Thread: What is the point of being old ?

to grow more wise...and (if u decide to have kids), to raise your kids goodly(ahaha...my parents didnt raise me well...just kidding).
i think old people are essential.....golf courses are the things that should be destroyed!

Originally posted by vanity
The whole matter of growing old has a great deal to do with one's frame of mind.

You make your own reality.

______________________________________

You don't stop laughing because you grow old;
you grow old because you stop laughing.

~Michael Pritchard ~

Oh, the great power of denial.
You can´t deny biology.

I understand vieope, it's a good question for us young folk. I guess eventually our priorities change, the thought of not being young and beautiful is absolutely frightening. Of course, by the time we're old they'll have a treatment/pill to reverse it all

Originally posted by Crono1000
I understand vieope, it's a good question for us young folk. I guess eventually our priorities change, the thought of not being young and beautiful is absolutely frightening. Of course, by the time we're old they'll have a treatment/pill to reverse it all

Hahah ..That is what I keep saying everyday.. Someday they will invent a supplement to cure death and getting old.. they will.. they will!

as I get older (in my 30's now) I sit and think about what I could of, or should of done 10,15, 20 years ago.

but, life has definitely gotten easier, financially stable, money is not an issue in my life. Whatever my wife and I want we go out and buy, so that aspect is kind of nice.

my health is great, but it's obvious that I cannot do what I used to, meaning injuries come about a little easier, recovery is longer, etc. however I look better now than I ever have.

but, overall I am smarter, wiser and comfortable with myself. The older I get I care less about what others think, and just do what I feel that I need to do in life. I guess the fact that I am happily married helps out quite a bit too.

when I think about being 40, 50 or even 60 it scares me, but when I was 20 being 30 scared me too...so I think it's all relative. as you age you just accept it, and once you hit each decade you really do not feel that it is old. Meaning when your'e 18 years old 30 seems like a senior citizen, but once you reach 30 you realize that you're still very young.

the ultimate thing with getting older has to be wisdom though, you talk to your kids or younger people and just smile inside as you listen to them because you have been there and done that.

the most important thing though is living for today, living in the present. You hear this saying your entire life, but I think it means a lot more as you get older. I can easily look back to my 20's and wish I would have done things differently, but there is no point in living in the past. I can sit and worry about what I will be doing in my 40's or tomorrow, but yet again there is no point in that either. I try and think about today and what I can do today that will make tomorrow better, of course I never forget what I did yesterday either, I learn from that, but I do not dwell on mistakes, I just try and do everything as best I can today.

nice post Prince, you certainly put things in perspective

Originally posted by Prince
as I get older (in my 30's now) I sit and think about what I could of, or should of done 10,15, 20 years ago.

but, life has definitely gotten easier, financially stable, money is not an issue in my life. Whatever my wife and I want we go out and buy, so that aspect is kind of nice.

my health is great, but it's obvious that I cannot do what I used to, meaning injuries come about a little easier, recovery is longer, etc. however I look better now than I ever have.

but, overall I am smarter, wiser and comfortable with myself. The older I get I care less about what others think, and just do what I feel that I need to do in life. I guess the fact that I am happily married helps out quite a bit too.

when I think about being 40, 50 or even 60 it scares me, but when I was 20 being 30 scared me too...so I think it's all relative. as you age you just accept it, and once you hit each decade you really do not feel that it is old. Meaning when your'e 18 years old 30 seems like a senior citizen, but once you reach 30 you realize that you're still very young.

the ultimate thing with getting older has to be wisdom though, you talk to your kids or younger people and just smile inside as you listen to them because you have been there and done that.

the most important thing though is living for today, living in the present. You hear this saying your entire life, but I think it means a lot more as you get older. I can easily look back to my 20's and wish I would have done things differently, but there is no point in living in the past. I can sit and worry about what I will be doing in my 40's or tomorrow, but yet again there is no point in that either. I try and think about today and what I can do today that will make tomorrow better, of course I never forget what I did yesterday either, I learn from that, but I do not dwell on mistakes, I just try and do everything as best I can today.

WOW, good post Prince, it is all so true

Really nice post, Prince.

It's no different then me thinking, "Gees, I'm so glad I'm not a young ignorant "knowitall" like when I was 20 something.

Not everyone bitches about being older and unhappy. Maybe just the ones you are closest too. Rule of thumb, learn from the people that have something you want.

BTW, good post Prince.

I agree, good post!

I'm 41 and I say,,,don't call me old!!! I see guys half my age that can't keep up with me physically, in the gym or on a mountain bike. I'm not bragging but I also look better then many of them. so as far as health and fitness goes,, your as old as you feel and I feel like I'm still in my early 30's. As far as experience goes the older you get the wiser you get. there is very very little a 25 year old can say they've done that one of us old timers can't say we've been there and done it. Us old people are well established financially as Prince said as well as in terms of family. The ole saying all I want when I grow up is a nice wife a few kids, a dog, a big house with a picket fence. Well I've got the fence but it's not a picket fence. lol. I don't have to worry about meeting miss Right, I don't have to deal with the club scenes anymore. I don't have to worry about Sexually transmitted deseases from strange poontang like you do these days. These days the deseases KILL you!! Good luck!! Believe me,, with age comes great memories and good friends you've met throughout the years. I wouldn't trade my life to have to do it all over again. I've done it, had a great time doing it and look forward to tomorrow knowing I'll be a day older and that doesn't bother me. I'll end my little rant with an old but true cliche': Your as old as you feel and act. That means I'm about 14. If you ask my wife.

I'm old and apparently I haven't grown up yet ... and don't intend to do so anytime soon.

You're only as old you feel. We all know people who look their age and through their lifestyle look older or years younger. Check out this site if you want a fun calculation:

www.realage.com

Deepak Chopra says that we can control our aging to a certain extend based on our attitude towards like, which I am a subscriber to. I think that's why my grandmother has lived to be 90 and still can play golf, drink and puts butter on everything she eats.

BTW, excellent post Prince

I don't feel old...I'm a young 37.

Originally posted by ponyboy
You're only as old you feel. We all know people who look their age and through their lifestyle look older or years younger. Check out this site if you want a fun calculation:

www.realage.com

Deepak Chopra says that we can control our aging to a certain extend based on our attitude towards like, which I am a subscriber to. I think that's why my grandmother has lived to be 90 and still can play golf, drink and puts butter on everything she eats.

I think that is very true. I don't ever see me not enjoying life.

If all you are going to do is bitch about it, you will end up even more bitter than the people you are talking about.

Originally posted by naturaltan
I'm old and apparently I haven't grown up yet ... and don't intend to do so anytime soon.

Exactly! I have my son(6yrs old) listening to Metallica and Nickleback. My wife says "Don't you think it's time you grow up and stop listening to that stuff?" I'm like why? You are only as old as you feel. I enjoy life more now at 40 than I did in my 20's. Sure the pressures of life can get to anyone. But as others said, as you get older, you get wiser and learn to enjoy life more. You realize that you won't be here forever like you did when you were 20. Little things aren't as big of a deal as they used to be. If you dread growing old, growing old will get to you quickly. I'm like Fire, I enjoyed my early years, but I wouldn't go back. Today and tomorrow are lots better! I heard someone say one time, that as you get old and your friends die, you loose the will to live. But I disagree. Sure there are sorrows all through life, rejoice in your memories. But a new page is just around the corner. Take advantage of it

wow, I hope I have such a positive outlook when I become an old geezer too

aaaaaaaah, the simple joys of youth

I watched Sesame Street until I was 13. I think I worried my family a lot. It was the only thing on TV on Sunday mornings.

This post brought to you by the letter Q and the number 7.

This is a great thread! I've been thinking about this a lot lately. I'm about to turn 27. I know this seems young to most, but its finally setting in that time passes quickly. I've been having a "quarter life crisis" lately. Lots of regrets about things I should have done differently in my early twenties (financially, professionally, personally). Great posts by Prince and Dg806. Makes me feel a little better about things!

Originally posted by ponyboy
I watched Sesame Street until I was 13. I think I worried my family a lot. It was the only thing on TV on Sunday mornings.

This post brought to you by the letter Q and the number 7.

I'd have worried too. lol

At least I got Rocky and Bullwinkle on Sunday. lol

Excellent posts by all the guys over 35. I think our positive outlook on life comes from the active lifestyle we lead. I find that those that are inactive have more time on their hands to worry about growing old. It's like wow, I've gained weight over the past 10 years, sitting in this lounge chair and watching sports, news and the History Channel all the time makes my mind wander. Damn if this is your life at 40 then the years ahead will only get worse and more depressing. We,, the people here are doers and we enjoy life. We look forward to 3 months ahead to see what progresses we've made in training,,,,not dread the movement of time. It's all about how you live your life and what you get out of it. If you live a fun and full life you have no reason to dread 6 years from now.

You know, when I signed up for my first college gym class with a bunch of 18-21 year olds, I was pretty petrified. I had been training for a few months, but still had a lot of fundamentals to get down, and here I was, in my late 40's, thinking I could take physical fitness tests with a bunch of kids....

I was ready to be way laughed at - you know, doing the pushups and chinups and hanging tests we took to start off the class and measure our general fitness. I could picture every one of these forum smilies surrounding me in the gym, taking possession of all those young students and laughing and puking and rolling on the floor at the old guy. Instead I was surprised how well I did - better than most of the younger guys in my class. What was even better was that the teacher (a 26 year old football trainer) had the guys urging me on in every test - even against their other young classmates. It's something I won't forget for a long time.

Prince is so right about the changes as you grow older - life becomes a tradeoff. We make choices to enhance our existence, and having the advantage of living through the younger years already helps give us a perspective that comes from that experience. That's the best thing about growing older, actually - you discover you can still plan adventures and pay more attention to taking care of yourself so you can have them for many years to come. So even when younger people wonder if life slows down for us older folks and we become boring, the opposite is actually true. You get to this point where you no longer need to prove things to others, where running in a gang isn't so important...where you feel like you have more understanding of the answers in your own life than all the questions you had when you were younger.

And yeah, as a guy turning 50 later this year, I can tell you that every decade has had its own journey and history. When I stand in front of young college students and have to guide them through coursework, I wonder how they handle having someone their parent's age lecturing them and prodding them to find themselves and achieve something. I can remember being their age and not being too interested in listening to still another damned adult. I can still sense how important things like music and popular culture is to their lives, see the dreams they hold onto inside and sometimes I'm even able to guess which ones they might have to discard later on in life. But the best gift the youth always hand back to me is their own brand of energy and hope, even when they seem cynical about the world around them. In return I hope to build a bridge so that they can pave a road for themselves that is a little less rocky.

I'm a little affected right now - I just finished grading and writing remarks on their first "probe," an essay that helps me determine where their writing skills are and how well they examine their own lives and develop critical thinking skills. I always ask them to write about a song that takes them to a moment in their lives, in their own histories, and to explain how that musical tune can rekindle some kind of special memory. They always seem to like writing that paper, probably because they have a chance to let their expression flow from inside themselves rather than regurgitate memorized information.

But I always have to be on guard for their stories. True to form, I read an essay about a song that inspired a student who came from a very dysfunctional and negative home. . .this student wrote about how every relative she had lived with as she grew up constantly put her down, always told her she could never succeed, and just one song is what keeps her going and believing she could get through college and become someone.

Another student wrote about how it felt not to ever know a father. It's something I never really knew much about - I mean, I've had friends who only had one parent, but never knew how they felt about it deeply inside. Since I always had two parents, I never thought about the experiences someone might miss, and that essay was so moving that I barely knew how to respond. When I read things that young people express, coming from that moment in their lives when they are tentatively moving from a life controlled by others and into the adult they hope they can be, it reminds me that no matter how much time passes, each person still has their own journey and growing older is merely adding more chapters to the book of our lives. As an older person, it's part of my responsibility to offer them something positive to build into their futures...

I guess I'm rambling on here just to say that the difference about being so much older is that I've had so many more years and opportunities to learn how to make my own mistakes and celebrate my triumphs. I know more about how to look back and remember where the journey started, and all the twists and turns and adventures they are just beginning to create for themselves. I've learned how to say goodbye to people who pass on, but also found out how to celebrate how to say hello to new people around the next corner.

I had a conversation recently with my Mom, who is in her 70's. We were talking about still another friend of hers who had passed on and she mentioned a few things the person had never been able to do in her life. 'That's really sad, Mom," I said to her, and was surprised to hear her response.

"You know everybody has things they want to do in life and never have the chance before they die," she said.

For a moment, I felt like one of those students who sit in my classroom just starting out in life.
"Not ME, Mom," I blurted out. "I'm going to do every single thing I ever wanted to do."

Now I know why I always get high evaluation scores from my students. I might be getting older, but I'm still just like them.

Originally Posted by Vieope

I start this thread asking "I am sorry" .. but the internet is the only place where I have the guts to ask something like this.

You acted too polite.


Longevity is unnatural. Die young!

Holy 1 year anniversary batman.