Ask Lemmy

That you can't get back wasted or lost time.

Perimenopause. Sheesh, warn a girl! (And her significant other).

I'm 60. At age 45 I decided to make staying healthy a priority and started learning to take better care of myself. I've avoided the aches and pains others report for the most part.

Most everything else said here tracks for me, though.

When things seem less than ideal, I remind myself that there's only one alternative to growing old, and I go out for a walk.

retirement age keeps getting higher and healthy living does not necessarily. I have seen people get bad as early as 50's and 60's is typical to have things. few can go through 70's in very good health. Unfortunately most old people that people know are the healthy ones who get out and about more often and I think it kinda slants it.

Joints and back start hurting, especially if you did very physical work while younger

The kids are harder to keep up with

Eyes

Your body has a slow self destruct mechanism embedded in it and it starts ticking in middle age. Your body doesn't get broken down because it's old, it's broken down because it's programmed to do so.

Hemorrhoids

Having to either explain the reference or give up.

mental pain is silently being replaced by physical pain

Some dreams or goals are just gonna be out of reach no matter what. Just start with what you have and work from there.

naaa...i want to talk more about best parts of getting older.

Less tolerance for bullshit drama. you seen enough of it. It just doesnt evolve.

Like learning to shift your time better. not waste so much of it like when you're young. especially on dumb drama. and if you learned well: you learned the parts you took in it and are accountable to the choices you make and get some control over your choices. like good people vs bad people to have in your life.

stay learning new things. It is good for the brain. get a hobby. play an instrument. learn to play your favorite songs. write a book about your life. You can always kick ass in life.

learn how to eat for nourishment. not just for pleasure. cook including both. then you can be even healthier than when you were young.

Move a lot more. Like a lot more. dont get used to just sitting on the couch. Couches can turn into a coffin. its fine to watch your shows for some of the day... just dont let the couch turn into a coffin under you. get walkin. especially if your job is sedantary. not enough time? wake half an hour earlier and walk. helps you fall asleep at night when you need to.

Less fear of death. You start seeing enough of it to get the idea. An acceptance. You can still be scared of the dying process though. especially dying with a lot of self imposed suffering like being catastrophically obese and unable to move. hoarding. being abandoned. abandoning yourself and not reaching out for help or doing something about mental health. letting yourself down on your own watch. but death itself is just more of a rebirth. The fear is that you lived too stupid/blaming everyone and holding no accountability and you dont want to have to do all of it all over again with the same amount of stupid. there is enough examples of how not to live. pay attention to that. you owe yourself on that.

I like to say that I'm in 'The Wonder Years.'

I wake up and wonder what the hell is going to crap out today.

Watching all of your heroes die.

Discovering you suddenly have bags under your eyes.

Not healing from stuff as fast as you used to. Losing muscle mass faster and not being able to get it back.

You have to make life choices

Some experiences that your parents or church told you not to do, like drinking, drugs, finding a partner or being in a relationship, or even having sex are experiences that should be started when you're 18. It's like building a muscle: You have to try it to see if you like it, have a tolerance for it, and know what to do to recover from overdoing it or making a mistake.

Essentially, make mistakes when you're young, cause excuses get harder to make when you're in your 30s or 40s.