Boom. As I grow older I get new health problems every decade. 'tis ‘fun’ so far and I can’t wait to see what the next 40 odd years throw at me healthwise.
So the health decline is the worst part. Not just your own, but the decline of your loved ones. You watch parents who were once strong and seemed invulnerable become weak and fragile. That sucks.
Also the fact that things are much more mundane kindof sucks. Time passes fast and now it is almost christmas again. We have a work christmas party soon, it seems like the last party was last month but it was last year. Things blur into each other and it feels like there is a transparent plastic film separating me from the rest of the world. I don’t feel things as intensely as I did when I was younger, and I guess this is normal. Your identity isn’t in flux and external events don’t shape/affect your core personality nearly as much.
On the plus side there are a variety of benefits I have noticed as I age:
My sex drive is down. I personally love this. I did so many embarrassing things in my 20s trying to meet women. I remember when Louis CK did a bit about seeing a hot girl on a date with someone and not being interested in her. ‘I’ll just go home and jerk off to you later, probably have a better time [than your date]’.
On the subject of Louis CK, humor is better as you get older. I would never understand the humor or Bill Burr, Louis CK, Doug Stanhope, etc. as a teenager. Humor is much easier to find now than when I was younger. I guess you need life experience to appreciate humor. You appreciate many different shades and types of humor because you’ve had more life experience.
Plus things don’t scare me as much. That is a nice benefit.
My mental health has improved. Less insecurity and neuroticism.
Personal relationships are more meaningful.
You appreciate family more, partly because you know they won’t be around forever.
You appreciate little things more (like watching netflix after working all day, or drinking after working all week)
Kids add a new layer of meaning to life and help rekindle feelings of joy around special events like birthdays and holidays.
I’m sure there are others.
Its not all bad. If they could fix this whole health decline and make adult life less boring and mundane getting older would be pretty nice.