When you age.....

I am still a twentysomething college slacker/student but I am soon gonna be in my thirties. I am not gonna be old and wrinkly anytime soon but what should I do when that happens? And I know it isn't possible to stop it but what can I do make it better?

1. Aging and wrinkling is not the end of life as you know it. I wish we could be born with the wisdom of understanding that youth is not the ideal that we must continually strive to achieve. Youth is part of the road, not the entire trip.

2. "Real" jobs, marriage, children, mortgages, divorces, accidents, deaths, they happen. They don't have to signal the end of your life. Your life can change, it doesn't mean that you've turned into your parents. Unless that is what you want. In that case, go you!

3. An adventure doesn't have to include pirate ships, long lost cousins, or a murder. Adventures can come from saying "OK I'll give it a shot" to something simple.

4. Save some money. It's easier to say 'yes' to adventures and to buy yourself out of the consequences of that 'yes' with money.

5 Keep trying stuff and exploring new things. I walked into a Burmese grocery yesterday. It was interesting and they had quail eggs. I had a hot dog with harissa and jalapeño relish today. Tasty. I really like the Korean hip hop artists MFBTY and I also really like the Korean India band Hot Potato. I am not young, but I'm open to new experiences.

I never thought of that. I always assumed when you age you never get to do stuff anymore.

My Mom dragged me to China with her when she was in her late 60s. Getting older definitely doesn't mean stopping, though there might be a period in there when you're trying to establish a good base for yourself where it seems that way.

I'm only in my early 30s, but that's long enough to know that Black Cat is definitely right with homegrown adventure. I have some friends, both older and younger, who don't go "OK I'll give it a shot". It's like pulling teeth to even get them to go to see a play if it's in the city at, like 1 pm on a Sunday, because they heard bad things happened two blocks over and their mace expired last week. Much less go to the farmers market for jam, because food regulations.

Age is a state of MIND, not body, and some of my friends are way older than I am, even if I've been alive longer. They're fearful of their own mortality to the point of idiocy, and think new things can't possibly be better than the things they already like.

Go see that play. Go to the farmers market for jam.

And when in Beijing, for the love of god go to that street vendor and eat that fried scorpion because if you don't you'll think about it every day for the rest of your life and be full of regrets.

edited 5th May '15 8:58:17 PM by Bur

Yeah, just don't let stereotypes tell you how your life will be and you'll be OK.

I know a person who has a near Peter-Pan-syndromesque fear of acting like a grownup because she's been taught when she was a child that adults have to stop having fun entirely. It's a terrible thing, really.

edited 7th May '15 8:13:13 AM by Cozzer

I am that a little bit but thanks for the advice. I always thought adulthood was gonna be boring with no real fulfillment either until I started meeting some people in my temp jobs.

I am terrified of aging myself. Of not getting to do anything interesting anymore an becoming buried in the mundane. Not having time for fun. And no longer being attractive (which, unfortunately, for a woman is a prerequisite to being taken seriously).

Me Too.

I don't want arthritis and diabetes later in life as that would suck.

Two things potentially scare me more than anything about getting old: The possibility of Alzheimers or some other form of dementia (my maternal grandmother had it but neither my mom nor aunt have, so far) and, since my dad is in recovery from it, prostate cancer.

Also, adulthood sounds almost scary as the media makes it sound that your life is over when you are married. It is true on some level but overall it seems almost adolescent to think that way.

When you age your body might remind you of the indiscretions of your youth. Like broken, sprained, or dislocated bits. I don't have to worry about getting arthritis I already have it to a limited degree mostly caused by improperly treated bone and joint injuries. Some days it sucks but it is livable. Naproxen is my friend.

edited 14th May '15 3:38:52 PM by TuefelHundenIV

I think I'm aging like whiskey. Then again, I am roughly 20% whiskey, lol.

You're kept in a barrel or bottle until needed, then ultimately flushed down the toilet after you've been used?

Ouch.

Nah getting older isn't too bad. You generally stop worrying about most petty things. Not completely but enough it makes your life a little bit easier usually.

I guess that is something to look forward to but I wonder if I will become more fun while still being mature?

I find older people to be a lot more amusing and fun to be honest. The Humor for one is definitely more developed. They often have a good store of stories under their belts. Many also have had time to try quite a few things and know the good spots. Hitting the club or the bar is not a necessity drinking your self stupid seems to drop off a lot.

Keep in mind this is my experience in a rather mixed geeky crowd.

The last thing I want to be is an old guy who is pretty much sorrowful. I want to be a Cool Old Guy one day.

I'm definitely, health permitting, going to be a cool old person.

Still going to knit, of course; I do that now so I don't see why I'd stop.

But I'll play D&D with fellow cool old people instead of bingo or shuffleboard or whatever the stereotypical "old people" are playing.

By then, D&D will be what the stereotypical old people are playing. :P

Cool kids will be all about slaying dragons in VR.

edited 26th May '15 2:31:32 PM by Cozzer

More fun than bingo or bridge or shuffleboard, at any rate.

I want to be one of those old people who just... does whatever they want and no one thinks to tell me not to because I'm old. (I'm not talking horrible things, I'm talking like... getting a tattoo for my 80th birthday, or dyeing my hair a lurid color, or dressing entirely in purple for an entire month.)

Still it would be nice to be able to do those stuff again but we cannot turn back time.

No idea what you mean with that; what I am saying is why not do some of that stuff as an old person? I've seen old people with bright hair, old tattooed people who didn't even start getting tattoos until their mid thirties, etc.

I meant doing things while I am still young. It would feel off if I went to Chuck E. Cheeses as an old man.

Way I see it, I'm either gonna be a ghost... or an old man like Old Man Henderson.

Does anyone still go to sleepovers or parties at middle age? I used to do these things as a kid (sort of) but one day I might host for my children (if) I have any.