Wellness

[willdob3]

Being ""old"" is pretty much a mindset. An attitude. A lifestyle.

[Puzzle Piece]

You ladies are all great! Helps me as well. I am not near 60 and for my friend to be so down on living isn't comforting for me to be around.

I agree with Willdob3 - It is a mindset, an attitude, a lifestyle. It's good to be alive. For my friend to have had such advantages and opportunities in life and living and then to just be so ungrateful for all those things and life is beyond me.

Rock on Jersey Girl1948!!

[BellaPaprika]

That's sad about your friend, Love Roses. It could be depression. It could be that your friend has bought into all the focus on looking and feeling young and is having trouble dealing with the normal aging process. But insisting on calling herself "old", "senior citizen" (a silly euphemism IMO) sounds as if she's asking someone to argue with her and tell her she's still vital. She's looking for validation when she should just enjoy each day and be glad she's made it thus far. But you can't talk people out of either their depression or fixed ideas like hers. You'll exhaust yourself trying. I would either avoid her or leave when she starts the self pity.

[Bullfroggie]

I turned 65 last month and am the happiest I have ever been. I am healthy, have the most wonderful family, two successful sons, two grandsons, aged 2 1/2 years and 6 weeks, a beautiful home, a great job that allows me to travel, sweet kitty, friends. I am so blessed and do not dwell on my age. It is all attitude.

[straykatz]

On 7/14/2014 gazelle77 said: In today's world...in the medical world...65 is old. Of course it is only a number. I am 58,and tell anyone who asks my age that I am 65. I get told how great I look. It is a great advantage to me for senior discounts!

Do you really take advantage of senior discounts that you're not old enough to get?

[lovesrecess]

65 is old because of Medicare and Social Security; if you didn't get these til age 75, then 75 would be "old"...it's all relative

[Sooner]

On 7/14/2014 Love Roses said:

On 7/14/2014 StylishLady said:

Going on 80 and proud of it. Work out, keep fit, love wearing nice things. I honestly feel like I was still 35. "Age" is how many trips around the sun you have made, something you cannot control. "Old" is a state of mind, and you do have some control over that.

Well put. Thanks to those who have replied. I just found it odd that my friend would find the number 65 the count down. They have even told me that if they passed away tomorrow, they have lived a full life and wouldn't feel the need to live longer and that there isn't anyone who would care at all. I would care and would miss them if that were to happen.

I think 65 IS the countdown--and because I'm am not far from that, I heed that thought. We went out of town this weekend, shopped and had a blast because I think that. I've discussed it with hubby and because of this fact, we are going to stress less, take life easier, do more things we want to just because, and have more fun while we are still financially and physically WELL able to do it. It is wise use of our resources and age and health to do it now! Some day that may not be the case.

I see people here who are miserable retired and old, and I see people who are happy to have another day even if there are things they can no longer enjoy. They take happiness from the happiness of people around them and have a great attitude about the ups and downs of life. I hope I am one of those old ladies who is cheerful, happy for others, and who people like. Not an old sour apple that others avoid.

[moonstone dunes]

On 7/15/2014 lovesrecess said:

65 is old because of Medicare and Social Security; if you didn't get these til age 75, then 75 would be "old"...it's all relative

I agree...the mandated age of 65 and retirement and thus "old age" has stuck in our mindsets since the 1930s when SSA was established. People were lucky back then to make it to 65.

[QueenDanceALot]

I don't think there is anything you can tell someone to make them change how they think about their age. They have to come to that themselves.

[InStitches49]

I just celebrated my 65th birthday on July 4th and prefer to think that I'm "seasoned" (kind of like good wine) rather than the dull word "old." Okay, I may be considered over the hill by some; but at least I get senior discounts and will soon get Social Security and, yes, have a daughter in college (senior at last). If you marry later in life as I did, have babies later (our son is thirty but there was a long eight years between him and his sister) even when the specialist said it wasn't possible (ha, ha!), then you stay younger thinking at least. I figure I'll have to be ninety before grandkids come at this rate, so I stay active, positive thinking (most of the time), and try to not dwell on what's gone before but on what is still to be. Age is a matter of mind; if you don't mind, it doesn't matter .