I'm 37 a true eighties baby and one who spent the care free years of high school and college through the entire decade of the nineties. I have been watching mtv jams this morning which inspired a post in another thread. they also showed several videos from the nineties when hip hop was truly different (not saying better i'm not an old phogie). I have some health problems related to diabetes that i found out i had five years ago that can also be caused by aging but they really never make me feel old like watching those videos. i also have never felt old chasing high school kids on the basketball court like watching the old videos. its not just videos, i was watching reruns of too close for comfort the other night and i just felt like i was in 1983. i used to wonder why adults would zone out when listening to music from their childhood and i'm getting those same feelings now, and then i come back to 2012 and i'm like damn, that was 20 years ago. i guess its the style difference but it seems like so much more. I don't know how to explain the feeling but i know i'm not alone and it really scares me that i'm at that point. i'm an adult who shouldn't be making any childish decisions because i've been an adult for quite a while. i don't feel depressed or anything it just puts things in perspective.
The good news is your health will only get worse and more expensive to tend to, and the number of college graduates went from 30% of high schoolers to something like 75% over the last fifteen years, so the job market's a lot tighter. Maybe you can put on a San Jose Sharks hat, a Public Enemy t-shirt with the rifle-scope logo, some denim overalls with one strap unfastened and a pair of Timberlands to feel better.
I'm one year older than you. Getting old sucks but it's all about perspective. Would you rather be older and wise or young and naive? Perspective my friend.
it doesn't suck, its just scary that i have to act like an adult all the time. i'm someone that is blessed to have truly mature parents, old school money savers, straight and narrow, none drug users blah blah blah. both my parents were older than 35 when i was born. i never knew them to be kids and i never thought i could live up to their standards but realize that i had to at some point and that point is now. its not about wanting to be a kid its not being confident in being an adult.
Glad to hear that. And you're right, getting old doesn't suck at all. I think it only gets better. At this point of my life, I feel the decisions I make are prudent due to experience. I feel you are being a bit vague - why are you not so confident?
pgabriel, first of all, all the best to you health-wise. Also, I hope you got past your troubles and you can start fresh. As to the thread, I am a bit older than you and I understand some of the things you say - like listening to 80s music, etc. I feel the same way sometimes. Personally, I don't feel old and I like to be immature at times (as people who read my posts here can confirm). I still feel pretty much similarly fit (or unfit) as when I was younger. The only sad thing is seeing my parents get old and ill, and a weird thing is seeing my friends of the same age having children, some of whom are almost grown up already. Even though I don't feel a ticking clock or anything, my brain tells me that at some point in the not too distant future, I should think about starting my own family. Anyway, getting old is weird .
I've really been feeling it lately. I just turned 49, and I hurt all the time. I was very reckless as a youth, and now everything hurts.
We weren't meant to live past 35, you know. Better to be eaten by a saber tooth at 40 than to endure what your body has planned for you at 50. Trust me on that. I know.
I'm 28 and found my first gray hairs. My back always hurts. Hopefully they invent some good new drugs in the next 20 years.
Your health doesn't have to get progressively worse. Just like your savings, you have a choice to build onto it by working out and eating "like an adult". I hit 30 recently and it sucks to realize that I can't have late night Jack in the Box runs after booze and other stuff then shrugging it off the next day. Like everyone else, there's a choice not to be so fatalistic about it. I used to laugh at the thought that a 90s TV show like Married with Children would talk about Oldies music despite it mostly consisting of 70s and late 60s material. If that's the case, sorry buddy, but the stuff we listened to are Oldies material. The fact that it's still getting airtime in the same radio stations is because it's harder to forget (and forgive) digital, and pop music these days is mostly for teen, idiots, and drug addicts who like repetition and the lack of thought. It's kinda weird how the digital age has affected society. Gone are the days where you're immediately and unforgivingly that guy if you hang with people outside your life stage. For all I know, pgabs could've represented a 25 year old man before he exposed his age. To the op, you don't have to be an adult all of the time. Some of the best adults know when to treat things as a kid would and not as a 24/7 adult. If it's about responsibility, I don't think many guys know when they turn into responsible men. Those who are had to out of necessity. They took risks in something they wanted, and it became much much more to them to the point where they became different than when they started. Responsibility arose facing the fears of catastrophic failure, and the determination to keep what was grown. There's no book that will answer all of that. No extra lives or aliases. I don't know if it's worth it or not. Blind leading the blind here...
this is the secret to me. i'm 35 and don't feel old one bit. i act my age when it's necessary and act 10 when it's appropriate. i don't take on more responsibility than i want/need to. it doesn't make me any less of an adult. people are always telling me to grow up, which to them means getting married and having kids. to me, growing up is being mature, trustworthy, having integrity, making logical decisions, unaffected by peer pressure, holding yourself accountable, learning from mistakes, understanding that the world doesn't revolve around you. i think what helped me with not feeling old is cutting down on watching TV. 90% of the shows are geared towards the 18-35 demographics and the commercials basically are gunning for our tendencies to feel always young. cut it out of your life and you'll see an improvement in how you feel.
I'm 59. Yesterday at the gym a Brian Setzer song came on Pando with the lyrics: We only got sixty years on the planet We only got sixty years on the planet We only got sixty years on the planet And if you get anymore You might wish that you hadn't Your life is your past, your present and your vision of the future. You just expand the whole library as you go, old music is good, the music right now is good and I expect there to be exciting music in the future. Rockin' tune though: <iframe width="420" height="315" src="http://www.youtube.com/embed/tNxeaYKisLQ" frameborder="0" allowfullscreen></iframe>
gonna try not to ramble. pleasing your parents does not make one an adult. in fact, i'd say thinking that (until about halfway through undergraduate school) set me back. you need to become a man on your own terms. not everyone needs to have children, don't feel obligated. you have to find your own balance. your parents will be happy and respect you if you have that for yourself. i think i haven't changed so much in the last 25 years but rather accepted myself for who i am, faults and all. i've had tons of bumps along the road with more to come. my diet has changed as i've aged because i like eating a balanced diet, it tastes good. i'm 44 and am in decent health despite not exercizing at all. i weigh about the same as i did in college. i listen to all the same music and act like a child all the time. being serious sucks. i try to take care of business, then goof off.
i have a kid i am divorced because i was very immature about a woman i used to love to have sex with and then tried to be a man and make her honorable. i am left with the responsibility of being a father. in that jail thread i think i made the point that the only time i felt bad was i missed my son's basketball game and he made a game winning shot. i couldn't tell him where i was. i've been a very naughty boy through his childhood but i always try to at least give him manly advice when i see him, but the best thing my father did for me in that regard is be a man. he didn't have to say anything because he lived it.
I just turned 48 last month. About a week before I did, I voluntarily quit a job I had for 16 years. I am moving back to my hometown I left after 25 years away and I will be looking for work in a brand new field I haven't even identified yet. While contemplating quitting my job (which I absolutely hated and was taking its toll on me) I felt very anxious for a variety of reasons I won't go into here. Suffice it to say, I completely understand what the character Walter White was saying here: <iframe width="560" height="315" src="http://www.youtube.com/embed/oAZZF8pIg24" frameborder="0" allowfullscreen></iframe> Quitting was the best decision I've made in 20 years. I feel like an 18 year old kid....with the whole world in front of me. Fear is the real enemy.
