Posted on 12/16/2012 8:53:38 AM PST by virgil283
"I never imagined what being 40 would feel like, because it never occurred to me that Id ever be 40. I didnt think I wouldnt be, mind you. It was just too boring to enter my brain, and it seemed like forever from now." Stephanie Dolgoff-- Been there, done that, got the postcard. Havent we all (Im not including you whippersnappers in all and P.S.: get off my lawn!)? When youre a kid, people who are middle-aged almost seem like a different species. Youre young, energetic, and have your whole life in front of you. Youre the male lion of the human world, and theyre not the hyenas youre going to surpass or the antelope you plan to eat; theyre more the hippos of the human world. You see them around, moving from one task to another, doing things you dont. You dont hate them or eat them, but you dont want to be them either. The idea that youll be like that one day seems almost beyond belief. ....
(Excerpt) Read more at pjmedia.com ...
That doesnt mean nothing will ever please you long term; its an acknowledgment that there is no magic bullet, no magic key, and no magic anything. Yes, studies show that getting married or becoming a Christian will make you happier, but theres no one treasure you can have, do, or be that will make you happy and keep you happy over the long term. Most studies even show that the ultimate stroke of good fortune winning the lottery only produces a short-term burst of happiness that regresses back to the mean over time for people who have already achieved a minimal level of financial security. Contrary to what I believed when I was young, happiness is a process that has to be maintained over time, not a result of some moment, achievement, or thing...."
My latest surprise came a few days ago, when I got off my knees setting up a Nativity scene under a tree. It looks terrific, but I wrecked my knee and will be seeing the doc next week.
Way to perk this old aching body up this morning. Where’s the reset button?
6) Pain hurts more, lasts longer and more readily indicates real, permenant, physical damage.
(of course, 40 has been in my rear-view mirror for several decades)
Funny, I had the same problem after setting up the train set...fortunately not bad enough for the doc but enough for a few IBPs to calm the hurt.
I’m in my late fifties. I am slender and fit and I have plenty of energy. This is probably due to the fact that now I eat a very strict, very healthy diet, while in youth I ate crap, like most young people do.
I am AMAZED at how quickly I lose physical condition now.
Cellulite and wrinkles puzzle me, like every other external sign of aging. It feels as though these are some passing glitch that will go away, and I’m going to go back to looking like my 25-year-old daughter. But I’m not. Maybe it’s some kind of Boomer deficit in reality contact—I just can’t grasp the fact that I’m old. The fact that my kids keep desperately telling me I’m not old and I’m never going to die does not contribute to reality.
At this point men come to me for advice about women and tell me how wise I am, but it would never enter anybody’s mind to ask me out. This is not what I wanted or anticipated until I was in my seventies, at least!
I’ve always dressed and groomed myself in a pretty way, wearing feminine clothes, wearing makeup, using moisturizers and conditioner, whitening my teeth, shaving my legs, doing my hair and nails carefully. People always said I was attractive. In the past few weeks I’ve thought about giving all that up and not trying to look nice anymore, just be covered and clean.
I’ve learned that navel-gazing is pointless.
... and don’t forget - young people get really, really stupid when you get older!
They only say that because THEY don't want to be the front line. };^)
I would like to point out that in spite of their comical appearance, hippos are way more dangerous than lions.
Ha! Wait until you turn 60!
We certainly are.
This is probably due to the fact that now I eat a very strict, very healthy diet,
Come back to the dark side.
We have cookies...
...made with real chocolate and fresh creamery butter!
Xer Ping
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I was in my early forties before young adults began calling me “sir.” It’s courteous, it’s nice but it also identifies you as “other.”
As I’ve advanced into my late forties, it seems I become increasingly invisible to those same young adults. There are upsides to this, as others have noted, the stupidity of the youg becomes more and more obvious over time and as you put more distance between yourself and being young.
Most of the time, I really don’t think about my age. Most of the time, I don’t feel it. I’m not overweight or in bad physical condition. I’ve stopped caring about what’s “in” as far as clothing, shoes or sporting goods, having seen so many “in” things come and go. I stick with things that are sort of anti-fashion. They’re never “in” but they’re never out either. That way I don’t have to think about it.
There are mornings, however, when I get up, go to shower, look in the mirror and think, is that me, lol? The person who told me in my twenties to remeber how I looked when I woke up with a bad hangover because in twenty years I’d look like that all the time was a little too close for comfort, lol.
All that aside, I’ll take it. Beats the alternative.
Another Viet Vet.
I am 72 now and I am thankful for every day.
At 62 I am at the gym every morning at 5:00 and work with a personal trainer one and sometimes two mornings every week. He busts my butt, but it is worth every minute of it. I have shed 55 lbs and my “numbers” are all where they should be for someone in his 20’s. BP is 115/65, pulse at rest is 61, cholesterol is 145, blood sugar is 95. I do have arthritis in my left knee, but I don’t run 20K races anymore, I work out with 44 lb kettle bells and 25 lb medicine balls.
Wait till you hit your 60's, you'll be replacing your daily vitamins with ibuprofin.........
I'm advancing ten years ahead of you. My invisibility to the young hasn't increased in the last decade, but my tendency to involuntarily look at them incredulously has grown exponentially. I have, in many ways, become the old coot from my youth.
Give me denim overalls, an old fedora or straw hat, either a pipe or chewing tobacco, and a Case "peanut" knife to cut my apple with, and I'm living history.
Mr. niteowl77
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