What do you like about going older?

Miscellaneous and Personal Stuff I Must Share
1

the current thread on what you don’t like about aging is too much for me to ignore, so i guess it’s time i said something. these are the things i LIKE about growing older.

metabolism skidding to a halt: yeah, so change it. i slowly put on 20# over 15 yrs, took up weightlifting @ 52, lost 30#, look & feel fantastic. i’ve been doing the adkins’ diet for 2 yrs & am in excellent health. yeah, it’s work; but it’s most definitely worth it. i’m in better shape than ever in my life, which is a good thing because i expect to live to 100, as my maternal grandmother did.

nowhere career: i’ve had many careers, some in charge, some working for others. i’ve been a secretary @ a large corp for ~7 yrs, am fully trusted to do whatever needs doing, no one bothers me or asks questions. i take on as much respoonsibiity as i want but no more than that. make my own hours & get 3 wks vacation. would a mgmt job there give me more? only more headaches. (and, eve, people will remember helen gurley brown for her books, not her job at cosmo.)

graying blonde hair: i died it bright red a couple years ago. no more problem, no attempt to convince anyone it’s natural (tho i’m told it looks like it is) & i find peopole react to a redhead in an entirely different way than to a blonde. still getting used to that.

kids are grown & gone. the growing up thing was often rocky but we’re more like buds now. things can still get edgy occasionally (opinionated stubbornness runs deep in the family), but they actually come around to ask for advice & then take it. wow.

multiple organisms going by the wayside: no way! they only started at about 35 & have been getting better ever since. 20+/minute. (btw, i feel really sorry for those posters who have complained that sex takes too long. give me a man who can do 4-6 hrs a night 5 times or so weekly & i’m a mighty happy woman. & i’ve met only a couple of men i couldn’t bring to multiple orgasms themselves either, no matter how surprised they were about it.)

menopause: no big deal. i’ve looked forward to it my whole life because i’m always cold. & sex cures the crankiness, just as sex cures about anything.

wrinkles, looking older: i just never did much sunbathing as a kid & i never smoked. my age is regularly guessed at ~40. my last honey was 34, the one before him 43, both gorgeous (honest!). whatever i have, it apparently comes across as sexy rather than old. in my mind i’m definitely no beauty, but i can get the attention of men any age.

&, of course, there’s the stuff about being older & wiser; but people have come to me for answers since i was a kid. i guess i just always looked like i KNEW. the difference now is tht i don’t have the burning need to change the world any more.

so, what about you guys? surely i’m not alone in being happy about where i am right here/now.

The purpose of life is to matter, to count, to have it make a difference you lived at all.

2

You get better at killing time. 3 hours? no problem. Nothig lasts an eternity. And with a few gray hairs, you don’t get carded at liquor purchases. On the other hand, I don’t buy liquor anymore either, so not much to enjoy there.

3

Congratulations on post #1, special.

4

The best thing is I don’t take myself so damned seriously anymore.

5

More confidence.

6

I have more patience for people’s stupidity and alot more confidence in myself. Plus being in your prime… is definitely a great thing :wink:

A true friend is one who walks in when the rest of the world walks out…there are Angels among us

7

I like watching fashion come full circle. All the kids are wearin’ tie dye and bell buttoms and I even saw a pair of white painter’s pants at the mall (I immediately started singing “Freeze Frame” by the J. Geils band to myself). What next? Parachute pants ?! I can’t wait !!! :wink:

8

Freedom

In the other thread I mentioned not feeling as though I have to strive to climb the corporate ladder anymore. Been in management. Tossed around my share of machimsa (sp?). I prefer being an individual contributor. Because I’m not looking for that next promotion, I feel freer (is that a word?) to offer opinions and evaluations that are less PC than many others are willing to express. Interesting thing is that my boss (male and at least 10 years younger) appreciates my candor.

9

Old Broad – same thing’s happening with me.

At 54, and planning on retirement in a couple of years, I’m not seen as a threat to anyone’s career hopes. (I’d probably be flattering myself to think that I ever was a threat.)

But it’s true – if you aren’t perceived as having a personal agenda, you can get things done much easier.

You described it perfectly.

10

Now I can lose things, even things I desperately wanted to keep, and I know can handle it, dreadful though it may feel at the time. It’s good to know that there’s no object, position, title or power that means the world to me anymore. People are, of course, entirely another matter.

I think it’s mostly the realization that one does not have nearly as much control over the important things in one’s life in reality as one expects to when one is young. It’s both depressing and kind of liberating.

Catrandom

11

Tom~

12

With age comes wisdom… and confidence that you don’t have to prove yourself to anyone… and most of all, you can sit back and smile knowing that all the others eventually have to go thru the same shit you did.

I really try to be good but it just isn’t in my nature!

13

Going older? Well my SO has been into “going older” as I am older than him… :wink:

Oh, come on! I’m just being a smart ass! I find that the older I get the wiser my parents seem. I am more comfortable with my body, more able to see the many sides of issues. I am more tolerant, more settled, gosh, just generally more happy. I know what I want and have a clear path in mind on how to get there.

The little things in life seem to bother me less; the big things I seem to be able to handle better. Basically, I look at it this way: If I don’t get older I have only one option. Death. And that is a real pisser.

Best!
Byz

14

yeah, yeah, yeah, getting, going, growing. but you got where i was going, right?

sounds like a lot of you have the same pov, being comfortable in your own skin. and it is VERY liberating.

the one thing i haven’t acquired is more patience w/ stupidity. my childhood was no picnic, but my adult life has been filled w/ one genuine tragedy after another (divorce from my childhood sweetheart, my daughter molested by her babysitter at 3, one major financial fiasco after another, one son nearly dying in a truck/bike accident at 7, all 3 kids into drugs at some point, loss of that beautiful 34 yr old from a heart attack this summer, & the beat goes on). i was tested again & again & found a wellspring of strength inside that i would never have known existed if my life had gone smoothly. it didn’t leave me bitter, but it did slowly bring me to a point of very low tolerance for people who do stupid, self-destructive stuff.

15

Byz: lucky you. The older I get the more I wonder what the hell went on in my mom’s mind.

For me… I like the credibility that comes with age. In my early twenties, people still treated me like a kid, didn’t take me seriously, etc. Now that I’m closer to 30 my thoughts get more respect, people take me more seriously, etc. As I get older, that will be more true (til I become a doddering old biddy, at which point everyone will just nod and smile).

–
Teeming Millions: http://fathom.org/teemingmillions
“Meat flaps, yellow!” - DrainBead, naked co-ed Twister chat
O p a l C a t
www.opalcat.com

16

The fact that I now realize that the only thing that truely matters is My happiness, not what others think.

The fact that I realize that I can truely do anything I put my mind to and I can change my life for the better by my own whims and not have to depend on others to help change me.

And the fact that no one looks at me like a punk kid anymore (even though deep down I still am one).

Everybody got their Black and Decker… Blood and Fettuccini everywhere

17

In the course of growing older, I have found that my backbone is made of the same steel as my mother’s, and her mother’s, and her mother’s. It’s a good thing to have. I am better able to discern truth from BS, and I’m no longer afraid to tell people when they’re full of the latter.

My best friend is 51 years old. She tells me that while being in your thirties is fun, just wait 'til you hit 50. She says she feels more liberated now than she ever has in her life. She wears colorful clothes, drives a big boss pickup truck, and tells people to piss off when they annoy her. I really, really like her. :slight_smile:

18

The older I get the longer I can surf. Strange, huh? Surfing twice as long as I was at 25. At 50, I hope to be able to surf 6 hours straight but I don’t know if I can get enought daylight, so I’ll surf at night, as I have before.

Is said that the older you get the faster time goes by because the same amount of time is a smaller %.

19

The only thing I like about it is…
Ummmm…
Nothing!

20

Well, I’ll never take another exam. That’s worth something, I guess.