one of the most profound things i've ever heard a professor say was in my second half us history class at ut spring 95'. before the 1950s there was no such concept of teenager. you were a kid and then you were an adult. i don't disagree there should be a balance and what was the concept of adult 50 years ago is different today. its good that we live in a more comfortable society with free time to relax. at the same time i wonder sometimes are we moving to far towards a society that is governed by preadult values.
Im 23 with bad knees thanks to 10 years of tackle football.. I could have played DII or DIII college ball had a couple offers but i chose to join Marines instead. I picked an easy job to do (supply) and i played basketball and football for my unit against other units. But all in all after the constant military training and football, my knees feel like a train has hit them some days. Thank god for the VA though so i cant really complain
I remember when I was 20 or 21 and went with some friends to numbers and I would see these old guys (35-40) try to hit on them. Now I try to avoid places were all ages can get in.
I'm 28 about to be 29. I only feel old occasionally. The way I look at it I hope to live at least to 90 and following steps to get there. So I got a long way to go...... I'm in respectable shape so no aches and pains. My hair grows as fast as it did when i was 13 maybe a few grey hairs sprinkle in occasionally. I can still drink like I was 21. (but don't you know the whole job thing gets in the way) ..I can still get the the 21 year old girls at the bar though I might have to make a lot more money to pull that off in say 5 years.. But for now I'm 28. If I was in the NBA I'd be in my prime so no reason to feel old...Though If I was an NFL running back I'd be past my prime
Thanks for your service to the country. I used to work for the prosthetics lab at the VA, great group of people.
as far as how people (you) (me) feel about getting old. its a little different to an extent for everybody. considering how much you feel you have accomplished, health, friends, family, children, spouse. but for me older music really does it to me sometimes. music in general is so important to me that listening to something in my past will definitely impact me sometimes. i can still remember listening in highschool to korn the first time outside a movie theatre. rage against the machine three or four times in a row at a keg party in the middle of nowhere during a school afternoon. i had a good friend that moved from my hometown to kingwood (kids there were a bit different then where i grew up) but i was at a house party there and snoop dogg's first cd just came out and we jammed it all night with a bunch of 14-15 year old girls running around and swimming topless. and lastly i remember listening to outkast aTaliens the night before my first day of senior year in highchool laying there thinking about my future. and now silversun pickups will always remind me of my son being an infant, with how much i have played them these last few years.
I turned 51 this past March and have never felt better. I put in at least 10 hours a day for work 5 days a week and still has plenty of energy to play.Had my yearly complete physical last month, my colleagues always amazed with the shape that I'm in.I'm 5'10'' 190lbs and about 10% body fat. I have been living and eating healthy ever since I was young. I keep a close watch on everything that I put in my body. Never did drugs(recreation or prescription), booze. I've never even smoked a cig in my entire life. Clean living can do wonder for you.
You have to understand you have a bunch of DIFFERENT challenges than he had I understand you feeling more than you might think. I do have a strong sense of a need to accomplish. I am working in that direction All you can do . . .is keep moving and don't stop Rocket River
I was thinking about something yesterday and remembered this thread. My grandparents' generation were born and spent a lot of their life in a tiny village somewhere in the Middle East. My grandmother was at least 100 when she passed away about 10 yrs ago. Her sister outlived her: her age according to her passport was 124 years old, but in the late 1800's in that village, passports were tossed around easily so her passport actually belonged to her younger sister who passed away as a child. My dad says she was probably 130 or so years old. My grandmother was quite active until she was about 85-90. But more impressively, her sister cooked her own food, cleaned her own house, walked to get wherever she wanted until she was 120 in very rural conditions for most of her life. They both outlived all but one of their children (my father) and both of their spouses, and their children grew up in far more urban settings. My father at age 65 now, is probably as healthy as they were in their 90's. That's largely because he's been smoking and eating irresponsibly for 40 years now. I remember how much food they would eat. how fatty the meat was, how much oil they put in there, lots of salt, lots of sugar. Tons of rice. They even smoked plain tobacco hookah on rare occassions. Never alcohol. Water out of a well for most of their lives. They obviously never exercised. This all didn't matter. All that mattered is they lived at their own pace, rather than around standard operating hours. It's not life they were unhappy about not having a modern lifestyle - they didn't give a damn about the latest tv, the latest telephone, the latest camera. They each had 1 picture of their childhood. They watched tv with the whole town since there was only one channel and one tv. They were happy as long as they had people, they had food and they could exchange information. That's it. The most exciting thing they did in their youth was run around in the rain or watch their father hunt some deer. Some of their earliest memories were seeing TV, riding a train, putting dates in every dish imaginable, copying pictures of famous people who they couldn't identify, discovering there were truffles (the mushroom-like stuff, not the chocolatey stuff obviously) all around the village, adopting any child without a home no questions asked, etc. Thinking about this, I asked myself is it worth having all these amenities when there is a far superior option now to both: live somewhere unpolluted, where there's no stress, no operating hours, few pesticides/additives/preservatives, no fast food, few cars, etc. and have access to amenities when you need them (catch a plane/boat/car to the nearest hospital or whatever you need). Obviously, you will need to have saved up some for emergencies. I wish I could do that. I know that that lifestyle would suit me much better. I've realized this on a tiny scale, having visited some very very obscure villages/towns in my life. But there are two things which I can't do without: people and information. I'm willing to give up anything and everything else, but to be removed from interconnected society and to have limited access to information (i.e. internet) is really a deal breaker for me. When I think about them, I realize how silly it is to say I feel old. At the same time, I know that I'm accelerating towards being "old" very fast the way/place I currently live. Very strange world we live in, and being in the "more civilized" side of things shouldn't blind us to the fact that we have much to learn/observe from traditionalists in leading a healthy, sustainable and happy life. Of course circumstances aren't particularly ideal to do whatever you want, but the sooner we consider these things in life, the better our flexibility. No point discovering you want to move to a secluded beach when you have a bunch of kids in school.
Doing some simple math here. You say your grandmother was at least 100 when she passed away 10 years ago. That means she would be at least 110 now. You say your father is 65. That means she had him at 45? Unlikely. Also, it is very unlikely that your aunt was 130 years old. The oldest person in the world right now is 116. Please don't exaggerate like a Macbeth. It doesn't get you any points. Thanks.
I always say that people are OLD MUCH LONGER in life than they are YOUNG. Youth is special, though its also fleeting. Live Fast Die Young is an agreeable mantra. Though doesnt it make more sense to adapt, adjust and enjoy the life period you'll live THE MOST? (Its just that those youths have the healthier functioning, better fresher bodies, dag nabbit. And are wired for risk taking. Risks = fun) Dude, settle (though I'm kinda dubious myself)
