How you feel about physically aging?
- Thread starter Gaze
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Yeah, I'm very much at peace with it, too.
I used to be annoyed at being constantly carded, but finally smoking has paid off and I look age appropriate
I used to be annoyed at being constantly carded, but finally smoking has paid off and I look age appropriate
Here is a post from my old blog on aging. I say what I wanted to well here I think. I almost started this same thread Anita!
I think it's human nature to dwell more on aging and all that it means as we get into our late 30's, early 40', and beyond. This last 12-15 months have been particularly hard ones for me, and recently I have noticed changes in my face when looking in the mirror. I have bags under my eyes a lot more. And my few very subtle wrinkles are starting to be more prominant.
This happens naturally of course, but I do believe all the stress and heartache of the past months has taken something out of me. I've been blessed to look quite a bit younger than I actually am, but it doesn't last forever. I have believed, and still do mostly, that things like wrinkles and grey hair (which I still thankfully have very little) are kind of badges of merit in the tests of life.
When I was very young, perhaps late teens, I remember someone saying this and thinking it a curious statement. I didn't exactly dismiss it, but I couldn't really grasp the full meaning either. Why would you WANT wrinkles and grey hair?
In truth, you don't want them exactly, but you know what, you've earned them by passing tests and learning to be a better person! The trials that age us are also the things that make us grow and become better people. And it's nice to see the record of your struggles and remember you came out on the other side alive, if not unscathed!
So when I look at my not so slowly changing (anymore) face, I see a lot of things that make me smile just a bit inside. The angst of lost lovers, the anticipation of my children's birth, the worry of my new job(s), the growing pains of becoming a more complete and outgoing person, the heartache of losing loved ones, and perhaps the questions of my very existence.
I don't think people want to grow old. Some of us don't think we CAN grow old. But the badges of age we wear are well earned, and should be looked upon with the knowledge and pride of how they were earned. I think I finally understand.
I think it's human nature to dwell more on aging and all that it means as we get into our late 30's, early 40', and beyond. This last 12-15 months have been particularly hard ones for me, and recently I have noticed changes in my face when looking in the mirror. I have bags under my eyes a lot more. And my few very subtle wrinkles are starting to be more prominant.
This happens naturally of course, but I do believe all the stress and heartache of the past months has taken something out of me. I've been blessed to look quite a bit younger than I actually am, but it doesn't last forever. I have believed, and still do mostly, that things like wrinkles and grey hair (which I still thankfully have very little) are kind of badges of merit in the tests of life.
When I was very young, perhaps late teens, I remember someone saying this and thinking it a curious statement. I didn't exactly dismiss it, but I couldn't really grasp the full meaning either. Why would you WANT wrinkles and grey hair?
In truth, you don't want them exactly, but you know what, you've earned them by passing tests and learning to be a better person! The trials that age us are also the things that make us grow and become better people. And it's nice to see the record of your struggles and remember you came out on the other side alive, if not unscathed!
So when I look at my not so slowly changing (anymore) face, I see a lot of things that make me smile just a bit inside. The angst of lost lovers, the anticipation of my children's birth, the worry of my new job(s), the growing pains of becoming a more complete and outgoing person, the heartache of losing loved ones, and perhaps the questions of my very existence.
I don't think people want to grow old. Some of us don't think we CAN grow old. But the badges of age we wear are well earned, and should be looked upon with the knowledge and pride of how they were earned. I think I finally understand.
*shrugs* Not like I can stop it. It might even be cool to experience life in an old, decrepit, decaying body 
Walk through a graveyard late at night and you'd be scarier than the ghosts. Hehe
Walk through a graveyard late at night and you'd be scarier than the ghosts. Hehe
I am having a hard time understanding that bit. How is this a motivation for wanting to be older?
You were right to point that out because i didn't really answer my own question directly. I focused more on the idea of getting older than how it felt to physically age. Although I think they're two sides of the same coin.
Many people will say, "I don't feel my age." But yet, they are expected to act the physical age they're perceived to be. hmm . . .
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I accept that it is happening. I mean, I don't really feel much about it either way. Amusement more than anything.
That said, in the last year I had a catastrophic medical event (without lasting effect) that really demonstrated to me how frail I am in some regards. That event showed me what the likely effects of aging will be for me, and on one hand, I feel a bit of fear, but on the other hand, I can make choices in my interest that will affect my outcome to whatever degree possible, so I do make those and don't worry much.
I don't know if it is my age or my development, but it seems I can now interact with almost any age of human being, and experience connection and rapport, from children to the aged. I enjoy interacting with strangers, so this aspect of my age is OK with me in a big way when I go out for groceries and whatnot.
At 41 years of age, I am neither young nor old. I'm me, and this has been an interesting journey so far.
Sometimes I wonder if my physical body will give out before I've been able to do the amount of work necessary (like it's finite, ha!) as it concerns better learning how to love and be loved.
It's weird sometimes to think about the fact that my body is getting older while my sense that the essential Self is without beginning or end, and I see that in others as well.
Getting old - it's the best thing going, and for that matter, the only thing.
cheers,
Ian
That said, in the last year I had a catastrophic medical event (without lasting effect) that really demonstrated to me how frail I am in some regards. That event showed me what the likely effects of aging will be for me, and on one hand, I feel a bit of fear, but on the other hand, I can make choices in my interest that will affect my outcome to whatever degree possible, so I do make those and don't worry much.
I don't know if it is my age or my development, but it seems I can now interact with almost any age of human being, and experience connection and rapport, from children to the aged. I enjoy interacting with strangers, so this aspect of my age is OK with me in a big way when I go out for groceries and whatnot.
At 41 years of age, I am neither young nor old. I'm me, and this has been an interesting journey so far.
Sometimes I wonder if my physical body will give out before I've been able to do the amount of work necessary (like it's finite, ha!) as it concerns better learning how to love and be loved.
It's weird sometimes to think about the fact that my body is getting older while my sense that the essential Self is without beginning or end, and I see that in others as well.
Getting old - it's the best thing going, and for that matter, the only thing.
cheers,
Ian
I'm 20. If I told someone I was 15 or 16, they'd probably believe me without question, but they don't notice the few gray hairs lurking on my head, or the tiny wrinkles on my perpetually black bottom eyelids.
HOLY SHIT I TOTALLY BEGGED YOU AS A 22 YEAR OLD.
Maybe it's your personality,
Or maybe it's maybelline.
Either way, keep it from now on
You'll never leave this world,
Just a everlasting blade of grass
On this plane of lawn.
I honestly did.
---
I wish I appeared older, but I know when I am older i'll wish i was younger.
My face has a very childish look to it.
I guess I don't feel strongly about it, I'm rather indifferent because it is nothing I have control over or can change. I would hope with the physical deterioration I would at least gain something in life experiences and knowledge. Looking at it in a tit for tat way seems to help me with the inevitable.
Lol, I thought [MENTION=1669]Anita[/MENTION] was younger than 30's too, and I thought YOU were older. Like 23 ish.
I look younger than I am in real life, and still sorta feel like a kid, so I think to some people I come across as much younger than 24.
Physically aging is a nuisance. We spend twenty years trying to reach full maturity, spend ten years at relative health and peak performance, then spend 50 years in an ever downward spiral. All the while, you have to understand that the first 1/4 of our life is completely devoted to learning how to spend our life. We waste 1/4 of our life just to grow to maturity, spend 1/8 of it at peak preformance, and nearly 2/3 of it dying. How wonderfully grand. We don't even reach an age of wisdom till we are so close to death its barely even usable. Our entire existence is but a series of ever questioning steps of stupidity.
hmmm, people look at my face, they think I'm 16
They look at my body, they think I'm 22
I'm not sure how I feel about it.
I kind of like the idea of simultaneously appearing older and younger, it gives people the impression that you're mature, but a golden child at heart. That's how I've always felt about it.
They look at my body, they think I'm 22
I'm not sure how I feel about it.
I kind of like the idea of simultaneously appearing older and younger, it gives people the impression that you're mature, but a golden child at heart. That's how I've always felt about it.
To be honest, this is something that worries me, especially with my past injuries to my joints and how it will affect my fighting career in the future. I'm not getting younger, 20 is young but for a fighter its considered middle aged (with 40 being the retiring age) and its only in the last past 8 months since I got back into fight training.
Most people say I look younger than I am, people mistake me for being 17.
But that's probably because I don't wear makeup, or don't give much of a hoot when it comes to my physical appearance.
I don't mind getting older, but now is the time that I really need to grasp what I love and hold onto it as tight and for as long as I can. But all in all, despite what everyone says about 50 being the sweet life, it sounds like the perfect number to end it all. The thing that concerns me the most about aging is losing people that are close to me over the years. I've already dealt with that and its painful enough as it is. Most of my friends are either middle aged or elderly. I would rather see my life end, before witnessing more deaths and funerals of close friends and family.
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i spent a lot of time when i was younger working and playing in that superficial party world and it was hard when i realised my skin lost the flawless teenage elasticity it seemed to retain through my early twenties. the receding hairline was a bit difficult too as when you shave your head people don't look at you the same anymore. the time when i could walk in a gay bar and turn every head is now over. it's slightly unsettling to look at my face and recognise that it's never going back that way again. but at the same time i'm proud of the lines faintly streaking my cheeks.
