Seeing my age is scary

[artyboy]

Its not for people with muscle wasting conditions lol

[MikeW]

I am curious how very old people do not panic knowing they could die at any moment. Or maybe once you reach that age you get used to that fact.

Unless we've been diagnosed with something terminal, we don't think about it any more than you young people do.

[MikeW]

Age is just a number!

[Camfer]

IQ is just a number!

(with no offense to Mr Dan, who has a high number there)

[deephiance]

I am 40 in four years and as strange as it sounds I am not frightened about reaching that age.

I wasn't too worried about 40 either, BUT heading up to 50 mortality is becoming more a reality.

I went to a school reunion last month and the people I wanted to see had all passed on, some as young as their earlier twenties, most of natural causes.

Also at 50 you feel closer to 70 than 30, it's weird and a little bit scary

[Lexington]

At some point, I think everybody has to make peace with mortality. I guess I did it at an earlier age than most. I remember in college getting freaked out about age and getting older and all that. But at some point, I simply faced it head on and accepted it. Everybody enters this world, grows up, grows older, and dies. And accepting this has led me to some other random thoughts.

* If nobody died, there'd be no room for anybody. We'd have the same people all the time. Somebody died to make room for me to come into this world. And soon, I'll have to step aside so somebody else will get to enjoy this thing called life.

* If life was forever, why would you do anything ever? You could build that relationship or help the planet or fuck that guy tomorrow, next week, next year, next century. When you have all the time in the world, there's no impetus to do anything. Being here for a finite time is why we check things off our to-do list.

* Making peace with mortality has made me appreciate everybody in my life more. I know they (and I) won't be around forever, but I was lucky enough to have that last interaction with them.

* Also, people dying doesn't seem to hit me as hard as it does other people. This isn't to say that I don't care when people die, or I never get sad about it. But in essence, I'm sort of always expecting it. I know it happens. I know my parents aren't long for this world, so each interaction is a bit more special. In a strange way, I'm starting to say goodbye to them now, bit by bit, rather than waiting until it's "too late".

* Once I made peace with mortality, I stopped getting depressed about my age. At every given age, I'm slightly different. I'm better at some things and worse at others. It's a slightly new experience. And I'm always excited to see what the next age will bring. I don't bemoan my "lost youth" because losing my youth is something I needed to do in order to get more wisdom, and feel more comfortable in my own skin. In essence, every aspect of my life was a "phase I went through". Being 46 has kicked ass, and I'm excited to see what 47 is like.

Lex

[MikeW]

At some point, I think everybody has to make peace with mortality. ......