What makes you feel old?

Well I didn't really feel old until yesterday with a diagnosis from the doctor. Now I'm suddenly aware that this might be a whole new chapter of thinking twice before doing something and perhaps acting my real age instead of mental age

Synonymous when you work out how long ago something happened I can relate to that
Or when D told me I was too old to buy the "soft kitty" (some of you will understand) T-shirt I was looking at. I knew she was right but .....

Nearly Everything!!!

The youthfulness of police staff and servicemen/women!

The dread of falling over makes me feel so old, because if I do, I can`t get up again without help, and I find it so embarrassing.

I do find that I need to take things a bit slower these days, I can still get them done but they take a bit longer. I do find though that getting down and again off my knees is more difficult. Having to wipe 8 paws when we get back from a walk is more of a task these days. However I definitely find that I appreciate and enjoy things more, a meal with friends or family, a walk by the coast with the dogs, a day out with DH, a cold day by the fire, they all seem to mean so much more. I am sure that is the up-side of getting older.

The young people at work. Only yesterday I heard one bright young thing saying his parents insist on drinking out of cups instead of mugs. His opinion was that it reminded them of the past. I had a vision of 2 geriatrics discussing WW2 over tea in bone china cups, when in reality they are probably in their 50s.

I'm probably even older than his folks but I still look forward not backwards!!

What makes me feel old?

When my mind says I can do something and then my body says, "What?" or "You have got to be kidding!" or "You won't be able to stand up afterwards" or "Do you want to break your neck or something?" or, as he did recently, smallest DGS says anxiously "Don't break Granny!"

Most of all though is when you work out just how long ago something happened and it just seems like last year!

As Luckygirl says it is an acceptance thing on the whole. We were talking to a friend who is retiring at 77, on his wife's insistence, and he really does not want to do it!

Liz I, too, have experienced the photos and the appraising examination!

Tanith me too! It amused me this week when DD who is visiting for a holiday said she wanted to do exactly that rather than go out for the day! It is clearly not only an age thing.

DH was rather taken aback when DD pulled up his face, to eradicate the lines and jowls, as Peter Pan did to Wendy in the film and said,"Oh, there you are!"

Two days with the GDs A week to recover

When I'd rather be sat in the shade with a good book and a cold lemonade than gallivanting off somewhere to have a fun time..

Seeing the skip, bags of sand and aggregate on the drive, waiting for the men to come next week and lay our artificial grass.?

Grey hairs. I havent fared too badly, but there is no real need for them, is there?!

Soundinmind I can totally relate to the grandkids bit I have 7 grand kids one pre teen who may as well be a teen and the rest all teenagers I feel increasingly distanced from them as they don't really need or want input any more... Its all totally natural and it would be worrying if they weren't growing away but you miss them don't you. my 15 grandson still gives meva kiss and a cuddle but you don't see him from dawn to dusk which is great for him but it does kind of make you feel very redundant
I notice the aches and pains creeping in and the forgetting things but on the whole I keep fairly fit and don t feel my years, in fact I forget I m as old as I am but then reality sets in and I think basically I m on the count down

My grandchildren saw a photo of me taken 24 years ago. My GS said 'that's not you Nan, you've got lines'. His older sister's reaction was slightly worse. She didn't say a word but just sat on the floor, cross legged in front of me, gazing at the photo and then at me as though trying to find some resemblance.

I feel old when I find myself telling others how much better we did things 'in my day'!

DIL on seeing a photo of me when I was in my thirties;

Wow, you used to be quite attractive!

When I knocked on a door and the man of the house shouted up the stairs 'Brenda, there's an elderly lady at the door for you'. The cheek!!!

I did laughingly mention it to her later and she said he's always been extremely tactless.

When my 8 year old granddaughter informed me yesterday that I have a stripe in my hair and that my middle is cuddly.

I think it is about acceptance. I have no time for people who say that they do not let getting older affect their lives in any way - that is nonsense and is a complete denial of reality.

We all have to accept the bodily changes that go with getting older, and, as best we can, accept them with a good grace. Denying them gets us nowhere.

I have a number of physical problems which have descended on me in the last few years and I hate them all. It would be lovely to say I can do all the things I did when I was younger, but I can't. So I focus my mind on those things that I can do, I enjoy my memories and also those bonuses that come with getting older - a hint of wisdom, not having to be tied to a work schedule, reading, listening to music and sitting and savouring the beauties to be found around us which flash past us when we are young and busy.

Of course I sometimes wish I did not walk with a stick and that I could leap around with the GC - but dwelling on it gets us nowhere.

Embrace this new journey in this new body and concentrate in the positives.