I'm as good as I ever was, right? That was my feeling for quite a while, but doing activities that were done for years brings out the truth. I'm beginning to see that and accept it. Anyway it's good cover for feeling lazy and cutting back. My go-to thought is that I would not push my father when he was my age, so I should be good to myself like I was to him.
There are definitely things I can't do now that I done 20, 30 years or more ago. Wouldn't even want to try and, possibly, hurting myself.
Excatly Cody.....trying to do even the simplest thing can cause issues. That is what happened to me. So what if we can't Do like we use to..been there , done that, we be done
Dunno. I know how old I am and can accept the years but...... I have accumulated more knowledge of importance than I ever had. I am stronger than I have ever been. In terms of muscle mass, I’m built better than ever before. In many ways, I’m healthier than in years past. I’m able to accept the mistakes I’ve made in the past and improve myself. On the far side of the spectrum.. I do not have to work as hard as I did. I do not have to look at the clock as much. I do not have to “dress to impress” any longer. I do not have to take any guff from anyone for any reason. Because I AM old, I can yell at people and tell them to get off my grass and they say, “my bad” and get off my derned grass.
Yes, I finally accept it, though I was kicking and screaming while it crept up on me. I'm still in fairly good shape but I know (and accept) my limitations.
I honestly don't think about it until I get out around other people. While my body is moving forward, my mind has been going backwards. I was an old person as a kid, a middle aged person while working, and now in retirement, I've become borderline irresponsible. Although it hasn't happened to me (yet) . . . My mother, in her 80's, got confused in the grocery store one time, and one of the employees tried to help her. Soon all the employees gathered around her and made a big fuss. She refused to go back to that store ever again. Heck, I always get confused in the grocery store and wander around like I'm lost.
It wasn't too long ago that I could say that I'm not as good as I once was , but I'm as good ONCE as I ever was. I can't say that anymore.
Oldness... I guess, if you put it that way yes. I had been waiting on it for a very long time and now that it's here I'm happy. I get to do things that I've thought about for years. Watching my grandparents was my inspiration. They lived a very quiet and simple life and that's what I wanted.
I'm still fighting my advancing years, and any maladies the same may bring. I've seen some things changing in me, and I don't like that, at all. Unlike many, I won't hang around for too long, after I get to a point where I can no longer do what I want to do, unaided. In truth, I don't understand those who PLAN on being disabled/infirm in their later years, with various types of insurance policies and the like. I'd rather not be a passive witness to my own incipient decrepitude, and so I won't.
I had to read your response twice and my thought didn't change any. I really pray that you'll see a brighter light at the end of the tunnel.
I actually do see that light: A life lived well and ended well, when one is still in control of one's own destiny, is, to me, cause for celebration. Hanging on to the bitter end, through pain and suffering, no matter what, is a true tragedy, as I see it.
There's always a disconnect between my 12-year-old Inner Child and the 73-year-old Outer Hag. The Inner Child picks the scenario but the Outer Hag has to pay the bill. And quite often it's one hell of a bill.
I'm of the same mind, though I also acknowledge that there's a difference between today's concept and tomorrow's reality (meaning never discount our survival instinct.)
Which is why I will probably never sign a DNR. I’m not afraid of death but I do love life and with that, I demand a lot out of myself and will continue to make those demands no matter what the course of life may be. As long as there can be a chance of a good quality of life after say, a heart attack or whatever, wake my butt up and get me going. I’ve already beaten a lot of odds so one more is just icing on the cake. But, if for whatever reason I am in a hospital and so mangled up that there will be no real quality of life and I cannot speak for myself then my wife knows what to do.