Getting Old Thread

[marnold***]

Worse yet, what if I come back to earth...as a...Republican!? It's just terrible!

There's only one thing in the world worse than being conservative, and that is NOT being conservative.

[r_a_smith3530]

i agree voodoo....i think the only thing i am doing differently as i get older is more frequent trips to the doc.

...and maybe more frequent trips to the john!

Yes Voodoo, I agree too. Where you're at is where you're at, and worryin' about it a whole bunch ain't gonna change nothin'! 'Ya got what'cha got, and all 'ya can do is to make the best of it.

[Mark]

At the age of fifty one and have looked into the eyes of death on four different occasions in my younger days. Ill sum it up with a few quotes Ive picked up over the years.

Don't die wonderin!

Life isnt a dress rehearsal you only get one take so make it good!

There is no record of a man on his deathbed who has stated the following......"I wish I would have spent more time on the job"

One bothersome thing about gettin old is when I burp dust comes out....LOL

[jpfeifer]

Hi Tim,

This is an interesting post. I'm enjoying reading all the responses. It's funny but I never thought about getting old until I was already old :-)

What I dislike about getting old is being treated like an old guy when I don't really feel like an old guy. I'm always shocked when someone who I think is older than me suddenly refers to another person as "he is about our age". The real shocker for me happened when I went to one of my brother's gigs to hear his band and someone thought that I was his dad. That's when I realized that I looked older than the version of myself in my mind's eye.

But on the positive side, what I've really enjoy about getting older is learning to appreciate life more. There's nothing that I appreciate more than spending time with my family and friends, playing music, and enjoying good food. I think that you also learn to accept yourself more as you get older and not worry so much about impressing other people. There is a lot of truth to the old saying "youth is wasted on the young".

My advice to you younger guys is to ...
- Always do what you love, even if you don't do it for your main job! (Music is my sideline, but it keeps me from going crazy with my real job. It's the best shrink that I know of)
- Make time for family and friends
- Try to learn something new everyday, even from the bad experiences
- Realize that life is short, make the most of each day

-- Jim

[Spudman***]

Mark and Jim.

I really enjoyed what you guys have to say.

I have the same outlook Mark. I was thinking about what you said about work while I was out on a 40 mile bicycle ride today. Part of me thought "maybe I should work more" then the real me kicked in and said "what the heck for? This is my life and I better just enjoy it because none of it matters after I take that last breath." So I'm riding my bike and playing my guitars and I don't care what anyone else thinks. For some people maybe work is their thing and that is alright too, but not for me. I'm going to just let my spirit soar and do what I love. In 300 years whatever most of us have done won't matter anyway.

Jim
The cool thing about not feeling like an "old guy" is that because you have already been all those previous ages you can be them again at any time. You've already been there. Wanna act like a 4 year old? You can do it. You have the experience. And if we create our own reality then who's to tell us we can't be younger? Just because the body ages doesn't mean we do.

I can't act convincingly like I'm 80 because I don't have that experience, but ask me to act like a hot, long haired, 23 year old rock-n-roll stud...excuse me, I've got to go ask my wife it it's OK first.