That's what I heard this weekend at a birthday party for a 60 year old friend of mine. I made a comment that he was an inspiration to me because even though he was turning 60, in my mind he was my age. (I'll be 40 in Dec.) He's active and healthy. He's completely white-headed, but not too wrinkled. He's up on new technology, current events and pop culture. He really enjoys life.
I contrast that with my previous conception of 60. My mom and aunt are good examples. Granted, they've had stressful lives and are both diabetic, leading to several complications and related health problems, and neither were very active when that was more of an option. But by comparison, my friend just seems decades younger.
Anyway, I was just musing about this over the weekend. Feel free to comment on it, specifically, or on old age or perceptions of it in general. Posted by Stephan (Member # 7549) on :
My parents are about to hit 60, extemely active and social. I think its really all mental, your as old as you think you are.
Posted by JonnyNotSoBravo (Member # 5715) on :
When I think about old age, I think what do I have to do to live longer and live well when I get old? Well, I need to be as strong. mobile and physically active as I can. I need to be mentally alert, quick to process events and able to make decent decisions. I should be able to discusss current events without launching into a history lesson every 5 minutes. I should probably try to keep working as long as possible to exercise my mind and body.
When I see these same characteristics in older people, I respect them more and get along with them easier. I treat them more as equals. Otherwise, I tend to tread very carefully around older people, often going into caretaker mode. Do they need help getting up? Do they need things explained to them? Would they like me to listen to their stories and ask questions about their life? How can I make things easier for them?
My dad is in his mid to late 60s, in great physical shape, but his technology acumen is not the greatest. They had a computer that would not turn on, and they just let it sit there for a year until the warranty ran out without trying to figure out if it was broken or not (it was). Their other computer has viruses up the wazoo and is unusable.
My aunt and uncle, who live near my parents, are older than my father is and have incredible technology skills. They burn CDs and DVDs, buy the latest software and hardware, and read technical articles on the latest innovations.
It's interesting seeing the different facets of the older people around me. From that I try to figure out what habits I need to develop in myself to acquire the characteristics I desire to have when I reach their age.
Posted by Artemisia Tridentata (Member # 8746) on :
That sounds about right to me, since I turned 60 in December. (I think that makes me a leading demographic indicator.) I am still deciding on what to do when I grow up.
Posted by KarlEd (Member # 571) on :
That's good to hear AT. I was beginning to worry since I'm still deciding and I'm almost 40. Good to know I have time. Posted by Uprooted (Member # 8353) on :
Last year we had an 80th birthday party for my dad. A teenager I knew from church was working in the grocery store and helped me out to my car with the cake, balloons and other party supplies. "Whose birthday?" he wanted to know, and I told him it was my dad's 80th.
His reply: "Whoa. 80. That's, like, over the hill TWICE." When I told Dad, he laughed and laughed and has been repeating it ever since.
Which prompted my brother to tell the story of his 40th birthday. When people would tell him he was over the hill, he would tell them that their hill must be a lot smaller than his. I love that line!
Posted by Artemisia Tridentata (Member # 8746) on :
quote:My dad is in his mid to late 60s, in great physical shape, but his technology acumen is not the greatest.
There you go, that should prove it. I do not have the ability to manage the juxtaposition which created the adjacent threads: 60 is the new 40 and is sex important? Posted by Tante Shvester (Member # 8202) on :
I'm 40, Karl. I'm confused. How old does that make me? 60? 30? 20?
Posted by KarlEd (Member # 571) on :
Well, I'll be 40 in December and I only feel about 30-ish, so let's just say, "40 is the new 30." Good for you?
(Of course, I've felt "30-ish" since I was 19, but for shifting reasons. )
Posted by El JT de Spang (Member # 7742) on :
Then, by extension I guess that makes 30 the new 20 and, at 26, makes me 18 again, right?
Posted by pH (Member # 1350) on :
So if I'm 21, am I really 16? Ah, back to the jailbait days...
My parents are 68 and 58. It's REALLY WEIRD to think that my dad is about to be 70. I still think he's 50-something. He's had silver hair since I was born, though.
-pH
Posted by Tante Shvester (Member # 8202) on :
I rarely lie about my age, but when I do, I usually add 20+ years. So, I'm 40, but I'll say I'm 60. Usually for the sole purpose of getting complements. Because if you are 40 and look 40 and say you're 40, then people just nod, as if to say, "Yeah, that's what I figured." But if you're 40 and look 40 and say you're 63, then people gush about how marvelous you look.
Which is nice to hear, sometimes.
Of course, I never perpetuate the pretense. I'll admit I was just kidding and am really 40. That's when the praise dries up. 'Cause I DO look good for 63. But for 40? About what you'd expect. Posted by Teshi (Member # 5024) on :
My parents are fifty one, but my youngest sister will only be fifteen when they turn sixty. I don't percieve them as been 'old' or 'slow' yet and I don't think that they will be in nine years.
I definitely think there is a shift not only the health but also the mindset of the older generation. When my mother met her mother in law (my grandmother), she relates that my grandmother looked just as "old-ladyish" as she does now (only, more active, obviously). She was fourty-five or so. This is in England, of course, so it might have been a different mindset there than in N. America, land of Large Cars and Hollywood.
I think the 40-60 crowd today is a lot more in touch with the same things and same ideas that the 20-40 crowd is than they were with their parents (you tell me, but my parents have said that more than once). I don't think there's a sense, so much any more, of there being this massive gulf between the youth and the not-so-youth.
I think there is a gulf, but not such a large or uncrossable one as there as been previously in the 20th century. It's more difficult, I think, to make generalizations about people because of their age.
There is a gulf of technology, especially regarding things like the use of internet. Obviously, all you people are here , but I think that perhaps the majority of 50s+, despite any technical knowledge of computers would not be so likely to use the computer immediately as a tool for knowledge, socialisation etc. My mother, again as an example, can use a computer and is beginning to quite frequently for a variety of uses, but she still does not remember that she can minimise things, although she knows, intellectually, that she can!
However, in no way would I call my parents' generation 'old' or 'over the hill', and I definately think that they don't percieve themselves that way!
I wonder if this lack-of-a-gulf is actually such a new thing, or if in the past the gulf has been less and it only became incredibly prominant in the middle of the twentieth century and we're now settling back to a more normal, but perhaps extended by our health care, state of things- by that I mean that instead of there being a small 20-40 gap there's only a small 20-50 or 20-60 gap. 60 year olds today were born post-World War Two. I think that's significant, 60 year olds in ten years will have been born in the fifties, growing up in the sixties.
(Whoa, that's really strange!)
I think there will almost always be a gap between the general youth and the general adults- people get used to certain things, it's a fact of life. But when I see my mother get on all the roller coaster rides that I am not interested in, particularly, she actually seems kind of stereotypically younger than I am in some ways.
Only, very, very, very experienced. Best of both worlds. Gar.
But I agree. Old people ain't so old, anymore.
Posted by jeniwren (Member # 2002) on :
quote:"Whoa. 80. That's, like, over the hill TWICE." When I told Dad, he laughed and laughed and has been repeating it ever since.
That's great!
My grandmother will be 90 this year and she's another 'young one'. She'll never be old. While she's not up on the latest technology, she does do email. She markets a self-help book on researching and writing your family history (documenting your geneology and then fleshing it out with stories of the people) -- a college level course she used to teach as recently as 3 years ago. She's amazing.
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That's great!