Comments on: #150: Wait, Go Ahead, Maybe You Should Act Even Older….

By: Act older | Molicyber

Act older | Molicyber — Mon, 30 May 2011 02:19:51 +0000

[…] How Not To Act Old » Blog Archive » #150: Wait, Go Ahead, MaybeWant hundreds more ways not to act old? Craving instruction on everything from how to grind to ways to die cool? Order the New York Times Bestseller book version of "How Not To Act Old," before you, you know,…..what was I going to say? […]

By: Elaine Drennon Little

Elaine Drennon Little — Thu, 06 Jan 2011 06:35:41 +0000

Thank you for this honest and delightful look at ages. I am 53 and will pretty much agree that you have nailed the answers here.
Several years ago, in my high school classroom, I overheard some kids reading a “what if” kind of book and supplying their answers. They were really intrigued with deciding what singular fact they’d want to find out ahead of time, if they could magically do so– Who will I marry? Will I achieve my dreams? What unexpected turn will change my life? How many children will I have–and other such things. It hit me like a ton of bricks that, if asked, I would not be able to supply a single such question. I already knew all these-life changing facts – I was married, kids were here, same job 25 years, had realized I would never be Linda Ronstadt, Stephen Sondheim, or Harper Lee. I was what I was, and the only thing I had left to wonder about was HOW I WOULD DIE.
Depressing, for sure, but I was in my late forties at the time. Thank God I’m older now.
Once you face the facts, the age of Fuck It wears rather nicely.
Thanks for putting it out there in black and white!

By: hemnebob

hemnebob — Fri, 25 Jun 2010 13:34:32 +0000

i think we can identify with some/most of this:
we spend our youth awaiting for 16 to drive…
then we await for 21 to go drink in a bar…
then we await our ‘true love’ to get married…
and await the family thing…
and then we await them to bring us grandkids…
and then we await retiring…

why wouldn’t 50+ be better? heck, we are on the
coasting/neutral setting, it better be good!!

By: Mauigirl

Mauigirl — Tue, 15 Jun 2010 15:29:52 +0000

I think you summed it up perfectly. I would like to add that by 50 you’ve either lost your parents or know you’re going to lose them soon and are caught up in eldercare issues, you may have lost a few friends to cancer or heart disease by then and it’s freaking depressing. But if you make it through those things, and come out the other side, then you get back your free time and your friends who have survived are probably pretty healthy too and will be around for awhile. And yes, you also are right about enjoying the little things in life, which are actually the big things.

By: Shefaly

Shefaly — Mon, 14 Jun 2010 18:40:39 +0000

I think the reality may be a bit more complex as George Vaillant’t longitudinal work on happiness and ageing has shown. This article from the Atlantic is worth a share (and a read, but it is very long):

http://www.theatlantic.com/magazine/archive/2009/06/what-makes-us-happy/7439/

By: Cynthia Thomas

Cynthia Thomas — Mon, 14 Jun 2010 12:50:10 +0000

I enjoyed this article and other posts…thanks for sharing.

By: braculus

braculus — Thu, 10 Jun 2010 00:06:49 +0000

thanks for the 50’s analysis! certainly it will give more understanding to people what 50’s are really like.

By: Red Hamster

Red Hamster — Tue, 08 Jun 2010 22:26:58 +0000

Oh how true. You wore me out with your look back at my past three decades!

By: paula

paula — Thu, 03 Jun 2010 14:13:35 +0000

Wow….that just about sums it all up, doesn’t it!!!

I never realized that I had done so much laundry…

By: Daisy

Daisy — Wed, 02 Jun 2010 17:21:27 +0000

Fantastic post — and I suspect your instincts are on the money. I’m 40 with a 3 year old kid, and I think I just might be getting a headstart on the FuckIt realization. Life’s too short and I have spent the past year downsizing and slowly extricating myself from the corporate law world. Still got tons of laundry and carpools ahead of me but am beginning to get my priorities straight and to let go of the notion that I can achieve all of my various dreams in a single lifetime if I “just worked a little harder.”. Maybe we can start making 40 the new 50!!