No thread like this should be without a link to the Zimmers video.
What’s old? In my teens anyone over 30 was old. In my 30s I’d say 60s was old. As I approach 50 and have friends approaching 60 I’m reluctant to call them or myself old. 70s is old. That is until I’m in my 60s.
I dunno…I’m 57 and I ain’t there yet.
Forgot to mention - there is one major downside to getting really old. Your favorite authors go and die on you, and you realize that there will never be a new book about Flashman or Dortmunder ever again!
And ditto for those georgeous actresses that you used to have a major crush on - Hedy Lamar, Grace Kelly, and so on. Bummer!
Luckily, the supply of actresses keeps being restocked. Sadly, once an author is gone it’s forever.
61 here and I sure as hell haven’t gotten old. Older, yes, but not old.
Got a Harley and will be riding it coast to coast for the 5th straight year this coming May.
Got a wonderful sex life. It was on the rocks there for a while. Said to hell with some of the meds that were supposed to make me happier, and whatta ya know, winkie rose from the grave. And with working on the positive thinking thing I’m happier than I ever was with the pills.
Our health is good. We could both stand to lose a few pounds though.
We both come from long lived healthy stock.
There’s a wood shop that takes up most of a three car garage. YOU HAVE TO HAVE INTERESTS AND HOBBIES!!!
Got more friends now than I ever did in the past.
We both can spend our time doing the things we want to do, not what we have to do.
Don’t owe a cent.
Due to both of us working most of our lives and living below our means we should have enough to do what we want and leave a little to “The Little Hook (age 39).”
Just returned yesterday from a 7 week trip along the southern US. We’ll take a couple more long trips this year.
Been to Burning Man the past two years and going again this year.
Gonna write another book or two before it’s all over.
And maybe best of all, You got options Somebody irritates you, “Fuck’m,” tell them to piss off. What can they do? You don’t like doing something, then don’t. Who’s going to tell you you have to? You want to do something, then do it.
Bald on top and got a pony tail 18" long.
Yep, Ms Hook and me got it made.
No kidding!
One thing I noticed even as young youngster. I saw so many “older” people who’s only apparent interest in life was either living day to day or having IMHO having an unhealthy vested interest in the lives of their offspring.
Don’t get me wrong. Nothing wrong with being a responsible adult, or being interested/vested in one’s children.
But, get a life man! Something, anything, you can afford to do, are capable of doing, and can do if you are inclined to do !
Also, hobbies/interest DONT have to be expensive either, as long as you don’t fall into the keep up with the jones’s trap…
Late 40s here - it’s satisfying how my perspectives have changed over time.
We’ve just had our first child - I was day dreaming the other day about what he’d be like when he was in his thirties, and was sobered by the thought that if I was still around, I’d be approaching my 80s! (But I’ll be a pretty hip 80 IMHO).
Most telling thing about getting older for me is dodgy memory. When younger I could remember everything, facts, figures, conversation, names, dates, etc. Now, I just don’t trust that that number was whatever I think it was, and most important work conversations take place via email so there’s an audit trail if I have to revisit in 3 or 6 month.
But on balance, my life is significantly richer and more nuanced as time passes, although I wish to hell I’d been more responsible with money earlier on!
I will be 69 if I can manage to last just a few more weeks. I think I must have learned something in all those years, but I can’t remember what it was. Due to back surgery, I’m not very agile now and the recovery has weakened me. I can’t lift very much weight anymore, bending over is a thing of the past and my knees can’t tolerate kneeling, which I don’t do except in emergencies. I’ve suffered severe depression most of my life, so I take four pills a day for that; my shrink recently added Prozac to the list and I feel better now than I’ve felt in quite a few years. I’ve got all my hair, even if it is gray. I am about 5’11" and my weight has settled in between 165-175 pounds. Except for the back, and a few migraines, I’m in good shape. I like being retired but I spend too much time on the SDMB. I need to exercise more.
By and large, I’m happy to be where I am even though I never planned on reaching this age. In truth, I never thought I would. I’ve learned that very few things actually matter and of those that do, most don’t matter very much.
I’m a bit late checking in on this thread, but for what it’s worth, I’m 81. After some serious back surgery and recovery, I’m back climbing a local mountain nearly every day (it’s only 3400 feet high, but it rises 1200 feet in 1.2 miles, so pretty steep). Been doing that for some 14 years and stopped counting when had done it 1000 times. i also hike up to 8 hours on difficult desert trails, and in my late 70s, I climbed four 14,000-foot mountains in California, including Mt Whitney at 14,500, the highest in the US outside of Alaska. Two of them I did solo.
I started distance running when I was 46 and ran every day for 20 years. I competed in hundreds of races and completed ten marathons.
That give you young whippersnappers an idea that old age ain’t all that bad? i always heard about poeple retiring who wasted away as they had nothing to do to keep them busy, but that’s pretty much a crock, as everybody i know that is retired is as happy as a pig in shit.
Sure, plenty of aches and pains. As they say, the only parts that don’t hurt are just numb.
However, it is the best time in my entire life, no worries, time for outdoor activities, reading, listening to good music, computers and anything else I might want to to, with no pressure or stress.
I gave up smoking 40 years ago, and regretfully had to give up drinking a year ago due to a conflict with a medication, but hell, drank enough to float an aircraft carrier, so really don’t miss it. i weigh the same as when I graduated high school.
So, the most important thing IMHO is to keep fit, don’t sweat the little things, enjoy life and have fun. Then when you are ready to retire, the real fun begins. Hang in 'dere.
The best thing about getting older is young girls look as good as ever. But there mothers and grandmothers start looking a hole lot better.
I’m 65…for me, the world still looks fresh and interesting, and there are so many things to do and learn! Sometimes I am shocked that my brain is located in this aging body.
Exercising 5 days a week is more than I ever did as an adult, and taking courses that really stretch my mental abilities…without worrying about getting a diploma or credential…traveling…letting others get worked up over the daily challenges…not trying to get an “estate” in shape to order to retire in good shape…All of my body systems work at an acceptable level…what’s not to like?
Well, the arthritis in hands, hips and spine. Neuropathy in my feet. Fading vision and hearing. Maybe I’ll just slowly not notice the changes, but so far my mental abilities seem to be good, even though I’m not nearly as quick as I was as a young man.
I rather enjoy being my age, even though my wife thinks there is still a lot of little boy in me. Actually that’s just the frogs in my pocket, dear!
The other thing about being an old retired codger.
If I fancy a week or two away from the cold I just up and bugger off to warmer climes, Spain/Greece/wherever.
All I need do is get someone to take care of Eccles and awaaaaay I go
I’m 54 and I am not old.
I dont mean that I try to think myself young and keep myself busy and I’m the plucky old bloke who gets up and dances at clubs very badly and everyone says oh look at him isn’t he a character,he’ll always be young at heart and so on.
Apart from interests that older people are supposed to enjoy I like going to raves,backpacking and young women for sex though I tend to find them a bit self absorbed when it comes to personality.
I am very fit,not for my age I mean,I mean that I am very fit.
I have no aches and pains,no stiff joints rheumatism etc. and my eyesight is as good as it ever has been.
Age HAS affected me,I no longer feel the need to impress people or follow any trend because everyone else is,I find a lot of the younger generations a tad dull as they seem to be less imaginative and adventurous then we were at their age plus they seem to be a lot more dependant then we ever were.
Harrumph
One negative aspect that has totally come to me with age is not being able to party all night and then go to work after two hours sleep.
I also carry more weight then when I was younger but I am very much more muscled now then when I was younger.
People are not only living longer and longer then they used to but they are ageing later.
When I was young a sixty year old was OLD.
They would be hunched over and seriously wrinkled,in the waiting room for death as it were.
But now I see sixty year and even seventy year olds who look like what used to be my conception of the middle aged.
As time goes by I wouldnt be stunned with amazement if the average age for death by natural causes rises to a century or more.
Hmmmmm…nope, too easy.
Restraint. What a concept.
I’m going to be 45 this year, but it often takes me by surprise when I think about how old I am. Unfortunately due to some bad genes I have some health problems. I am on a few medications and until recently I really thought I might be losing my mental capabilities, but I was just recently taken off a medication I was on for 5 years, and it seems I’m starting to think again.
Due to the economy I am currently in a job hunt, and because of the fact that during my twenties and thirties (and even low forties) we struggled with bills raising our family, we really have no retirement saved. I hoping my next job will have a nice retirement plan, I know I’m going to have to work the next twenty years if not longer.
I struggle with the feeling I am going to lose my husband before myself, he has already had bladder cancer and prostate cancer. he turns fifty in 28 days.
Take care of your self now! Floss your teeth, I have recently lost a couple due to avoiding the dentist for years because I felt I couldn’t afford it. I all ready had crowns on two of the teeth but decay can get underneath them with no pain. You want to keep your teeth for life and with today’s dentistry you should be able to. Also if you smoke quit,if you don’t never start. I said I would quit at thirty,then forty. The years fly by faster and faster with each passing year.
Keeping fit is a key component of a happy older life. I’m just days shy of fifty-one, and am fortunate not to be overweight, nor dealing with chronic aches and pains. I attribute this to intense workouts earlier in life, and now more to frequent long walks and other less demanding types of exercise. I no longer care about curling the 40-pound dumbbells or squatting twice my weight – not that I ever could anyway. I just want not to be pear-shaped, and so far it’s been working out pretty well. I still do lighter weight workouts just for maintenance.
The older I get, the less I care about what other people thing about trivial things. I am also more and more grateful that getting older is not what it was. People often gripe about others’ not growing old gracefully, but the upside of that is not accepting the traditional strictures and expectations with regard to age. Somebody mentioned that the young girls look as good as ever and their mothers start to look a whole lot better. I think part of that is the reluctance to succumb to age; from my male perspective given that I would notice any given fifty-year old woman as attractive, I think she would look a lot better in a nice pair of jeans and a top than in—in whatever it is we used to think fifty-year-old women are supposed to wear as set forth by 1960s TV sitcoms. Probably a dumpy suit-type ensemble with a brooch. In certain parts of L.A., Beverly Hills, and Santa Monica you see this all the time–fifty-year-old women dressing thirty. And why not? If you can walk the walk, then rock the look.
I guess he is a little older than me, but my husband is going to be 83 this year and just finished roofing and putting steel siding on our barn.
I do plan for the future,but I still live on the now. I have found you can’t live in the past and the future is uncertain even for a 3 year old or younger. The time to live is now.
Your number 3 is a very good Idea, my husband and I always lived under our income,he always said;“It is better to do with out a little while you are young and can work, than to find out when you are older that no one will hire you ,or your health gives out and you can’t work”. We are far from rich, but we saved enough to insure our old age so our children will not be burdened with our care.
I hear you there! I think about this at times.
I don’t have the same energy that I did when I was “younger” but my friend who is 10 years younger says most of his friends have less.
My mom used to tell me how “bad” grandma was getting as she would hold your arm more. She’ll be 99 this year and still going strong.
Keep up the exercise. As others say, really find ways to save money. I’ve always lived on less money than I earned and while we won’t retire rich, we hope to do OK.