Have you ever loved doing something and the day came where you realized your body would no longer allow you to do it?

Yes. It’s one of the great losses of my life, and every day it feels like I live in someone else’s body.

Yes, kite surfing was the first time I admitted defeat. At my age, this threatens on a daily basis, but I won’t give up without a fight. It is the reason I went back into the gym at 49 years old. I started doing yoga again in my fifties because, although I was finally able to possess the boat of my dreams and the adventures connected to those dreams, I found I wasn’t limber enough to work the sails quickly on the deck of a sailboat while soloing. It’s all about independence and freedom vs. the limitations of the body and mind.

Not yet, at 40 I do have to make sure I stretch really well but I can still do about anything I could at 20. I know the curtain on that is going to close soon though. Enjoying it while I can.

Skiing. My hips can’t bear it anymore. I had bad bekkenlosning when I was pregnant and not recovered completely.

Jogging. Had to give it up years ago and I still miss it. Occasionally I have a great dream in which I’m running.

I’m having a hard time hula-hooping for the first time in my life. But I’m sure that’s a side effect of losing muscle tone in my abdomen since pregnancy and surgery and general laziness. The goal is to get it back.

I’ll know I’m really old when I can’t do a cartwheel anymore. Still good, there.

Oh, yeah. I developed arthritis in my twenties, had to give up horseback riding. As it’s progressed over the years, I’ve had to give up other stuff (solo sailing of small boats in my 30s, for example.). It sucks, but I do other stuff, and consider that that is the silver lining, things I might not have done had I been devoting the time to previously enjoyed activities.

I gave up parachuting out of airplanes a month before I was born and don’t miss it one bit. At 56 I can still do everything I love to do especially my favorite water skiing.

I worked in int. design and home staging for years until the recession wiped out the biz. I did this into my early 50’s, and spent hours moving around furniture, loading and unloading items from our inventory storage, packing/unpacking, etc. I loved the work but now, 6 years later, I probably would not be able to do as much as I did then. I have some neck and shoulder issues and if I am not careful I’ll wrack myself up for days if I over do it now. I still love to decorate but no more heavy lifting, bending, dragging around huge items of furniture.

Yep, playing soccer (recreationally) I went through a phase where I could still compete based on skill, experience and thinking the game through. I could make a run up the field but not back or vise versa. Accurate long distance passing helped when I couldn’t outrun the younger players, becoming adept at the wall pass kept me from getting too beat up but I still hit the ground from time to time.
Eventually (around 50) the recovery time got to be longer than the time between games; the knees gave out; the wind was gone; the pain pills were not doing their job effectively and eventually you just get tired of being beaten by those half your age.

It was a sad, sad day when I hung up my boots for good.

I coached my kids and grandkids teams for a while though so was still involved for many years.

I guess I could have written sex here due to lack of my body’s appeal. Old and ugly now.

@cazzie for fuck’s sake you’re out of your tree. You’re gorgeous and you know it.

Seek, I go out. No one talks to me. I go home alone with only having spoken to the bartender. How do YOU explain it?

No, i’m as fit as a fucking butcher’s dog, run & work out every day with the inevitable niggle now & then more or less ignored

Norwegian people are snobby and/or they’re intimidated by your confidence and apparent extreme intellect. Obviously.

It may sound silly but…acrobatics. I loved so much doing it as a kid. Now I can only do a cartwheel after a million tries and lots of falls. I don’t think it’s so much due to my age as all the weight I have gained over the last 20 years. I used to love to do backflips. Even if I was still thin tho, I don’t know if I could do that at 48.

When I was a teenager, I used to love to water ski. Last time I tried, about 30 years ago, I could not stand up on the skis.

I got immense pleasure from long, vigorous walks. I’d sometimes spend hours walking through cities or out in the country. Now, my knees cause crippling pain after the first mile or so.

I used to play football with my friends on the winter holidays. When I was 32, I broke my ribs during the Thanksgiving game. I was off work for 3 weeks. I realized this activity endangered my ability to support my family, and stopped playing shortly after.

@Yetanotheruser Try kneeboarding this summer at least once. It is close to skiing, effortless, and lots of fun, trust me. You’ll be doing pirouettes and catching air off the wake within minutes of getting wet. You must try this.

One of the reasons I have a wonky left ankle, my wild water skiing days. haha

Roller skating. I can still do it, but it scares the shit out of me now. When I was a kid I could slam in to walls, slam into the floor, stand up, brush off, back in the game. Now I’m afraid I could really hurt my self.

We went to Florida a few years back, for my father’s memorial. They live within walking distance of the beach. We went to the beach. I lived in Florida as a kid, and when I saw the big waves rolling in I dove head first into one, like I did as a kid. About broke my neck! That surprised me. Didn’t do it again.

Eating pop tarts. I can’t eat them any more. Also I can’t take 23 hour baths while reading a textbook from front to back.

@Espiritus_Corvus That sounds like fun. I’d love to, except I don’t know anyone who has a boat anymore. My one friend who did lost it several years ago in a divorce. My BIL who has one now lives in Florida, and probably won’t have his for long (finances). I have seen kneeboards and wakeboards and given the opportunity I would jump at the chance!

I had to give up soccer. It was my getaway and I was brilliant at it. I loved every second I spent playing. My lungs got in the way and I had to stop playing for good.

@Love_my_doggie that would be my worst nightmare. I love to walk.

I carried about 4— 40 pound bags of soil back to my mom’s garden the other day and then quickly regretted it.

Eating. I used to be able to eat anything/everything I wanted, but now I must restrict my intake considerably to save my life.

I used to love riding a bike but those days are long gone.

And the night I went to the ER following a holiday cross country driving trip because It felt like there was a razor blade embedded in my knee, I found out that there was no cartilage left in either of my knees. Basically down to bone on bone so there’s a lot of things I can no longer do.

Yes. July 2009. The day my prostate was plopped into a hospital bio-hazard bucket.

(I still miss it every day.)