I know growing old is all about loss for most of us, people we know dying, loss of faculties and deteriorating health in general, but do you appreciate any positive aspects in your life that come with age or is it all just all downhill? I appreciate the freedom that retirement brings and the lack of responsibility I feel in general, I find accepting life as it comes each day, and letting go in general of my old thought patterns in how life should be.
You are correct Terry! I find a real freedom, in letting go of old things and ideas, that have followed me through life, while at the same time making room for all the new and interesting baggage! Life, in the slow lane,can allow me to see what is really valuable and worthwhile! In short, I am still growing!
Everything you said Terry plus most of us are more financially secure in our retirement years. Homes and cars paid for, no debts except of course recurring monthly bills. We do what we want, go where we want whenever we want.
Yes Sheldon that's an important point, if you are not financially secure or have debts, that can be a big downer on the freedom part, plus of course good or reasonable heath. I am not rich but ok financially and have good health at the moment, so it's a good life having the freedom to do what you like, or nothing at all sometimes, long may it last.
Except for the health issues and knowing what's coming, aging has it's upside. I remember all those cute girls who used to slap me in the head when I patted their rumps or, never mind. Now, they just laugh or make a funny remark. Lots of people still will hold open doors for me, or let me ahead of them in line. I get away with stuff more easily now.
On the first Saturday of December, we have a reunion of former office mates in the bank. Take note that I am the youngest in the group and the oldest is 80 years old. We do that lunch reunion twice a year. What I would hear in that gathering were health issues which takes about half of the time, that is even before eating and after, health issues would surface once in a while. I also have health issues particularly with my high blood pressure but I avoid talking about it. My husband who is 60 is also in that reunion and he would usually cut the talks about health. His spiel would be on the advantages of being a senior citizen particularly with the discounts on food they get. Indeed, that is the tragedy of man - to be born, to grow old... and to die. But we can enjoy life while we still have it, right?
Yes a lot of us seniors tend to talk about health issues a lot, but as long as your health is good enough to enable you to do what you want to do, or we accept the limitations it can put on our pursuits, then life can be enjoyed until the end.
"When you are a great deal older than you are now, you will discover that the time a man becomes elderly is exactly like the place where the earth and sky meet."
I'm considerably older than I thought I would ever be, My dad died two months into his fifty-first birthday. All his brothers died in their fifties or younger except one who lived to the ripe old age of sixty-one. I assumed I would have a similar short life. I retired in 1996 because of health issues, Emphysema. I've slowly deteriorated but lived much longer than doctors thought I would. I'm in that last stage and have some heart issues but still, life has been great since retirement. I'm still driving about town, but I know I'm in my last house, driving my last car, and I am no longer useful, more of a handicap than helpful. We have a roof over our heads and enough food and relatively independent. When it's all over it will have been enough.
This is a wonderful thread. Having being laid off before retirement age the time has given me much to think about particularly all the things I've dreamed about. Right now I am blessed to really enjoy my marriage of 16 years, seeing my sons and grandchildren on a whim, meeting people from all parts of the world on this and other forums with like interests, and discovering me, myself and I. You all have given me outlooks that I probably wouldn't have thought about at least not this soon. Thank you.
It's so sad to read your post. My nanny died of emphysema and she was not even a smoker. The doctor said that the lungs are withering (or maybe shrinking) and the function is lesser so the patient suffers. Now my husband's cousin is also afflicted with emphysema, he is 60 and is on oxygen most of the time. It's really sad to think that man grows old, gets sick then dies. Maybe that's also the reason of health buffs, to eat healthy, do workouts, in order to have a healthy life that although they will not live to be a hundred but at least they don't get seriously sick.
While I am sure there are positives to growing old, I fear they are buried by the negatives. I still have a lot of things I would like to do with life that I know I won't have the time or the money for. Often, I find myself making plans or thinking about going to school for some new thing, and then realizing that I am 65, have had cancer once, may have it again, and none of that stuff is going to happen. Health plays into many of the negatives. Whereas I used to be able to wait pretty much any health problem out, that never works anymore. Even with doctors, nothing ever really goes away anymore. At one time, if things were really bad, I could go to a doctor and they could make it go away. Now they look at me as if I should realize that I'm over 60 and it ain't going away. Mostly, pain is the thing that keeps me grounded; otherwise I feel like I should be able to do the same things I could ever do. I feel like I should be able to get up on the roof and remove the snow. Instead, I can barely lift the ladder, which I could lift easily when I bought it 15 years ago, and when I get up on the roof I am uncomfortably aware that I could fall. As for positives, I feel as if I am not so naive, but aware of what's going on around me, politically and otherwise. I am better at judging people. On the other hand, it's harder to actually do anything with this information.
I guess what you are confirming Ken is that health is vital, probably much more so than finance, to enable us to enjoy a full life as we age. I am lucky at the moment in having a pain free body, and at 74 have passed the point at wanting to do anything else in my life, so I am just enjoying the experience of the final part of the journey towards death. I last went on a roof when I was 70 and though I can still lift ladders I am a lot weaker I know. I think because my health is good and I feel like a young person, I can still do all the things I did in my 30s, but I know really that if I tried I would fail, yesterdays complicated plumbing job took twice as long as it would have done a couple of decades ago and it left me exhausted, so I realise I am not young anymore I have also given up trying to change or improve the world, have simply lost the desire, and find acceptance of what is, to be the easier path now.