As Someone Who Is Over 80, What Advice Would You Give To a Younger Person Who Is Worried About Growing Older?
Image by Harpreet Batish from Pixabay
I post answers every day to questions on Quora.com. I’m amazed at the number of questions that come from young people, in their 20s and 30s, expressing angst about getting old.
Here’s my answer to a recent one that is the headline for this article.
Simple.
Get over it!
Embrace it!
Remember this:
“Life is a fatal disease. Once contracted there is no known cure.” Dr. Walter Bortz.
You are going to grow old and die.
Mike drop!
You have no control over the eventuality of it.
You have considerable control over how soon it happens and the quality of the time and life leading up to it.
Save the worry time and use it learning and working toward making the trip healthy and fulfilling.
Become a student of how your body and mind work and give them what they need to last the longest possible.
Worry?
Think this through.
What is worry?
The most egregious misuse of imagination possible.
I just turned 80. I stopped worrying about a number a long time ago.
I may be 80 by the calendar, but still a teenager in my mind.
The joints? Well, that’s another story!
If we didn’t have clocks and calendars, how old would you be?
You could be any age you wanted. But you live in a culture that’s obsessed with numbers. I suggest you get over that obsession early – it serves no purpose.
Maybe this will help. Guess where the lowest point of happiness is for most people?
Age 47!!
The highest?
The 70s, 80s, even 90s.
There you have it.
It starts between the temples.
Worry is a choice.
Set your sails now with a sense of purpose. Stay the course. Enjoy the ride.
still young? Get involved in as many things as you enjoy, As often as possible , go for a walk in the woods, or to a lake, or the beach and enjoy.. Ignore things you don’t like, but do what is needed even if not peasant. Get involved in Community activities, make as many friends as possible. Offer to help neighbours in need. Life is short, so enjoy what you can When you each our age, you will wonder where the years went, and will still have good memories.
Good stuff Gary! I hope all is well with you brother!
What a great piece! Thanks Gary
Young people are bombarded non-stop with a stream of demands on their lives – career, family, emotional, intellectual, social dilemmas – so that they often don’t see the forest for the trees. Hardly surprising, we were no different. The clarified point of view of an old man? There are only three things we remain personally responsible for until we drop: mobility, motility, mentality. Take care of those 3 through whatever means you choose and the rest will take care of itself.