20 Things Nobody Tells You About Growing Older

A man and woman laying in bed smiling for the camera.

Years may wrinkle the skin, but to give up enthusiasm wrinkles the soul.

~ Samuel Ullman

 

Aging in Place

As the saying goes, growing old is not for sissies, which got me thinking about what they don’t tell you about it.

  • You will get asked by old friends “Do you still_____?” fill in the blank.
  • You will reference time in terms of what’s left.
  • You will most likely become a caregiver for some amount of time (esp. females)
  • You will find the closer to death you are the closer to life you are–life’s paradox.
  • You internalize that nobody gives a f*ck about you or what you’re doing.
  • You will be the oldest one in the room eventually.
  • You will experience your internal world (internality) growing richer.
  • You will wear an item of clothing that’s 30+ yrs old (hopefully not underwear).
  • You will notice exercise becomes a victory over the self.
  • You will have boomerang friends that rekindle after the hustle years.
  • You will experience The U-shaped Happiness Curve more often.
  • You will see your age-related-loss compensation skills skyrocket.
  • You will come to embrace slip-on as your new best friend.
  • You will capitulate to assistive technology before you are “ready” (e-bike, etc).
  • You will find select friends relative to where you are in life, and much fewer.
  • You now think in terms of systems, or whole-picture thinking.
  • You find Obituaries interesting, FB is how you find out about passing/s.
  • You choose comfort over adventure, comfortable adventure is even better.
  • You get really savvy at wearing strategic apparel.
  • You find experience affords shortcuts.

 

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“Old people seem to be less in the business of creating things as creating selves.”

~ W.M. Bortz, Dare to be 100

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