Since the Lounge topics are almost all about age and midlife today.......

[NewWaveChick1981]

I remember when I was growing up that people who were 40 were considered "over the hill" and basically relegated to the scrap heap of life. My mother had some friends who always lamented "turning 40", and they were "old" before their time. I always thought that was stupid. There is a BIG difference between 40 in 1970 and 40 in 2007, and I thank my lucky stars that I fall into the latter age group.

Yeah, I'm 44, but I'm more together now than I was when I was 24 or even 34. :) I love who I am, and being 44 feels great. :D Very few people believe I'm 44 when I tell them, but that's OK. :)

What are your musings on the shift in attitude toward aging?

[Deja Q]

1. Corporeally I truly miss being 25...

I also miss being more mature for my age (at the time) and missing out on all the things normal people do.

I'm leaving it at that. There's always hope for the future.

[NewWaveChick1981]

6. The future is bright, HT...

:hi: :)

[DeposeTheBoyKing]

2. I'm also 44 (when's your birthday?) and don't feel it at all

And no one ever believes me when I tell them and I have to whip out my driver's license. My mom was 37 when I was born, and growing up I always thought she was so mature and grown up. I certainly don't see myself in the same way as I saw my mother when she was my age. I think it's partially because I don't have kids, so I can remain a kid myself. I think that really causes a person to maybe age before her/his time? Just a thought. Someone asked me once how I stay so young-looking, to which I replied, "I don't smoke, I stay out of the sun, and I don't have kids!"

[NewWaveChick1981]

8. May 2. And...

your recipe for anti-aging is the same as mine. No kids, I don't smoke, and I stay out of the sun unless I'm wearing sunscreen. Feels great, doesn't it? :bounce: :toast: :hi:

[Crazy Dave]

3. I used to know it all when I was younger....

....and I still do at 44 myself, I just keep forgetting most of it :cry: :hi:

[NewWaveChick1981]

9. ...

:rofl: :hi: I knew it all when I was younger too. :P

[janx]

4. I'm 49, and you should see the look on my college students' faces

when I confess to them that


I BEAT HALO! :rofl:

[NewWaveChick1981]

10. ...

:woohoo: That's wonderful, janx! :D :rofl:

[janx]

20. Some of them seem not to believe me. They ask me specific

questions, to which I reply (depending upon the question):

"When you're playing in cooperative mode, you can kill each other and retrieve whatever weapon you'd been using prior to the game's going south, provided you can find it. Sometimes you won't find it."

or

"When the Elites are far away, your best advantage is to use the sniper rifle."


or


"Always use the frag grenade when you want to make a big impact but have no target in particular!"


But I always hasten to add: "I wasted a LOT of time playing that game."

:rofl:

[NewWaveChick1981]

23. ...

:rofl: :hi:

[Guava Jelly]

5. I know "you are only as old as you feel" is cliche

But it is true.
You are very young to me NWC.
And you are as yowza and fun as any woman 10 years your junior.
Now me on the other hand...old as dirt :D

[NewWaveChick1981]

12. Awww....thanks, gopsux...

:hi: :hug: You're really sweet!

Old as dirt??? No way in hell! :hug: :) You're younger than I am!

[SPKrazy]

7. I miss my toes

oh wait there they are, hiding beneath my belly!

What my musings on the shift in attitude toward aging are: I think that we tend to view teenagedom as lasting longer than it did when I was a teen. Now it seems to stretch into the early 20's.

I imagine few people do think you are 44, some people think I'm younger than I am and they immediately become my favorite people :D

I think that we live in a tricky time, while we are living longer, we also live in a society that developed a retirement system for people that was meant to cover them a few years (Social Security) 65 was the average life expectancy when SS was implemented I believe. Now, people live on average much longer. That leads to a lot of people depending on a system that was developed for much shorter term and frankly, you and I and people younger than us especially are probably screwn if we are depending on SS to be our primary source of income. I am not sure it will even be there when we get there NWC.

Those are my thoughts right now. I yield the floor to the lovely lady from NC!

:hi:

:hug:

[NewWaveChick1981]

14. I think you've got something there...

...Life expectancy is way up, and the financial resources are way down. I agree---SS may not even be there when we retire. :(

However, we need to enjoy our time here on earth, and I'm not going to dwell on it. :) :D

You flatter me, sir.. :blush: :) :hug:

[SPKrazy]

15. Oh, well

surely I intended to be honest... ;)

:hug:

[Haole Girl]

11. You were one of the smart ones NWC

You took better care of yourself than I have.

I wish I could have as positive an attitude (about mid-life) as you do, but it's difficult most days.

[NewWaveChick1981]

17. Thanks, KC2...

:hug: :pals: I know how hard it is. :)

[CaliforniaPeggy]

13. My dear NWC!

I certainly agree with you!

I'm 63, and I don't look it, feel it, act it, or anything else!

I love who I am too.....and it shows!

Grow old along with me!

The best is yet to be, the last of life, for which the first was made.
--Robert Browning


:bounce: :bounce:

[NewWaveChick1981]

18. Glad to hear it, Peggy!

:hi: :bounce: :bounce:

[billyskank]

16. Being 30 doesn't feel so brilliant

don't think my case is typical though

[NewWaveChick1981]

19. It WILL get better, sweetie...

:hug: :D :loveya:

[BarenakedLady]

21. I remember my mother when she was my age

She seemed sooooo old. Hehe.

Now I look at my mom and think she is rather young.

:shrug:

My perception of age has changed.

[NewWaveChick1981]

22. I guess mine has too.

:P :hi: My mother is 71, and she's going strong. I talked to her not long back about when she was in her 40s, and she even told me that women in their 40s have it better now than in the 70s when she turned 40. But when I look at her, I see Mom, not a woman in her 70s. Her spirit is young, and that makes the difference. :)

[janx]

28. I don't mean this as a downer. In fact, it's the opposite.

My mother never looked so young to me as the day before she died. It had little to do with her body and everything to do with her expression.

[Kajsa]

24. My mind and my body don't communicate.

I'm 55, soon to be 56, and my body;

is fighting menopause
( or" mental pause" as my son calls it)
Is heading south and out, gravity is not my friend.
aches and pains at the slightest exertion.

My mind,

still thinks I'm in my late 20's or 30's.
refuses to grow up,
and loses perspective very easily.
occasionally latches on to some wisdom
from experience.

Now, if I could get the two of them to
at least talk to each other---

;-)

btw; I have no age hang-ups.
My Swedish mom would kill me if I did!

[fizzgig]

27. hi kajsa

reconciling physical age and mental age can be very difficult. there are days my body feels like it's about 30 years older than it is ;)

how are you?

:hug:

[Kajsa]

29. Hi Sweetie!

I'm doing OK, today.

The sun is out and I'm getting some paperwork done in between
posts.

How are you?
I hope you're feeling much better.

:hug:

[fizzgig]

30. i'm much better, thank you

i think it was just my body telling me to take a break. it's a lazy day here, sun's just coming back out after the rain :)

:hug:

[Kajsa]

31. Rain!- I love rain!

Maybe late this year,
we'll have another chance to get some.

Have a great evening and I'm glad you're feeling better.

:hug:

[Inchworm]

25. If it wasn't for seeing it on a website all the time lately

I would still be counting on my fingers how old I am. I am not sure if its a dude thing or if I'm in denial.

:D

[SarahB]

26. I'm 35 and life is getting better and better.

I expect nothing less at 45! :D

[Wapsie B]

32. I'm 50 and feel myself getting younger everyday.

One of the advantages of a sheltered youth. I got the health and energy for some of the wild life today and beyond. :evilgrin:

[Oeditpus Rex]

33. 44 is a great number

Hank Aaron, Willie McCovey, Jerry West, Pete Maravich...

:D

[skygazer]

34. I'm 46 and I remember things the same way you do

My parents seemed impossibly old to me. Now I'm 4 years shy of the age my mother was when she died and I think, "Oh my god, how YOUNG she was!"

But it was a different era in so many ways.

I think one big change, oddly enough, is that I listen to a lot of the same music my kids do. That sounds silly but it was such a huge division between generations when we were growing up. Music kind of gives you a common ground.

I was just talking to my 25 year old daughter yesterday (today is her first anniversary :party: ) and we were talking about this very subject. She said I've never seemed old to her. Part of that may be because I was a young mom but I think a lot of it is this whole shift in perception.

My .02. :hi:

[KG]

35. i'm 48, and it sucks.

i'm finding nothing useful about being in my 40s.

[Left Is Write]

36. Wellllllllll....

If I had known, when I was 29, that this was 40:





I might not have worried so much through my 30s. I spent a lot of time worrying about getting - and looking - older, and not enough enjoying the little moments. I think that's partly human nature, and this is the age many people start dreading the "declining" years.

For some, dreading the "declining" years probably helps lead directly to decline. I'm not where I thought I'd be at age 40 when I used to wonder about it twenty years ago. But there's no way I'm ready to be relegated to the rocking chair on the front porch. I'm stronger and healthier than ever before, and I intend to stay active as long as possible.

I still worry about aging and some of the attendant issues, and being in the midst of a midlife crisis myself, I'm probably not the best judge of what's good and bad about aging. I do know that I agree with you about what age 40 meant 40 years ago as opposed to now. THIRTY was over the hill then!