What is it like to be an elderly person?

I’m only 29, but I have done a lot of work with people well into their 70s, 80s, and 90s, even a few in their 100s… and what I gather is that people feel like the same person when they are 85 as they did when they were 35, for the most part. You don’t feel like an “old person” you feel like a “person.”

I’m going to be 69 next month and I don’t really feel like an old person even though that age sounds very old to me. I have had to slow down a lot, my hearing, smell, taste and vision are all diminished, plus I feel cold a lot. Apparently I complain about it too, because I received two throw blankets for Giftmas this year.

I just saw a news report that old people can maintain their strength. They showed a person my age using the strength machines in a health club. They had nothing to say about an old person who was weak even when she was young, so I doubt it would work for me.

If I would follow my doctor’s instructions and walk a mile every day, I would feel a lot better than I do, as would most old people.

My Mom is 92, losing touch with reality and would rather be dead.
She hurts and is in assisted living since May and going downhill fast, with no purpose.

@jazmina88 aww, very sad to hear stories like that. :( I’m sure that would be true for many people, of any age, who are losing their health and/or mental health.

I think there is a huge difference depending on a persons health. I know many in my family that at age 100 look and feel better than some in their 70’s. My Father is 81 and Mother is 77 and I certainly can see them change over the past few years. They are still active and healthy, but they are slowing down. They are still very vibrant and viable and enjoy life.
They are still in their first and only home they bought in the 50’s. I am happy for their genetics and health.

@jazmina88 “She hurts and is in assisted living since May and going downhill fast, with no purpose.”

I’m very sorry for you and your mother. I hope peace blesses both of you.

I have a hard time accepting that any person is without purpose, even if that purpose is to teach others how to cope with a suffering loved one. The fact that this time in her painful life has a direct affect upon others around her confirms a purpose is being played out. That purpose will be utilized upon empathizing with other people enduring the same hardship, and when we all have to face that same fate for ourselves.

I wish you and your mother the best @jazmina88.

There’s no one size fits all in aging. think it depends on the general demeanor the person has had all his or her life, how good or bad ones health is, how much support he/she has, and the person’s own attitude toward death. I feel sorry for the person has never felt anything good has ever happened in his life, who is grumpy and complaining and always has been, has constant pain and no friends and is afraid of dying.

My mother was 96 years old when she died. For the last five years of her life, she kept asking me when she was going to die and why was she was still living. I told her that when God is ready for you, he will come and you will know it. She told me that she did not hurt anywhere and that was a relief for her and me. I could tell she was slowly slipping away and I put her in a nursing home. She was there for about six months. My mother was ready to pass, but I was not. Before passing, she was bright and playful, remembering many things in her past. I cherished those moments.

Around 300 am, I received a phone call that my mother had died in her sleep.

This was not a good time for me.

@john65pennington At least she went peacefully, and painlessly in her sleep! Thats about as much as any of us could ask for, I think. When I volunteered at the old folks home there were several patients that were constantly asking to be killed. It was shocking the first time I heard it, but then I had no prior experience with that age group. It was like they knew they weren’t who they used to be, maybe they were in pain, and they didn’t see a point to living anymore. So sad.