What is it like to be older?

You just continue to feel like yourself, but you are more startled by mirrors and you get a lot less pussy if you’re single.

@Blackberry i’m 63 years young! I’ve been retired for almost 6 years. This six years have been, without a doubt, the worst 6 years of my life. When i retired, health was good, financially sound, etc. Well, my health went bad a year after I retired..had a hip replaced. Arthritis set in…and has gotten worse. The stock market hit rock botton…401k down the drain! Lastly, after the stock market hit the bottom, found out that my wife had lost TONS of money at the casinos (she had 55k on credit cards). A divorced followed (her call, not mine).

But, my Faith has kept me sane and positive. There will be a better day down the road. Also, I’ve a good income from my company etc…

So, my words of wisdom would not be worth much my friend. Other than, keep working and enjoy everyday!

I just typed a long answer and my fershtunkeneh computer ate it. I don’t have a long enough life left to retype so you’ll have to imagine my pearls of wisdom.

@dpworkin lmao…................

@janbb Damn, fluther needs a draft saver lol.

I feel this may be a depressing thread, but I’m ready for it lol. Thanks @BoBo1946.

And I had a feeling that would happen Dpworkin : (

To encapsulate – body still works well, more wisdom but occasional emotional relapses to old issues, miss my beautiful skin, sorry not to have more years left, but “not dead yet!”

@Blackberry no no…very good question! And, i’m happy…the biggest thing, my job was very hard…don’t miss it at all!

You find out there is a refractory period.

I have been truly blessed! i made it through a dangerous career with little damage to my body, both physically and mentally. i am still married to a great wife and partner. just became a new great grandfather, again. my timing for retirement was perfect. i have seen many, many changes in the 66 years of my life. most are good, some are bad. i have learned that you cannot trust everyone. select only one or two good friends and stay that way. and, love is not given to us freely. we must earn the trust and love we have for each other. especially your s/o. i have watched the prices on everything double and triple with no end in sight. i have witnessed a tragic flood in my city, that i hope to never see again. planning for your future is vital, if you are to retire. i am not sure where healthcare is going to land. i was around when television was a baby and only in black and white. i was there when rock and roll was born and have played drums for some of the best artists in the business. blessed with two healthy, intelligent children. i witnessed the invent of cable and hd television becoming a reality. i witnessed the first man to step on the moon, when it occured. i watched as the twin towers were attacked by terrorists. i watched Viet Nam become a burial ground for our troops, strictly over land rights. i have saved lives and birthed babies in my job. looking back, i would not change a thing.

@john65pennington good for you John!

Thanks BoBo. good morning to you, sir.

@john65pennington have a great day and my heart goes out to you guys up there…worked a many a flood..nothing pretty about it.

2nd Answer. live each day as though it were your last. it just might be.

Thanks John, that is amazing and you have a pretty good life : ) I will heed your advice.

I felt pretty good the first time I signed a check. I was all “the hell with the Central Bank, I can make my own money!”

I’ll be 61 next month. I’m smarter than I was a year ago, and that’s been the overall trend. Physically, I’m fine. The only thing I’ve lost is some prostatic tissue that had become bothersome (the rest of the plumbing was unaffected, in case you need to know). I shed my worst habits before I entered middle age; I keep myself very active, and life is pretty good.

I thought turning 60 would be scarier than it was. It affected me more than some other milestones I reached; for example, 40 was nothing, but it’s just a number. It’s not who I am.

Just for fun, I took this quiz not long ago, and found out that I have more in common – I scored 83 – with young people than I do with my own Baby Boom generation. Maybe “young at heart” is more than just a cliche’ after all. If my attitude is still young, there’s no reason for me to feel old.

:::sigh::: I miss the passive-aggressive thread.

I am delighted to be the age I am and in the condition I am. I wake up each morning content; I have learned how to deal with confrontation without contentiousness; I take pleasure in the smallest and simplest things; I revel in my woods and gardens and creek and the view of the old mountains in the distance.

I enjoy all of @dpworkin‘s comments; whether he is being the intellectual or the curmudgeon.

Oh, well: I find that I can capture the interest of youth by mentioning my prostate, too.

I feel exactly as I did at 27, only smarter, less self-absorbed, and more patient. I never imagined the aches and pains I’ve had.

Life still scares the heck out of me, but I enjoy it more. It’s the simple things that matter.

First thing to go for me was that trust took a pretty severe beating over the years and you tend to be much more skeptical of things and at the same time your ability to see through the BS has never been sharper.

My revelation was last fall when that axiom of “Life is indeed too short” hit home as I felt the effects of age and what it was trying and successfully doing to my body! So you then review your coming and goings a little more carefully and try and squeeze one more smile out of the day now knowing how precious these days really are.

Time swirls around you, but is not of you. You feel the same inside, but your body won’t do what it once did. Things hurt.

I feel the same as most of those above have written.
I’m wiser that is for sure, and I can’t run or jump Like I used to.

The mirror is always a surprise to me. How can that woman in there be me?
I don’t feel like that. I feel just like I always did, except I am more sure of myself.
I still have feelings of lust and desire, just like I always did. (The only difference is that before I wasn’t really attracted to men who are the age I am now and older. Now I can be attracted to young men and older men.)

I have more health issues now, and am getting worried that the future will be even more painful than the present.

The fact that I lived without all the electronics and other gadgets that we use today, makes me not so worried about doing without them if the need arises.

I know what I can do, I know what I’m capable of. I have confidence that I’ll live the rest of my life my way.

Mentally and emotionally, the passage of time and accumulation of years is wonderful. In those areas, I feel increasingly unlimited with regard to life’s possibilities.

Health issues have become a factor in all that I do, which is not fun. But, I’ve come to really know that person in the mirror…and, she makes me smile most days!

Growth is ALL about questioning your beliefs and knowing yourself, subconscious dynamics, casting off outdated patterns of being, living, working, relating.

Learning is easy, it’s the unlearning that takes work.

Change your thoughts, change your reality!

I have dropped so many beliefs that no longer serve me well.

Life is change, whenever one clings to anything remaining the same you will suffer.

Out with the old and in with the new!

I LOVE being in the age of wisdom, it is the ultimate in liberation!

What we lose in form we gain in wisdom,...and, if you work it well enough your form can still be pretty damn good and you can be wise too! lol

Okay I’m only 36.

As I age, I find myself fascinated with how I used to view adults and older people when I was a youngin’. Turns out, adults are just people—no better or worse than the average 18 year old.

@Coloma, @wilma, @MissA, @Cruiser: Yeah, fine, but what about pussy?

@dpworkin I don’t kiss and tell but I will say I do like it as much if not more than I did 30 years ago and Viagra free! ;)

Well, I have a girlfriend now, so it’s fine, but in general, the older you get the harder it is to get laid, no matter how well your plumbing works.

@Cruiser

A man and his wife went to the chemist to pick up his prescription for Viagra. Seeing the $10 per pill price, the man was astonished – but his wife had a different opinion – “Oh, $40 a year ain’t too bad”.

@dpworkin Thanks for the warning! ;)

@BoBo1946 Zing! ;-D

@dpworkin

Pussy?

Hmmm…well, I wouldn’t put my pussy within 10 miles of your big old dog!

Did you hear about the new antidepressant for lesbians?

It’s called Tridickagain! lololol

@Coloma Ba Dum Chhhhh!

@dpworkin What about it?

I will let you know when I’m older.

How do you define “older”? It’s such a relative concept. To a young child, teenagers seem old; to a teenager, anyone over 21 seems to belong to a different generation.

@Primobabe Good question, I guess maybe anyone that is older than me lol? 30s, 40s etc.

When I think about the differences between the world I was born into in 1969 and the world now, I’m in awe, and I’m only 40. Also, where I lived, people and technology were just a smidgen behind the times, so whatever was happening on the coasts didn’t reach the Midwest for a few years, including things like disco and hip hop, home computers or cable TV (no MTV ‘til 1984).

Heck, the Milwaukee Public Schools weren’t even desegregated until 1976 (!!!!), when I was 7. You’d think that stuff would’ve been dealt with in the 50s, but it hadn’t. I never reckoned I’d see a non-100% white president in my lifetime when I was 16 or so, nor would I have reckoned the explosion of the internet, or international space stations, the processing power of computers, etc.

Personally, I’m fit and healthy, and I expect to be so for quite a while to come. Woohoo! I’m very excited to see what the future brings.

Since there is no part of life I would like to go back to, I guess I can say I’m happy with where I am. The wisdom you gain as you live your life helps make you satisfied with where you are in it. When I was in my twenties, I would have not believed that life could be so good when I was in my fifties. I now know twenty-somethings are wrong about a lot of things.

@dpworkin You are starting to depress me :(

@FutureMemory compensating for the bad news you’ve heard…

On the other hand, you don’t have to play as many games for as long, either, as when you were younger. ‘Nice shoes! Wanna fuck?’ can really work. (You don’t even have to be serious about the compliment.)

When the plumbing does work (and it usually does, but like some other older fixtures, sometimes you have to jiggle it a little) ... man, oh man. It’s as good as ever. (And you get to think… “this may be the last one ever”. That’s always true, but now you have the realization, too.)

I appreciate my awake time in a whole new way. It used to be I’d have plans for what I wanted to do and thought, I’ll get there when I get but now I feel very present and fussy to make the most of every day. I don’t have the faith in people I once did but I was a very naive and trusting sort whereas I feel safer and smarter now. I like myself more but don’t like limitations I can’t deny so it’s a push push push everyday and I’d rather it be like that than live in la la land, always dreaming of things that will never be.

Well, actually a lot of psych studies show that optimum well being occurs in ones 50’s.

You shift your expectations and beliefs a lot over the years, you burn through most of your fears cuz they never really came to pass and you are much more self assured and at peace with yourself.

You no longer give a flying fuck what others think, can take or leave relationship and are more secure than ever with who you are.

Hang in there young’ins..the best IS yet to come!

It’s true, really!

@Coloma So many people lecture teenagers about how they should appreciate those years, because they’re the best years of life. What a lie! Adolescence is a minefield, fully rigged with rejection, insecurities, fear, and every other variety of pain. A teenager is told to grow up and behave maturely; then, five minutes later, he’s told to be quiet because he’s just a kid! Life gets much, much easier after high school. I think that most of us look back on our teenage years and wonder how the heck we survived!

@Coloma GA, “You no longer give a flying fuck what others think, can take or leave relationship and are more secure than ever with who you are.” I’m already starting to feel that way lol.

@Blackberry
@Primobabe

Cheers!

Ride the wave! ;-)

I’m with @Coloma on the not giving a a “flying f*ck” what anyone else thinks.
I also don’t care much at all about what’s in fashion this year.
I want to be comfortable and wear clothes that make me feel good.

@dpworkin, what about it? Mine’s just dandy!

@wilma

You show a modicom of self restraint by dropping that ‘u’...I say, let it fly! haha

“mo money mo problems”? ;P

It’s a little frustrating. Now that I have the time, I no longer have the ability or the inclination.

Grab life by the balls when you are young and have a better grip. People put off things like the trip of a life time, not factoring in they may miss the opportunity due to age.