- My knee still doesn’t feel right after that hiking trip two weeks ago.
- I started listening to really old music.
Have I crossed the threshold?
I turned my head to the right to look at something and sprained my neck.
So when just existing hurts, you’re old.
Everything you say is misconstrued through some lens over which you have no control.
example:
Me: Hey do you want to go for a walk when you are done what you are working on?
Them: Why are you always so critical of how long things take?
Me: What. The. Fuck?
Me: when you’re ready let’s do the thing we’d agreed we wanted to do around now.
Them: okay. (drops everything)
Me: okay…I knew you’re in the middle of something, I can wait 5 minutes.
Them: ugg, no, its fine let’s just go now.
(Later with someone else)
Them: Ugg, I always feel rushed to do things with [me].
Other: you know he’ll will wait for you right, its not a big deal.
Them: I know, but I feel bad. I dont like wasting his time…(he doesn’t have a lot of it left).
A backbrace becomes necessary for any physical activity more demanding than walking.
The radio station that plays the old hits has started playing newer hits. Spoiler: they’re not new.
I sometimes listen to old balkan songs (from yugoslavia timen) and am 17.
The radio station that plays old hits I swear is playing even older songs. I swear it is now playing 60’s music. And not the good songs from the 60s either.
“Your teeth/eyes look pretty good for your age! 👍”
When you let the student hair dresser cut your hair and she cuts it to your actual hairline.
When the barber asks: do you want me to do your eyebrows?
My knees have been going out since I was like 16, so I’ve felt pretty old for a long time. I think my biggest old person thing is being very particular about my bedtime each night and always getting up at the same time. I definitely did not do that in my twenties.
Yeah same boat here.
Testosterone got the better of me weight lifting in high school and I fucked up the ligament that holds my left kneecap down.
I pop and crack like a 70 year old and I’m 29 (been happening since I was 17) and I can’t keep my left knee bent for long periods of time without it aching.
I’m trying to stay young by playing video games (primarily rocket league) but they don’t feel the same as when I was younger. That was my actual sign.
If these are signs of being old, I was born old.
Same. I’ve had shit joints since I was a kid. Sometimes I feel like I got a head start on aging 😛
The most depressing sign is your parents that were once invincible are now having concerning health issues
A couple of years ago my dad, who has always been heavy into cycling and never had a weight problem, had a quadruple bypass. He was 72 or 73 at the time. He was always so healthy and fit, but the men in his family hoard arterial plaque like crazy. It was really sobering to see him go through that, and especially to see how lost my mom was while he was recovering. And my mom has osteoporosis; she’s getting treatment for it but she’s afraid to do much more than a brisk walk because if she falls, she could easily break her spine or pelvis. And she’s only 67!
It’s really depressing seeing them get old. I visited them over the weekend and we watched old camcorder tapes*. Seeing them younger than I am now was so weird; I didn’t realize my mental image of them has aged along with them, if that makes sense. But watching those tapes, all I could think was how strong and youthful they both looked!
*Seeing myself as an awkward teenager with braces and huge glasses was godawful, do not recommend!
I also have a knee thing. Why the knees.
pop
I’m in good shape still, nothing hurts, but my goodness since I was about 40 everything takes forever to heal. Injuries that might have healed in 2 months when I was a kid can take 2 years to fully resolve. Why, when I have fewer years left?
I don’t get the music thing, I think maybe men are more nostalgic about music. I listen to a broad sweeping set of artists old and new, and my kids do too (one is a musician but all of them will hear something on tiktok and go find it). I still go see new and emerging acts, love finding new music.
Oh! And since nobody is talking about the positive things that happen when you get old: around 50 my green thumb arrived, I no longer kill plants by looking at them. I can coax them to grow. And can cook just about anything too, but that is accumulated years of experience, the plant thing just came like a gift. Around 45 I got the power of trust, like anyone would tell me anything - middle aged white lady power, people tell me things, I could be a spy or drug mule or something now and just skate through security, I am not suspicious. And mood gets easier to manage too, not so quick to anger or fear.
On the trust thing - every once in a while I’ll go to a concert by myself, stand in the back, and enjoy the moment and remember the old times.
More often than not, three or four young ladies will come up over the course of the evening and start giving me their life stories and their relationship struggles and whatnot.
This isn’t a flirting or drunk thing on either end of the equation. In that moment, they just seem to need somebody to listen to them.
I’m in my 30s and one of the big things I’ve noticed recently is that hangovers are way worse than they were in my 20s. I think I’ve noticed it especially because I quit drinking for about 4 years or so and when I came back to it I noticed it seemed much worse than my early 20s. These days I’ll have like 3 or 4 beers and start feeling hung over before I even go to bed. On the plus side it has really helped me moderate my drinking, cuz I sure don’t feel like feeling like shit before I’m even done drinking and for most of the next day!
Most of the other stuff I hear (“Your metabolism slows way down!!!” “Your body starts falling apart!!!”) seems to me to be mostly because people stop exercising and eat like shit. You do slow down but taking care of your body can really reduce the losses. I’m a cyclist and ride with guys in their 60s who are probably fitter than a lot of 20 and 30 year olds that I work with.
- Can’t use my phone for more than 10 minutes because it makes my eyes hurt
- Understanding the mechanics of new games feels harder than it used to be
- Can’t easily remember the names of characters in a game/movie I’m watching
- Can’t remember the names of functions for programming languages I’ve learned recently, always need to keep the documentation handy
- I find it absolutely counterintuitive to use “modern” functions in programming like lambdas (and functional programming in general can’t get into my head)
- I almost always HATE changes in the OS and programs I use, while I used to love beta-testing stuff
- Can’t get into new hobbies and interests
- Still listen to the same genres I used to listen to 10 years ago
- 2019 feels like a few months ago, not half a decade ago
- Getting worse and worse at rhythm games
I’m 33.
Do you need corrective lenses?
I threw out my shoulder trying on shirts at the store the other day…
I pull my shoulder every fucking time I try to reach for anything that’s a bit more than an arms length away
Standing up feels like the check engine light comes on
