Have you gotten grumpier, happier? More tolerant, less tolerant? Is it context dependant?
Life these past few weeks has put me in a position to look at myself in this regard, and I think for many things, context dependant is the right answer.
I’m much more tolerant of Vaderling’s personal preferences and quirks of personality than I was with my two elder children when they were growing up.
I have become much less accepting of people in positions of authority being inconsistent in what they say vs what they do, unless they can and will explain to me the inconsistency (and have a good reasonable logical explanation)
I’ve come to distrust government as an institution. At the local and state level, my government is severely…demented is the best word I can think of, but that is largely a reflection of the majority of the people I’m surrounded by. At the individual level, meaning this or that official, I sometimes wonder how they even got into that position.
Um, well, I see this is turning into a personal rant about my life at this time so I’ll cut it short here and reiterate my question;
How have you changed as you’ve aged?
I am definitely less tolerant in my 60s than I was when younger. Before, I suffered fools, while not gladly, with more acceptance than I do now. These days, I have no use for idiots including Republikans and a good many Christians. They can all get the fuck off my lawn.
I don’t waste time on people I don’t like…kinda like Siam-Sam and his suffering fools. OTOH, I strike up conversations with strangers more readily than in the past. If I’m rebuffed, I don’t care. So I might be less tolerant but I’m a lot more easy-going. Make sense?
Hallelujah, I’ve entered that realm at work of being the guy that all the pretty young ladies want to work with. I train and mentor them instead of flirting with and hitting on them. I can even tell dirty jokes and use double entendre’s with out fear and get back as good as I give because I’m that “harmless sweet older guy”
Driving has been a lot less exasperating/infuriating. Oh, the idiots are still out there, and I’ve always driven with an eye out for them, but I’m much more relaxed about the whole thing. I don’t have time pressures, such as getting to a job, so I don’t really care if I get caught up in traffic. 20 or 30 years ago, I would get mad multiple times in any given drive; now, it’s ‘Hey, that’s a good song!’ or ‘I really like this news commentator.’
I’ve heard it said that a young man is a Liberal/Democrat, but when he gets older, he becomes a Conservative/Republican. It was the opposite for me. I spent the first 20 years of my adult life in the USAF, most of them in a very rigid and unyielding career field (Air traffic control, where you MUST do it THIS WAY with no room for personalization at all). My salad days were during the heyday of Ronnie’s reign, and while I didn’t pay attention to politics at all, I was steeped in that environment, where the rules were THE RULES. They were there for a reason. If you were rebelling against The Rules, well, then, you were wrong.
As I was doing processing to retire from the USAF, I recall a civilian counselor laughing at me as I expressed my take on The Rules, but I gained no clue at the time.
It was many many years later, after undergoing therapy, that I started delving into the reasons why I behaved and believed as I did, among other issues. At roughly the same time, I was a card-carrying SDMB Lurker, with an occasional uneducated outburst. Some have called this place an echo chamber, but it’s here, especially during the last administration, that I started paying real attention, and I’ve migrated into a worldview of ‘Who’s helping people and who’s not/doing the opposite?’ That has me coming down on the side of ‘Help people’, and thus, long story too long already, I went from unconscious conservative to deliberate Liberal as I aged.
I’m happier. My 20s and early 30s were a slog of sometimes debilitating depression and anxiety. The last, oh, five years or so, the lows are equally as low but incredibly brief. I’m talking mere days vs. months or a year. I can usually catch myself before a downward spiral. Some days I just think, my only goal is to not be worse off at the end of the day, and then I do whatever is necessary to reach that goal (exercise, nutrition, whatever.) I do need to be medicated and I’ve accepted that, and the current cocktail keeps things good enough. I’ve been in the same job for five years and that’s the longest I’ve ever held one (in part because I had to move a lot but there were plenty I lost due to mental health problems as well.) Yeah, I’m basically happy, or about as happy as someone like me could reasonably expect to be. I’m optimistic about the future.
It’s true what they say, that text oftentimes doesn’t properly convey emotional intent. My own personal demons see your statement as sarcasm, but that’s just me reading into things, improperly I’m sure. I’m going to choose the positive and say ‘Thank you.’
I’m much happier just being alone or with my husband - or with animals. I really don’t need anyone else. And I’m pretty disgusted by a larger percentage of humanity than I ever was before.
I’ve become much more cynical and wary of other people. When I was young and naïve, I wanted to go into the medical field to help people with diseases and whatnot. No longer. As I see the waves of stupidity and selfishness surrounding me from all sides, I can’t help but think that heuristically, more people (besides me, of course) dying can only be a good thing.
Hallelujah, I’ve entered that realm at work of being the guy that all the pretty young ladies want to work with. I train and mentor them instead of flirting with and hitting on them. I can even tell dirty jokes and use double entendre’s with out fear and get back as good as I give because I’m that “harmless sweet older guy”
