So, old people on this board, how do you deal knowing you will die soon?

[Red in Chicago]

Originally Posted by marcshoe

I'm in lousy shape and people still think I'm fifteen years younger than I am. It's genetics. My mother is just now getting a little gray, and she'll be 71 in a few weeks. I actually grew a beard so I would look older, but it only works when it gets long enough for a few gray hairs to show up.

So I'm 50, look 35, and feel 80, mostly because of kidney stones and neck spurs.

I suspect folks are just trying to be nice. I've done so plenty of times.

[marcshoe]

Originally Posted by Red in Chicago

I suspect folks are just trying to be nice. I've done so plenty of times.

Unfortunately, no. Things have repeatedly come up in conversation that show that people assume I'm younger than I am, at times even with people I've known for ten years. I've also had several people not believe me and had to show them my drivers licence. This is a problem when I meet people I used to know; I have never really changed the way I look, but I rarely recognize others.My mind has gone.

Notice that I haven't said looking the way I used to is a good thing. I'd rather look like a handsome older person than a geeky thirty-something.

This is a genetic thing. My sister, who is in her mid-thirties, began work in a school last year and was repeatedly asked by teachers why she wasn't in class.

[Dom Heffner]

When I'm 70 I'm going to think I've got another 20 years.

[camisadelgolf]

I'm not even 30, and I already feel like I've lived more than half my life.

[Sweetstop]

i'm at the age where i know the answers to sir paul's questions in "when i'm 64" and i can see around very few family members ahead of me in the queue formed for the mortality wall.

hmmm..time with family and telling them i love them is all important. i couldn't care less about being remembered by anyone but them. i tend to reread, rewatch and relisten more to old favorites, knowing how much i'm going to miss them. i'm hoping my mind remains somewhat intact until my last breath. as i did with krono's earlier post, i laugh every chance i get and hope to get a chance to laugh one last time, when i see if the universe has played a big joke on us all.

i'm reminded of what "kid" (thomas mitchell) says at the end of recently watched "only angels have wings". knowing that he's about to die, he wants everyone to leave the room, including best friend geoff (cary grant). kid says he's not afraid, but since he's about to try something new, he doesn't want to mess it up in front of anyone.

[vaticanplum]

I love getting older. Certain things freak me out, and I'm not immune to vanity and the typically ageist connotations that come with it, but for the most part I feel like every year I am more of myself. Less and less beholden to what other people want from me or think of me, which allows me to build the life I want. And I would say I was never somebody who cared overmuch about that in the first place. There's just something intangible about it as you get older.

It also gives you the benefit of a lot of experience and knowledge but the self-awareness to know that your experience and knowledge is self-filtered and not the be-all and end-all.

It's not always easy, but I figure if I keep living the life I want, I'll be ok to die when it happens, or at least feel that I have made my best effort. In any case, I'll be dead, so it doesn't really bother me too much. The idea of bad health, of prolonged illness, scares me much, much more than dying.

[Tony Cloninger]

Originally Posted by vaticanplum

I love getting older. Certain things freak me out, and I'm not immune to vanity and the typically ageist connotations that come with it, but for the most part I feel like every year I am more of myself. Less and less beholden to what other people want from me or think of me, which allows me to build the life I want. And I would say I was never somebody who cared overmuch about that in the first place. There's just something intangible about it as you get older.

It also gives you the benefit of a lot of experience and knowledge but the self-awareness to know that your experience and knowledge is self-filtered and not the be-all and end-all.

It's not always easy, but I figure if I keep living the life I want, I'll be ok to die when it happens, or at least feel that I have made my best effort. In any case, I'll be dead, so it doesn't really bother me too much. The idea of bad health, of prolonged illness, scares me much, much more than dying.

I just hate the fact that I cannot date anyone between 25-30 anymore.

George Clooney can.....but mere mortals cannot.

[Rojo]

I've yet to encounter anyone online who thinks they're not older than they look.

[wolfboy]

Originally Posted by vaticanplum

I love getting older. Certain things freak me out, and I'm not immune to vanity and the typically ageist connotations that come with it, but for the most part I feel like every year I am more of myself. Less and less beholden to what other people want from me or think of me, which allows me to build the life I want. And I would say I was never somebody who cared overmuch about that in the first place. There's just something intangible about it as you get older.

It also gives you the benefit of a lot of experience and knowledge but the self-awareness to know that your experience and knowledge is self-filtered and not the be-all and end-all.

It's not always easy, but I figure if I keep living the life I want, I'll be ok to die when it happens, or at least feel that I have made my best effort. In any case, I'll be dead, so it doesn't really bother me too much. The idea of bad health, of prolonged illness, scares me much, much more than dying.

Well said.

[marcshoe]

Originally Posted by Rojo

I've yet to encounter anyone online who thinks they're not older than they look.

Keith Richards?

[camisadelgolf]

Originally Posted by Rojo

I've yet to encounter anyone online who thinks they're not older than they look.

I turn 30 next month, and I meet new people every day. Unless you include small children, no one has ever guessed that I'm 30+ years old in my entire life. But since I grew facial hair and started smoking again, people are getting a lot closer to guessing my actual age.

[Dom Heffner]

Originally Posted by camisadelgolf

I'm not even 30, and I already feel like I've lived more than half my life.

Wait until forty comes and you double that and realize middle age is even passing lol...

[Todd Gack]

Originally Posted by westofyou

Old is a state of mind

Word.

[RedFanAlways1966]

Originally Posted by camisadelgolf

I turn 30 next month, and I meet new people every day. Unless you include small children, no one has ever guessed that I'm 30+ years old in my entire life. But since I grew facial hair and started smoking again, people are getting a lot closer to guessing my actual age.

Come on "sugar boy"... you know better than to pick that up that bad habit again. And I do not mean the "not shaving thing". Bad for anyone, but especially people like us. I sometimes have to tell myself, "Think about the long-term effects." I'm not perfect either, but we gotta try.

[camisadelgolf]

Originally Posted by RedFanAlways1966

Come on "sugar boy"... you know better than to pick that up that bad habit again. And I do not mean the "not shaving thing". Bad for anyone, but especially people like us. I sometimes have to tell myself, "Think about the long-term effects." I'm not perfect either, but we gotta try.

I just threw out half a pack of cigarettes last night. I'm going to give it another shot.