When did you realize you were 'old'?

When I turned 55 I realized I had just jumped to a new demographic, that on on-line dating sites I was beyond the reach of most women in their late 40s. It was hard.

But it was worse when I realized that to most women in their thirties and forties I had become invisible.

When I got that stupid AARP card in the mail 3 years ago. I am in solid shape physically and look 10 years younger than I am. But I would be in denial if I did not admit that I am not 20 anymore despite feeling as spry as ever. No intention of looking or acting old any time soon.

@zenvelo I feel like at 34 I am invisible all together. Men my age are getting divorced and are established and stable and realizing they can find a woman in her early to mid-20s that are blown away by how “mature” he is, and men my age are stoked they can bang a chick in her 20s. So I become invisible in that regard. It’s like being a woman in her 30s is a special kind of limbo. I don’t feel old, really, but I feel too old too go out and too young to stay in.

I do remember I was 35 trying to get into grad school and having to take some additional undergrad college courses prior to the graduate level stuff. I was in an anthro. lab listening to some undergrads prattle on when I realized that I could no longer even consider someone that young, that their priorities, hopes, fears and even thought patterns were no longer mine and that it would be unbearable to be in a relationship with someone who did not have the same life experiences that I had had. Someone, say, like these girls mothers.

It was sobering.

When I realized that guest books and webrings aren’t popular on the Internet anymore. And that time my arm fell off.

If someone finds it, let me know? Thanks.

At age 43ish I really started feeling old. Many things I had done and people I knew were from over 20 years ago. Technology has changed significantly. Fertility problems have been a dissappointment in my life and being in my 40’s is the clock pretty much losing its tick tock with no battery replacement.

As far as looking older; gaining weight makes me feel and look older. In my 40’s I have added another 5 pounds from the 10 that I had added since college years, and the extra 5 is a killer in my opinion. I diet now and then and get it down and then it creeps back up on me. I see photos of myself and am shocked how crappy I look sometimes. Additionally, all of a sudden at 46 I have more grey hairs also. Still not a lot, but now I have to dye my hair or I think they will be easily noticed.

I cried when the clock turned over to midnight on my 40th birthday. I have felt old ever since. (well not every minute, or even every day, but in general).
My 30s were actually a good decade for me. I met my husband when I was 36. He was 26. So at least maybe that can give some hope for you old feeling 30-somethings.

At 37 I don’t feel physically old. Mentally I started feeling older as responsibility increased and my interest in staying out late diminished.

When I think AC/Dc is too rowdy. I came in with a hankering for High Voltage, now Hell’s Bells. I’ll be old when they plant me. Fuck numbers.

I must have been born old!

I got my first inkling in my mid-30s. I was a t-shirted, faded jeans-garbed copywriter at a youthful ad agency, working with kids in their 20s, which kept me feeling I was the same age. But one day I woke up feeling MY age. Depressed, I phoned my 55-year old mother and told her I didn’t think I was a kid anymore, to which she replied, laughing: “Why honey, you haven’t been a kid for a loooong time.”

Turning 40 was my next big shock, then 50. And the day my AARP card arrived in the mail, whatever fantasy I still clung to that somehow time wasn’t affecting me VANISHED FOREVER.

That was a while back. I don’t want to talk about how I feel about it today. ;-)

Yesterday, my (almost new) car was backed into in the parking lot at work. The eye-witness to the event reported to me that a “little old lady” was the culprit, and there was a photo of the woman studying my rear bumper. That “little old lady” could not have been more than two or three years older than me, and we could be the same age. We just “present” differently.

I often have to remind myself how old I am (62), but on some days, the act of getting out of bed is all the reminder I need. In our hearts, may we be forever young.

I think the first eye-opener for me was when I was in my late 30s and my son was a teenager. I’d hear my peers refer to athletes and actors as “hot”, but when I looked at them, I wanted to pinch their cheeks (figuratively), because they seemed like nice kids that could be friends with my son.

In the last few years. haha
I just turned 54 on Dec. 26 and yep, I held my own til about 50 but the last few years have my energy levels down, less stamina for my usual zippy self, more aches and pains, loss of “ambition” ( pretty much it is all now a “been there, done that ”) scenario.
I could care less about impressing anyone anymore, men, employers, etc.
I read a quote on middle age recently that said it is a time of seeing our limitations more so than our possibilities anymore.

I totally agree. I am hardly dead but find that my internal self image is not matching up with the exterior any more. lol

When I realize my husband and I were the same age as his parents were when we started dating. That was an eye opener.

I played football with my friends 4 times a year: Thanksgiving, Christmas, New Years, and SuperBowl Sunday. We have done this since we were in our early teens.
When I was 31, while playing football, I broke a couple ribs. That caused me to be off work for 3 weeks, and caused some issues between me and my wife.
I decided I was too old for that kind of game, since an injury meant time off work.

@Juels you are soooo right about that! It is mind bending to think I helped celebrate my MILS’s 50th b-day and she just turned 70!! O_O!

@Cruiser Worse, we were at a co-workers wedding. They had all the married couples on the dance floor. As they reached certain year milestones (1 year, 2, 5, 10, 15, etc.), couples had to leave the floor if they hadn’t been married that length of time. It was a game to find the couple that had been married the longest. We were high school sweethearts and married after dating for 6 years. Our 19 year wedding anniversary will be in March. Most of our friends were off the dance floor by 5 years. The rest were gone by 10 years. It was almost embarrassing to still be up there with all of the “old” people. Thank goodness the bride’s grandparents won with 50+ years.

When I started staying home on Friday and Saturday nights and not caring about partying…lol

I’ve not aged much in terms of appearance, and physically I feel just as unfit as I always have. If I clean-shave and get my hair cut, then I pass for no more than 25. (I’m 37 now.)

The little things I notice that I’m no longer part of the younger generation are things like taste in music—almost everything released after 2002 sounds absolutely terrible to my ears.

I’m quite convinced that this is because younger people actually have no taste or style, and it’s mostly indicative of our cultural debasement through commercialisation and capitalist culture—and nothing to do with me being a curmudgeon or old fuddy-duddy.

I also don’t seem to do as well at fast paced video games as I used to.

Technically I’m old but I refuse to realize it yet. It’s only a number.

@BeenThereSaidThat It’s all relative, really. I felt old last night because I was surrounded by 20-somethings that were talking about things I conquered many years ago. But at my father’s 70th birthday party I was the only one under 60 there. I heard more medical issues than I was comfortable with. Some folks even carried their MRI around to show it off like a grandchild! OK, that was my dad, so embarrassing but it was his party. I woulda been the first out the door if they started sharing scars…

@GloPro Gross :)

Haha, I can still hear him now, “Have you ever seen a prostate the size of a grapefruit? Let me show you something…”

LMAO. stop.

Well, maybe when I quit carrying a volleyball around in the trunk of my car, ready for a game any time, anywhere.
Or maybe when the bars got annoying instead of exciting.
Or maybe when I was ready for bed on a Saturday night at the time I’d have just been gearing up to go out when I was younger.

Or maybe I just grew up and haven’t gotten old yet.

Probably after I was diagnosed with adult onset diabetes at age 39 and osteo-arthritis in both knees at age 42. It sucks getting old.

4 years old… no more free ride.

When I tried to explain 9/11 to my 7 year old son.

Old is relative. I’m 52 and feel I’ve got a ways to go. I’m sure my grandchildren would argue with that.

When this question showed up in my “Just for You” section…thanks, Fluther! LOL!

I’ll have to get back to you

Okay fine, call it ego, but I just had to insert my precious 3 year old self here. I was an egghead yes? lolol

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About 5or 6 years ago when I needed glasses full time ,not just for reading,and always waking up stiff and sore.

About two years ago.

That is an adorable picture @Coloma…a real cutie!

Yesterday.

Four years ago I knew I was old. January the first I woke up with aching knees, I didn’t want to go anywhere since it was such a hassle just to get dressed and leave, the scale began showing higher numbers and my s/o became sick. He’s still sick, my knees hurt and the bottom of my feet hurt when I walk. Try exercising with aching knees and feet. The only good thing is I sleep like a baby .
I’m done.

So I’m at high school open house this evening feeling comfortable, not too old. But they invite the eight graders to come too, so they’ll have a little insight when they choose electives for next year. I turn a corner, and there is a kid with the 8th grader welcome packet (so he’s about 14), and his mom is with him and looks 35, and I realize this teenager could be my grandchild!

Fuck did I feel old all of a sudden.

A combination of three thongs:

When Daniel Craig became the first James Bond that was younger than I am.

The realization that I find it shocking that kids born in 1998 are getting driver’s licenses.

Since I find hair growing in the strangest places…

@whitenoise Any combination of three thongs will make you feel old, no matter what your age.

Getting eyes that are too bad for reading my own typos on my iphone makes me feel old too…

Well, I’m pretty sure I have a Herniated Disc in my back. So that’s making me feel kind of old.

It happened when we went to visit a garden. We drove up to the gate and without even pausing, the attendant gave us the senior citizens’ discount. We weren’t even close to old enough! That, and I started getting AARP advertisements in the mail when I was 30. That was a shocker!

My perspective on age changes as I age. I still remember clearly when, at age 34, my wife and I had a friend to dinner whose husband was out of town. This woman was absolutely dropdead gorgeous and very youthful and a good friend. At some point in the conversation, she referenced her age of 38, and I almost fell off the chair. In my mind, I was still “just over 30”, but she was “almost 40”. I was floored at “the difference” in our ages.

I’m much older now, but the only time I feel old is when my 44 year old son, with whom I have a very good relationship, caters to me as his “aging father”.

I’m changing my answer. The truth is…I’m a time traveler, and I don’t age! It’s much more fun than plastic surgery (and cheaper).

I change my answer, too. I’m a cougar now. It’s fantastic :-)

@GloPro Rowr! Swat those bad little boy cubs. lol