As we get older, we change in any number of ways. The problem is, until you change, you don’t know the significance of that change. By that time it is too late to take advantage of that which you lost due to the change.
I guess our goal is to maximize the benefit of a capability while we have that capability. In order to do that, we need to get some knowledge of the capabilities we are likely to see diminish over the course of our lives. This should allow us to focus on a capability and use it to the fullest before it disappears.
Obviously, our bodies tend to grow less physically strong and agile and flexible as we age. I’m sure there is some natural explanation for this, but I don’t know what it is. There are people who maintain these capabilities longer if they really work hard at it, and life weights and do yoga and whatever is necessary. Still, if you’ve got arthritis in your family, it’s a good bet that you’re going to be in a lot of pain as you age, and at some point you will no longer be able to dance.
In youth, due to our strength, our bodies are able to tolerate more abuse. We can drink more and drug more and bang our bodies around more because they recover much more quickly. We can stay up later. Most of us have faster recovery time from sexual activities. Or we could play more baseball, or dance more, or do anything that requires more physical skill.
You’re also more beautiful/attractive. One regret that I have is that I never knew I was attractive way back then. I’d like to think I would have been more confident and had more luck with the girls back then if I knew. Although, the downside to that is that I might have used sex or love more as a crutch to prop up my sense of self than I did.
Mentally, however, most of us grow more capable. Our physical abilities may decline, but our mental abilities strengthen. There are many different changes mentally. You might gain more knowledge, and you certainly have more experience. Along the way, you get wiser as a result of both these things.
However, at some point, your memory starts to go. It’s harder to recall words or names, for example. Still, there are compensations. You may not be able to recall things as well, but you become wiser. You can analyze situations better and make better predictions about the future. You know more things because you’ve experienced more things.
I think that older people often say, “If I only knew then what I know now, I could have….” Or “Youth is wasted on the young.” I.e., they don’t know how to use it most effectively.
This question is about fun, and about enjoying your youth and not forgetting how to have fun as you age. It suggests that it is natural to have fun while young, but easy to forget how to have fun as you get older. This suggests that there is a notion of what “having fun” means, and it doesn’t look like fulfilling your responsibilities is fun.
Fun is a lot of things. It’s not just partying. It’s not just something you can only do when you are capable of being wild. And being wild isn’t the only way to have fun.
I am having fun being a father and a husband. It’s not easy, but it’s fun to figure out how to make it work. I’m sure that when I was young, I would have thought the idea of having to earn a living wasn’t fun. But now I know work can be fun. It was a challenge for me to find work where I could have fun, but overall, I think I’ve done a good job.
What I didn’t realize for most of the time was that I liked certain kinds of troubles. I liked fighting for economic justice and for a cleaner environment and etc and etc. I didn’t necessarily like my work organization, but I felt good about the work. Later on, I learned how to find an organization where work could be fun for me. Where I enjoy going to work every day. Work is fun. Before, it seemed like a chore.
I wish I could do flips off the diving board, like I used to. But at the age of fifty, I learned a new dive—the gainer. Which freaks people out because it looks like I could hit my head on the board. I was so proud of myself for learning a new physical skill. I also learned new figure skating jumps.
Sure, my heels hurt (pounding on the board with fifty pounds more than I had as a youth), and I wrenched my back or bruised my hip and any number of other physical indignities that occurred, but I had fun even though I could do it very well. And even nearly killing myself doing that dive last summer was fun. I came within an eight of an inch of being knocked unconscious—my ear was scratched as I flipped backwards and didn’t jump far enough away from the board. I scratched my ear on the side of the board.
I got away with it, though. I took a serious risk, broke a pool rule, and nearly got seriously hurt. But nearly doesn’t count (except in horse shoes).
I dance. I play my horn. I fluther. Fun is different now, just like my body and my mind. But I think I enjoy my middle age even more than I enjoyed my youth, even though I can do less. The knowledge and experience I’ve gained over the years has be crucial in allowing me to do this. I don’t think it’s a very wise idea to exhort yourself to enjoy your youth better because when you’re older, you’ll become a fuddy-duddy. It doesn’t have to happen, and it may not be happening. Did it ever occur to you that people may actually be enjoying their lives, but that it just doesn’t look that way to you?
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