I mean, if you wanna test this then go to google and type in “life gets more boring as we get older,” and you’ll see the never ending train of geriatrics coming on talking about “well life is getting better for me.” In old age, either, you’re health goes or you become a slave to keeping it up. The older you get, the less physically active you can be anymore. You can’t eat what you want anymore, stay up as long as you want anymore, catch a buzz anymore, you may not even be able to fucking get laid anymore. Sure, if you can afford to retire, you have plenty of time, but what can you really do with all that time?……
People will forever lie to themselves to convince themselves it’s not that bad, and I can understand this to an extent, they just wanna try to enjoy their lives. But then they wanna insist to other people that it’s not so bad or that life actually “gets better” in old age, (really? So if I could magically make them 20 again, they’d say no? Would that not be like, being given an option between a brand spanking new camero, and another camero, same yr and make but it’s old and ragged and beat the hell up, who in their right mind would choose the latter one?)
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“People will do anything, no matter how absurd, to avoid facing their own souls.â€
“The most terrifying thing is to accept oneself completely.â€
― C.G. Jung
As we age, it becomes increasingly more enticing, perhaps necessary, to deceive ourselves, in order to mitigate some of the stuff we don’t want to accept about reality and mortality.
And just think, if they come right out with the honest truth, people start cryin’ and shit, accusing them of being mean and bitter, and attribute it directly to age… as if they expect that they themselves will never grow old and encounter such conditions… as if it’s the old person’s fault for aging.
People are often astonishing.
I don’t see the problem here. Getting old doesn’t mean your life is worthless; it is worth as much as any other life. It sounds like because people don’t want to accept that their body stops functioning when they get old, they are bad people to whatever extent.
If the point of life is to be happy, it is totally fine of elderly to concentrate on parts of their lives other than parts that involve physical activity.
I’m not saying there is anything wrong with trying to be happy in older age, I get that, people want to be happy. That’s not my issue here.
All I am saying is, not everyone can deal with these changes, in fact the majority have to deceive themselves in order to not get down about it themselves. Fine, w/e works for them. But not everyone is able to convince ourselves that living a boring miserable life, isn’t boring and miserable.
I’m not saying their lives are worthless. In fact I take issue with how our society throws the elderly away into rest homes like yesterday’s garbage and just forgets about them, leaving them to what often ends up being abusive rest homes. And they never stop to think, if they should live long enough, some day they will be in one of those rest homes.
I just think that, it’s fine and understandable if old people can convince themselves that it’s not that bad, but i promise if they had the option of being younger again they’d take it with no reservations, not so much as a moment’s second thought. I just don’t think it’s good advice to be telling people who are going into middle age or w/e to just lie to themselves about it.
Honestly, I don’t look down on old people the same way I don’t look down on people who have cancer, but it’s an illness. It’s an illness everyone eventually has to live with (unless they die young). I think we should have the option to go out before we get to that point (assuming the patient doesn’t have children or anyone who depends on them).
If people are lying to themselves about how it all isn’t really that bad, then the converse is also true; people who tell themselves that it sucks are also lying to themselves. Both are subjective value assessments.
inverse* dur converse? wtf brain.
well, i’m inclined to agree: some people are indeed deceiving themselves into thinking it’s worse than it actually is. Some. Just like some old people are like “shit, this sucks, i hate being old and decrepit! Kids these days! Get off my lawn!”
So, if you were offered a chance to be 21 again, you’d choose to remain old? I call bluff on that.
Ew, I was a moron at 21. I’ll stick with 30, thanks.
I wouldn’t go back to being 21, simply because I was miserable, ignorant, naive and obnoxious, and quite simply don’t want to go through all the shit again. People who are or have been suicidal would surely understand this? Life is painful. Why on earth would I want to go back and repeat it all again?
I’m 51 by the way, and a little bit offended, lol.
@prisoner, yeah, but if you had the ability to be that young again and still retain the knowledge you have now, you’d probably take it. I’m not saying anyone misses being naive and obnoxious, people miss not having their bodies fall to pieces on them, and not having to be running on a hamster wheel to keep it working. Try being in your 30’s and a long time pothead, and fighting erectile dysfunction, only reason I can get my shit somewhat working now is because I use L-Argenine pills and iodine supplements, it’s working *enough* to do the deed but it’s still fading and my 40’s are just around the corner. And I don’t particularly care to be forced to live a slim body good, leave it to beaver lifestyle for my shit to keep working.