Getting Old
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I may lack the constitution of my younger years, but I have much more expertise and judgement that offsets that. So maybe I can't rage all night without serious downstream consequences, but I really don't want to do that to begin with these days, so misery avoided. Or, if I find myself in one of those situations (eg for next weekend's friend's bachelor party), I know how to minimize downstream consequences with more measured behavior in the heat of the moment.
I'm pretty much a better and more worthwhile person in almost every regard today in my 40s than I was in my younger years. Then again, I guess if that's not true as you age that would be kind of sad. Rather than dreading age, pining for past youth, and fearing death, I am grateful for the time I have.
I think I'll probably start to have a dimmer view of aging when physical aches and pains and any sort of disability comes along.
To be fair, having an amazing life partner join me late in life could have something to do with my sunny outlook.
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Comfort means more to me today than it once did and plays a role in most of my decisions. From clothing, shoes, furniture, etc., I often consider how they feel now, but often try to guess how they will be in the future. I am becoming less tolerant of items that are disposable, and often try to buy things that will last long term.
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Great thread.
Not to get too philosophical but the trick of accepting the shock of physical decline with grace and in context is key to enjoying it I think. I'm up to five pills a day to ward off ailments both minor and major and that depressed the fekk out of me for a while, being at the tender age of 45. A dodgy knee and shoulder instability didn't help either. But in the scheme of things I just remember to tip the hat to medical science and try to enjoy the benefits of middle age and the experience of life's rich pageant.
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Scars and injuries are like tattoos but with better stories.
Another one: I used to argue with people over this that and the other when they were clearly wrong. As I've gotten older I've learned to just ignore them, and I get a tremendous amount of satisfaction out of not interacting with them anymore.
One might or might not convince them that they are wrong about THIS topic, but they're going to stay stupid so why arm them with knowledge that they may someday use to imply that they are smart.
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Another one: I used to argue with people over this that and the other when they were clearly wrong. As I've gotten older I've learned to just ignore them, and I get a tremendous amount of satisfaction out of not interacting with them anymore.
One might or might not convince them that they are wrong about THIS topic, but they're going to stay stupid so why arm them with knowledge that they may someday use to imply that they are smart.
I think back to my 20's and I remember how argumentative I used to be with my brother about anything and everything. Nowadays, I pretty much have zero tolerance for that kinda stuff from others. I mean, I can and still do argue about petty things but life experiences have taught me that i'm better off not engaging in arguments for my own sanity and well-being, especially when it comes to my child.
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I will NEVER dye my hair, no matter how gray I get. And speaking of hair, more and more grows in places it should not, and very long and strange coils are wont to appear out of odd places from time to time, but at least I can grow a fuller beard now.
Re: argument, the years have taught me that you can't argue with people who don't understand logic and/or too weak to admit to themselves and others when they are wrong and need to amend their position. Things like denial and rationalization in the face of cognitive dissonance are unassailable no matter what reasoning and facts you might bring to bear. If you don't understand or don't care about logical consistency, you are immune to logical argument. And the less one knows, the more one thinks one knows, apparently.
I could summarize my position thusly: "if you're such an undisciplined thinker that you think (e.g.) the earth is flat, there's nothing I can say to you that will change your 'mind,' and there's nothing you can say to me that will be worth my time." I'm not proud of how many years it took me to get to this position, or how hard it remains to "let it go" when stupidity rears its ugly head.
Flip side of the wisdom of disengagement from fools: I hate when debate is "not worth it" because it's a cornerstone of democratic society to have healthy debate.
Get off my lawn.
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I will NEVER dye my hair, no matter how gray I get. And speaking of hair, more and more grows in places it should not, and very long and strange coils are wont to appear out of odd places from time to time, but at least I can grow a fuller beard now.
I haven't quite reached the point where i'm seeing rogue hairs setting up shop in places they shouldn't be. No back hair or ear hair yet. The back of my neck gets the occasional sprout though….i'm talking weird curlies that spring up away from the herd
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I haven't quite reached the point where i'm seeing rogue hairs setting up shop in places they shouldn't be. No back hair or ear hair yet. The back of my neck gets the occasional sprout though….i'm talking weird curlies that spring up away from the herd
I'm not going to go into details but my ahem unique hair pattern on my head started to develop when I was 20 years old. I started shaving it before I turned 21. That and my penchant for a bit of face fuzz means I've gone through a few electric clippers in my time. I bought a new one in the spring and it was the first time I picked one based on the availability of a nose hair attachment ::)
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Ah yes. I have a beard trimmer with the nose-hair attachment. That's the one area I forgot about – my nostrils are a thicket of coarse black and white sprouts
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Piggybacking of @goosehd
I'm a lot more practical these days. Humping around a lot of heavy shit in my 20's and 30's would result in aches and pains.
Humping around a lot of heavy shit in my 40's means pains and bedrest.
Also: I used to be the guy that said "natural materials is best."
Not so much anymore. The front of my house sees a lot of sun, heat and humidity. I finally got tired of changing out the wooden trim in front of the house because of rot and redid the entire front bump in PVC trim.
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I'm fast approaching the unibrow look. zero fucks given
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White pubes. Nobody knows but me…. and all of you now.
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Yeah I know
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I hated being young. I do miss being able to take drugs and party all night without having a care in the world the day after tho. Responsibilities and age. Life. Would I change anything if I could? No. Would I do it again if I was young? No.
If you ask people what age they’d like to be again if they could, no one ever says 16-18.
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That's definitely a tough one. I'm not that old so I don't have many years to choose from but there are positives and negatives to all. When you're a kid you aren't in real life which has it's benefits and downfalls. 20's you have your youth, independence, but most likely are limited financially, and lack some life experience/wisdom. 30's (so far) you still have some youth, are independent, stronger financially which opens doors, have gained some wisdom, but also don't have the youth of your 20's, and most likely have a fuller life plate with many more responsibilities (which can be good and bad). For those older I'm sure they can enlighten me on the next few decades to come.
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It's all downhill after 21, @BloodnThunder
And for all those guys who are enthralled by their own wonderfulness and insist the kindly old snowtop precede them through the door-you can fuck right off. If I needed any shit from you I'd squeeze your head.