yourself going in another direction.

[Deja Q]

45. My GP thought that at one time too...

all the blood tests came back negative and the meds they had me try did nothing. :(

When I saw the rheumatologist, he found no trace of arthritis except one possible/arguable sign in my left ankle (which is nowhere near as bad in terms of the psoriasis as the right one.)

It makes sense in some ways, but when the day was said and done, the docs ruled it out. :(

[Jade Fox]

22. Younger people looking at you and seeing Mom....

and then dumping all their Mom-based fears/resentments on you.

I find it's impossible to have any sort of relationship with some younger people, because they are incapable of seeing me as a person and not a stand-in for their mother. And people have LOTS of issues with their mothers (as do I).

I've considered getting a tattoo across my forehead reading: Not your fucking mother!

[Silver Swan]

30. Matthew Arnold said it:

Growing Old


What is it to grow old?
Is it to lose the glory of the form,
The lustre of the eye?
Is it for beauty to forego her wreath?
Yes, but not for this alone.

Is it to feel our strength -
Not our bloom only, but our strength -decay?
Is it to feel each limb
Grow stiffer, every function less exact,
Each nerve more weakly strung?

Yes, this, and more! but not,
Ah, 'tis not what in youth we dreamed 'twould be!
'Tis not to have our life
Mellowed and softened as with sunset-glow,
A golden day's decline!

'Tis not to see the world
As from a height, with rapt prophetic eyes,
And heart profoundly stirred;
And weep, and feel the fulness of the past,
The years that are no more!

It is to spend long days
And not once feel that we were ever young.
It is to add, immured
In the hot prison of the present, month
To month with weary pain.

It is to suffer this,
And feel but half, and feebly, what we feel:
Deep in our hidden heart
Festers the dull remembrance of a change,
But no emotion -none.

It is -last stage of all -
When we are frozen up within, and quite
The phantom of ourselves,
To hear the world applaud the hollow ghost
Which blamed the living man.

Matthew Arnold

[Iggo]

31. It hurts...(n/t)

.

[GreenPartyVoter]

34. Aches n pains, loss of memory, loss of energy, loss of passion, and regrets

[Kajsa]

37. Looking in the mirror and asking,

"who the hell IS that?"

[1monster]

38. Other: Loing my singing voice. I loved expressing myself in song.

Listening to my neice's high school rendition of the Hallalujah Chorus brought back memories of singing the Soprano I part of the Messiah back in the day.

Now I sound like a frog. The high notes are not screechy or anything I could work on; they simply are not there, there is no sound at all.

I think I can really understand how Julie Andrews felt when surgery ruined her voice...

[WinkyDink]

39. As a female, I definitely say it's my hair loss.

[UndertheOcean]

43. Death

[SPKrazy]

44. I voted aches and pains

but certainly the lack of ability to make enough seretonin, degenerative arthritis, meds for blood pressure, and the slowing of the metabolism are all things that I dislike as well.

[Fox Mulder]

47. I'll be 26 in less than four months...

and I feel like life is passing me by.

:(

[mcscajun]

49. That's it! OUT of this thread! Most of us have Corns older than you.

Life can't possibly have passed you by, sweetie. You've only just started. :hug:

[mcscajun]

48. Not being about to talk about "Someday" anymore.

Because there's more past to your life now than likely future. Do it now.

Oh, and actually being *glad* there's no one else around when you see your face in the mirror first thing in the morning.

[DarkTirade]

50. I would say memory loss...

but that started back in high school. :P

One of the main reasons I've never done drugs or smoked pot. I've got a damn good brain when it works, and I'd like to keep it in working order as much as is humanly possible.

[Digit]

52. Gravity...My height grows shorter as my b**bs grow longer

Gotcha!

Naw, actually it is the morning aches and pains.

[astral]

53. "New and Equally Delightful Chronic Health Conditions"

Yep, that's me. Last year I suddenly went over the hill and turned 'middle-aged.' And I ***REFUSE*** to believe these conditions are here to stay! I will be young again, once again **PUSHING** middle-age as hard as I can.

[retread]

54. Uh, what was the question again?? n/t

[Guava Jelly]

55. I got to go with losing weight

And gray hairs..I don't want to look distinguished :mad:

[Perry Logan]

56. Growing old is not for wimps, as the saying goes. Not that being young is a picnic.

[meegbear]

57. It's a drag ...

but there are these little yellow pills ....

[edbermac]

59. Lusting after women that are half my age.

Makes me feel like an old pervert...instead of a young pervert. :evilgrin:

[raccoon]

64. Lusting after men who are half my age, or at least young enough to be my son. nt

[NJCher]

60. I couldn't vote

But that won't stop me from putting in my two cents worth.

When I was in my late-20s I was at a restaurant and saw a table of older people peering over their reading glasses at the menu and having the most wonderful time with each other. They were laughing and high-spirited and enjoying each other to the maximum. I said that someday I wanted to be like that.

I don't think of growing old as losing something; it's just a metamorphosis. We lose, we gain; we always lost and we always gained, even when in our prime. The difference is that while we "lose" (read "change")in physical areas, we gain in mental areas (perspective, knowledge, etc.)

So that's why I don't feel bad about getting older. I don't see anything about it as a loss, just as a change.

And just for the record, I don't think death is the end, either, so I don't fear it. I think it's a metamorphosis and we take up existence in another dimension. And don't let anybody tell you otherwise--there's plenty of proof for anyone who cares to pursue it.



Cher

[SOteric]

62. Discovering just how big a fool you were in your youth. n/t

[hoozyorsugadaddy]

63. Metabolism slowdown is a drag

[Phillycat]

65. The exercise thing, and also loss of eyesight.

That's the thing that scares me the most - and my eyes aren't even that bad.