Life is too fast....or is it me?

annsixty Some for you. It's hard enough looking after someone with Alzheimers without being ill yourself. I hope you feel better soon.
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I find I can do one thing in the day and that's it . Need to sit,knit and watch tv to relax or I seem to ache all over.

I think that my life is even busier than ever now, the other day, having a day off work, I visited my mother at 10, took her to meet her friends at 11, rushed to meet my friend for our swim at 11.30, visited another friend who is housebound at 1pm, had to dash to my optician appointment for 2pm, had shopping to do after that and after unpacking the shopping I had my mother asking me to take her shopping too so that by the time I actually got 'lunch' it was 8pm. I just dropped into bed and slept like a log. After taking DD for her shopping, taking a parcel to another friend and taking my mother out I doubt if I will get any time to myself over the easter, although Im considering switching the phone off for some me time on Monday, Ive got a couple of good books to read (bliss) and some serious easter egg feasting to do. .

Somebody said 'a day doing nothing is not a day wasted if you enjoy it'. We have a fairly full life in our retirement but try to spend at least some doing nothing much at all. I know some people cannot sit around but I feel it recharges our batteries and, at our time of life, we deserve it.

Katek Surely there is a choice as to when you get your hair done or whether you take on the responsibility of producing a panto, attending meetings, etc? If you are taking on too much, ditch some of it, but you actually sound quite pleased that you are so busy.

I think that life is too fast and exhausting for people who are: trying to juggle full time work and families/young families and elder care; struggling to do several part-time jobs in order to live; have to do do lots of shift work and travel long distances at all times of the day and night, etc. etc. Self-imposed busyness is easily remedied.

my mother, in her 80s and ill with COPD, gasps with every effort and she just will not stop. She does her housework to a routine every morning, (does the vacuuming have to be done in the morning), she goes in the garden at every possible minute and yesterday she was panting with the effort and was so sore she couldn't straighten up for a while. Its like she has a compulsion to do things and she quotes, 'an hour in the morning is worth 2 in the afternoon'. I tell her to rest and she doesn't unless she is really bad with her COPD and then she frets that her garden needs looking after. Many older people are like that.

My mother aged 98 maintains it is far better to wear out rather than rust out.

Re choosing people for jury service. I'm sure it's completely random. My dad, a miner, was asked three times. And at one school I worked at, three of the teachers and the school cook were called up within three years.

"Life is not a journey to the grave with the
intention of arriving safely in a pretty and well preserved body,

but rather to skid in broadside, thoroughly used up, totally worn out, and loudly proclaiming -- WOW-- What a Ride!"

As I get older I find that if I try to do too much in the day I just run out of steam completely, so I try to plan just one major activity per day.
If i have a busy day, followed by something in the evening, I tend to fall asleep!

I did a bit of voluntary work at a local big house and read about a former occupant who was a keen embroiderer. Before her wedding she embroidered a complete stair carpet and suggested that "every young bride should do the same!" What planet was she on?

It's my choice to do these things Eloethan, but sometimes even the best laid plans can go awry. Other people's arrangements change, meetings are rescheduled etc and you can find yourself unexpectedly busier than you planned. This is when I can feel pressurised. I am generally quite pleased/happy to be busy, that I can still manage to do all the things I enjoy despite some health issues. I would not be happy sitting on my derrière with little to do.

Pompa My thinking exactly!

Pompa Thank you, that made me smile. I hope my dad's doing that right now.

I was called to do jury service in London a couple of months after we moved from there up to Cheshire. I got out of that one easily.

I've cleared everything out of my life. Friends, clubs, commitments. Every day is very quiet and I do get time to stop and stare. I'm never bored. I have quiet hobbies. I don't go anywhere and the car, generally, sits in the courtyard most days. I often go the whole day without speaking to anyone. I don't get any feeling of time running out or wasting my day or boredom. When someone tries to get me involved in something I'll always assume it's out of kind concern for me, and acknowledge it. I will always say how much I enjoy being on my own without a commitment or a deadline to meet. A complete contrast to my younger life which I never want to have back.

Pianist I'm doing the same very shortly, getting the negative people out of my life, and concentrating on getting as well as I can, looking to my own future and my pleasures. If my dad dying has taught me anything it is that we are only here a short time considering and to let out hair down and do what the heck we want, as long as we are kind to others and don't hurt anyone intentionally. Time though very soon to relax and kick back a lot, not a little, I've earned it.