How do you do it?
Advice welcomed from any and all!
How do you cope with getting older? (i.e. all or most your childhood people-parents, grandparents, aunts, uncles, teachers, classmates,etc. are deceased)
How do you cope with knowing the inevitable awaits you too?
How do you cope with long work days and days off which go by far too fast? (my saying is a day "on" (at work) is 24 hrs (it's actually 12 but you get it) and a day off is 24 seconds (as it flies by!)
How do you cope with seeing others excel easily in things in which you struggled? (Like myself, bodybuilding I wanted to do so badly-my genetics -no matter what I did or didn't do would not allow me to gain like many do)
How do you cope with seeing others with physical attributes you'd die for? (Like men with lots of hair on head vs those of us who don't)
Life IS unfair!!!
Replies
Oh my goodness, I certainly get where you're coming from. I feel like my youth has been robbed, mostly by the medical industry mistakes, etc., yet, even though these caused a spine surgery and so much more, I surround myself with people who tend to lift me up rather than bring me down. Some of my best friends are in their 70's and 80's and I just love their input, their sharing of life experiences. Of course, there are those friends who are more my age too.
So sorry you're feeling down. It is sad when friends and family pass on but I try to meet new friends as much as I can. I even get to know my drivers when I have to reach out for transportation help lately. Another thing I'm not happy about having to do but my goals of getting stronger are paramount. I actually enjoy everyone at the physical therapy place I go to as well. I hope you are meeting new people as well. It can really make the difference.
I'm following Dave Asprey's Intermittent Fasting, and a bunch of medical doctors on YouTube as well. There is so much good advice on there, I can't even keep up with them all. I love also listening to Ken E. Berry, MD. He's so down to earth. I'm happy to forward some links to all these if you'd like. I've gotten down to my high school weight and am loving it. I just need to put on some muscle. There is also a YouTube channel for Cross Fit Training For Beginners which is helpful for me since I have MS. I have to watch my food intake very carefully but am loving learning all the time.
at 68, my two golden rules of aging are:
1) don't compare myself to others. even when i was cute and abused enough to be sexual predator bait, comparing myself to others was a losing proposition. comparing my insides to other people's outsides is not a fair comparison.
2) don't listen to the illogic of our youth culture. talk about comparing outsides to insides. . .
I live alone and have couple dogs that helps with the isolation time at home I can love on or take dogs out to where ever I go including dog park now as I bought into that again this year....
I have all the relatives but one sister and an aunt who are dead.....cousins are alive and sisters both have living nephews and nieces that are some relatives too....but I put my affairs in order to be easy no burden type death....I donated my body to science last month and I have my cemetery plot with a memorial bench that they can put my ashes into when the medical students are done with my body they return ashes to family.....
what I struggle with is greed and not enoughness...I do not have enough and I am greedy and want more...also I am never going to get another tidal wave of money other than when my Mom died in 2019 and allowed me to buy house cash....and fix it to what I want to stay in now....I wish I was outside city but hey I have lots of people to become friends with here on the social network meetup.com and nextdoor.com
I just wish I did not have a gene that says shop til you drop....and does the do not save anything for a rainy day too....
First, not sure the importance of chronological age. My was in good shape for 67 years, last 2 has taken a toll with depression, stress, poor sleep, bad nutrition, etc. But the years aren't important. Consider modest Arfie, she's making a fantastic contribution raising three young children ages 4, 7 and 9, with fate putting their welfare in her hands, and she doing an incredible job. Personally, I got a national award in my hobby game, and play better than when I was young.
So I would look forward to things if I were you, work on getting in good shape, have some goals I too am follicly challenged (watch some Curb Your Enthusiam for a couple of episodes dealing with that. Best of luck.