Let's talk about the UPSIDE of getting older!

[catherine]

Man, I posted about two of my kids breaking up with SOs, and I was talking to a friend who's getting divorced and is worried about the effect on their 14 year old daughter, and I just concur with Maurice Chevalier--and I'm sure NONE of you younger guys know who the heck HE is--but I quote: "I'm glad I'm not young anymore!!"

I really love where I am right now! I don't have to feel responsible for kids who are now adults. I can do whatever the heck I want. I can wear purple, as the poem says.

I'm just really glad I don't have to deal with the stresses of being 20/30/40. 50 was great. 60 might even be better.

Who agrees?

[gimmethesimplelife]

Upside of getting older? Being my own person pretty much on a full time basis and not caring what others think of me anywhere near as much. Like the MasterCard ad says, priceless. Rob

[catherine]

Like the MasterCard ad says, priceless. Rob

You got it, Rob


http://www.youtube.com/watch?feature=player_detailpage&v=kBjGw8BQ9P4

[Florence]

I loved my career but I am so enjoying retirement. I love waking up slowly, having time to read and quilt and garden, and just being not doing all the time.

[razz]

Love the freedom of making my own choices, short-term and longterm. Problem is I have too many choices now, Also love the senior rate on so many things but that may disappear as the number of seniors increases.
I don't worry about things as much either as I know that they will either work out or not and I will cope regardless.
Friends will usually come through as sounding boards and support as they have gone through similar challenges.

[try2bfrugal]

I couldn't wait until we were both 55 to start collecting our pensions. They aren't huge, but the more we keep cutting our expenses with simple living, the larger percent of expenses the pension will cover, especially if we move somewhere relatively cheap.

[Blackdog Lin]

Catherine: thank you for the delightful clip. And I concur with M. Chevalier's sentiments. :)

If it weren't for the aches-and-pains.....I love being older. I feel much more secure in myself, I know who I am, as it were. I care much less about outward appearances and care more about being happy and trying to make those around me happy. And having been through all kinds of life crises, nothing much fazes me anymore - I know I can roll with most any punches life can throw my way. It is a very freeing thing.

(And of course getting to retire and not having to live with an alarm clock anymore.....as Rob said: "priceless" indeed.....)

[pinkytoe]

I live in a city crammed with young people so I especially appreciate being older. That might seem counter-intuitive, but when I observe all the struggles of making a life - education, raising kids, buying houses and stuff -
I am somewhat relieved that part is behind me. I realize how little was needed all along but somehow our culture pushes us so hard to be, achieve, acquire and I am done with that. I am more than ready just to live as lightly as I can in the last decades of my life. I think the greatest thing though is that I finally accept myself warts and all instead of feeling bad about it. As Popeye says "I am what I am."

[citrine]

I cannot wait to be older either! I am going on 39 this year and wow...I am the most secure in myself now that I have ever been in my entire life! The most important lesson I have learned so far is that life is a journey and not a race. I would have saved myself so much angst if I had known that at 16!

[SteveinMN]

The only thing I miss about being 17 was my metabolism.

[Wildflower]

The only thing I miss about being 17 was my metabolism.

Me too, Steve. LOL

The best part about getting older for me is that so many of life's stressful events are behind me. Other than my health problems I'm really enjoying life these days, not always worrying about the next goal I thought I needed to accomplish, like I did when I was younger. Smelling the roses now...

[Glo]

I love my life at age 66. DH is going on 70, and all the hard stuff is behind us I hope. We have a wonderful family, many friends, and the best neighborhood. Although not rich, we have plenty of everything for which I thank God daily. DH and I are truly blessed. Of course, we had plenty of stuff to deal with along the way like most people. I like to say I'm living the payoff and am beyond fortunate.

[Lainey]

The peace and quiet of an empty nest. Being close to the end of the working life, where a well-earned retirement is just a few years away. Financial stability. Grownup, like-minded friends. Time to pursue hobbies, reading, watching independent films, and whatever else I want in the hours formerly devoted to child-rearing and all the extras that go with that. Seeing events with a more long-term perspective.
Finally, like Steve, I miss my teenage metabolism, but don't miss the skin problems or boy-craziness!

[Mighty Frugal]

For me, it's that I can slow down on my career. I've been in my current position for 21 years. And after I no longer have this job (another year or two) then that is it. Mighty Frugal the Career Girl will be DONE!!! I will do some part time work or maybe nothing at all!

When I am in meetings with colleagues in their 20s or 30s and they are trying so hard to fit the part and throw out the right catch phrases I think 'Thank GOD that I don't have to do that'

Of course, part of this is thanks to Simple Living forum that I discovered in my early 30s that has lead me to today

I'm 47 so I know most people continue to be 'career driven' for 20 more years....but not me!

[larknm]

I understand my life and other people's better than before--putting together the experiences we've had, the brain just does that I think, we have a chance at perspective on some things at least. And some of those mistakes we made, we don't have to make them again. New ones, though, of course yes, but hopefully with a better sense and use of solutions we've developed toward. And to hopefully take the opportunity to be less ageist, less fearful of age and death.

[Spartana]

You mean there's an upside :0!!! I like that I am taken more seriously now that I'm older and treated less like a kid. Even in my 30's and earlier 40's I often felt that I wasn't taken as seriously by others that I felt I should be. But now that I am older, and look my age more or less, they assume (wrongly ;-)!!) that I must have some wisdom.

[befree]

I heard singer Celine Dion give an interview where she was asked about getting older. She said "the body goes down" (and she made a downward, sagging movement at her eye level), but the spirit goes up". Yes, gravity is winning on my body, but I think the spirit - wisdom, contentment, finding your passion, spirituality, defining and living your values - yes, the spirit is stronger as I get older.

[HappyHiker]

One thing I love about growing older is the time and space to pursue my love of writing. Here's a poem I wrote about the physical aspects of an older body. As Celeste Dion noted, the spirit DOES soar as the body travels downward...

Continental Drift
(a Mid-Life Journey)

I've discovered of late that there's a certain
yin and yang to growing older...
As my breasts journey ever southward, my belly
expands northward and outward to greet them.

Breasts and belly united, they are content in their continental drift
But I, fighting gravity, defying Newton, hitch my bra straps higher.

Nestled, snug in their cozy cloth igloos,
breasts bide their time, bear the separation,
resting through winter's gloom and gray
perking up at Spring's song of sparrows.

For come the sultry days of summer,
I turn them loose to meet their friend.

And my belly smiles, winks
to welcome their return,
united, content once again.

Forever friends.

Who am I to keep them apart, my happy round pals?
Drift and float; be free, go where you will.

Newton knew.

Gravity overcomes vanity.
It's not physical,
only physics.

--Patricia Frank
copyright 2010. All rights reserved

[Sad Eyed Lady]

Loved the poem HappyHiker, a very artistic description to a common experience that I imagine most of us replying to this thread are experiencing! I don't know that I can add anything to what has already been said here and I agree with the other comments: Not having my day already defined by work, (I am still working one day a week and I plan to phase out completely by the end of this year); being more comfortable with who I am; not feeling I have to have all the answers, it is okay to say "I don't know". I work with a younger woman who is in constant concern about how others think of her, even to the point of needing glasses and not wanting to wear them because people aren't used to seeing her with them on and will notice! One day I told her that my thinking is, if I am not doing anything illegal or immoral, then I don't give a hoot what others think of me! And, you know what? Others DON'T think of us like we imagine, we're just a tiny blip on their radar screens. We are not so important! Great thread by the way! I look forward to reading other comments. Did I mention I am SO glad to be back?!

[AustinKat]

There are several college students renting the house next door to us (hey, it's Austin, UT students are everywhere). A few weeks ago, one of them was sitting in her car in the driveway, talking on her phone. I overheard a bit of it: "I know, but I mean, I hate him, because he's a )(!@#&@)&^$, but I love him too, and I love that I love him, I mean..." and on and on, and all I could think was that I was so glad to be middle-aged and past the OH TEH DRAMAZ stage of it all. :0!

[dado potato]

I have been retired 13 years now. This afternoon I took DW in the car to a deserted county park where a rapids was running high with the snow-melt. We sat in lawn chairs, read books, watched birds and the mighty flow of the river. I saw the first 2 butterflies I saw this year. Our blue sky put me in mind of Finlandia by Jan Sibelius, with the lyrics by Lloyd Stone:

This my song, O God of all the nations,
A song of peace for lands afar and mine.
This is my home, the country where my heart is,
Here are my hopes, my dreams, my holy shrine.
But other hearts in other lands are beating,
With hopes and dreams as true and high as mine.

My country's skies are bluer than the ocean,
And sunlight beams on clover leaf and pine.
But other lands have sunlight too, and clover,
And skies are everywhere as blue as mine.
O hear my song, thou God of all the nations,
A song of peace for their land and for mine.

The only thing is, where we sat there was no clover, but vivid green mosses.

[Chopper777]

One of the best things about getting older is forgetting things...forgetting bad memories, and forgetting how movies end...I've seen the whole X-Files series (a few years ago), but now I can watch every episode again just like I've never seen them...because I don't remember them!!!

[pony mom]

After acting like a fuddy-duddy in some ways for most of my life, now it's acceptable at my age.

[SteveinMN]

Here's another one: even if the sign at the door of the store says "For your convenience, all bags must be checked at the door," us middle-aged guys can walk right in with our stuff and not fear clerical molestation.

[Simplemind]

It is the responses to this type of thread that makes me so happy to be a part of this forum. I feel the bulk of my youth was spent working and achieving to get to this place. In the past year I have realized how much of my life I missed because I was worried about those issues. It has been very hard to step back and slow down. Even as I do I have to keep looking over my shoulder in wonder that the world has not stopped spinning because I did.
I have an appreciation of nature that I never had before. I never really had the time to be in it long enough to soak it up. I have now watched all the seasons change and have been in awe. How did I miss spring all these years? I just glanced as I hopped from the house to the car to the office and back. Now I am out and in it every day. We have bird houses and feeders and I love all the activity.
I worked with very consumer driven people who shopped and ate out every day and then talked about what they bought and ate and what they were going to buy and eat. It was their form of relaxation and entertainment. There were always comments about my lack in that area. Now I have retired and have found life to be slow and easy. I actually do spend on myself now where I didn't before because I was too busy working and saving. I am so glad to be over that part of my life. We have referred to it as the chug chug chug to the top of the roller coaster before you can throw up your hands and shout wheeeeee! Being in the wheeeeeee stage has been liberating both mentally and physically. I feel like the older version of my senior HS self. I am out of school and the world is open to infinite possibility. I can go conquer or take a nap.
Since DH is still home recovering from his stroke we have had a lot of time together. Although there have been medical and financial challenges it has been nothing short of a huge gift. We have grown to have our own way to approach the days and have enjoyed working on projects together. We often joke that it is hell getting old..... then we laugh because even though we aren't young and thin, we are so thankful for what we have and where we are right this minute - far from the madding crowd.