Asklemmy

Lots of things like grey hair, moving more slowly, injuries that I would have bounced away from before instead hurting for weeks or months.

But the one that hit hardest was a breakup I had a little while back. She was the love of my life and I fully intended to marry her, and when she ended it out of nowhere I was sad, but fine. She dumped me, and it sucked, but I also needed to finish a staff report for a Planning and Zoning Commission meeting that night. So I moved on.

The thing that upset me most was that I wasn't that upset. There was a time in my life when I would have been a mess. But as I've aged, my emotions have become more regulated.

I miss being capable of that level of joy and pain.

I don't feel happy

It was when I tripped and fell over outside my house. The next day my neighbour said, "I hear you had a Fall."

Yes, when you're old you don't fall over, you "have a Fall". Everyone hearing about your Fall will make concerned noises. (I was perfectly fine! I'm not OLD old!)

1. Eyesight is getting worse. It's hard to read in dim light, and driving at night can be rough.
2. Takes my body longer to recuperate from anything that it doesn't like - injuries, alcohol, upset stomach.
3. Age spots. I thought they were just freckles but my dermatologist says they're age spots. I'm only 43!

Aging is funny, because there's always someone who thinks you're ancient, and there's always someone who thinks you're still super young. I was at a bar a couple weeks ago, and these two dudes were complaining about how old they were getting.... so I asked, turns out they were the ripe old age of twenty-eight. Which made me laugh a little, because 28 is still pretty young. And when I told them I was 43 they couldn't believe it. I guess in my twenties I didn't have an accurate idea of what people in their forties looked like either. Conversely when I made some comment to my parents about being middle-aged, they laughed at me because "you're in your forties, you're not middle-aged!". So it's all relative. My dad said something that stuck with me: you may feel like you're getting older, but when you're my age (he's 75) you'll realize how young you still were, and how much energy you had. And that's helped me be aware that even though there are some aspects of aging that I really hate, there are plenty of good healthy years left.

Made breakfast this morning. Now my wrist hurts.

It takes exponentially longer to heal from physical injury. That's it so far, except for feeling calmer - older people are exceptional at emotional regulation, which oddly enough is why they are easier to scam, they don't freak out as quickly.

But mostly it's the slow healing. I am still strong and flexible but have to be careful and moderate because getting hurt will set me back much more than it used to.

My mom once made plans to come up here (she lived near Miami) to see Tab Benoit with some of her friends - by the day of the concert two of them were dead! She said "if you want to see your friend when you are old, go see them, don't make plans."

Waking up with a new pain and having to make it the new normal.

diminished eyesight, especially at night.

oh, and of course, making some references that some of the youngsters don't understand.

(also, using the term "youngsters")

At age 30, I noticed I couldn't skimp on sleep anymore and hangovers were much worse than in my 20's.

In my mid-30's my eyesight started to blur and I had to start wearing glasses.

At 40, my digestion isn't as good as it used to be and I take supplements. Also, it's harder to memorize things now, and I no longer have the option of missing workouts or daily stretching, because I notice it much more if I haven't done these things.

Not being able to see at night when the lights turn off

Injuries take longer to recover from

Headlights in the opposite direction cause troubles

Dashboard indicators (like high beams) are much brighter, annoyingly so.

My knee hurts when it's raining.

It's interesting to me that I don't see myself aging in the bathroom mirror…until I put on my glasses. Then it's obvious. Also, I didn't used to need glasses. But nature's gaussian blur filter is awesome. My wife looks as good as the day I met her too!

Eyesight started going in mid 40s. Still not happy about it.

Past 25 I started to realise I couldn't remember everything that everyone had said to me. This was also around the time I developed a social life, so it could just be that my brain had more to manage socially.

Past 30, I stopped caring about appearances so much and started working on developing mental skills. I was able to defend my beliefs better, make more on-the-spur jokes.

Past 35, I no longer care about anything. I have bouts where I'm in interested in building things, or conversing. But now? Eh, work/sleep is enough.

If a terrorist held a gun to my head and ordered me to get on my knees, I would simply have to let them blow my head off because that is no longer possible. Also I have that slight wrinkle at the top of my cleavage, which apparently I can get Botox for. But I'm not going to.

I no longer feel a sense of unrealised potential for myself I guess. That's it, I've got what I've got.

I took a shower and my knee hurts. Like fuck.

Not replying to as many of these types of posts is one of them

After about an hour of using the mouse or controller gaming, I have to take a few seconds to massage my hand because it gets sore and stiff.

Didn't happen until I got into my 30's 😔

I worked construction from 14-20. Nowadays I work a cushy desk job. Still whenever we need something sone in our house (which is a lot, my house is a degrading shack) if it's something I'm comfortable doing I do it myself. Every once in a while there's a job that just kills me and I feel like I need a week to recover from.

Last weekend I put new drywall up on my kitchen ceiling. I used to do it all the time with ease, by myself, light work. Nowadays I'm glad my wife wasn't home to see me struggling. I had to pull out all my tricks and it was still fucking rough.

Hair falling out

I got gout and shingles

My age keeps increasing.

Using any tool that vibrate much like a string trimmer will irritate where my spine is pinched and I'll regret it for months. It makes me feel useless. Fusing 4 discs in my upper back or neck would almost guaranteed make me feel more useless.

I definitely can't pretend I'm young anymore. It isn't just pain, and when it is pain it's not the worst pain. It makes me unable to feel my arm. I had to get an epidural of steroids to get the inflammation down to get feeling back, and I seem to be at least mildly allergic to that .

Time passing.

New technology is harder to adopt.

2 drinks making me feel 100% worse

• In my teens and early 20s I used to enjoy snowboarding. I was never any good at it, but at least I could make it down the mountain. Tried again in my 30s, and I could barely even stand on the board. Never made it off the practice hill.

• Getting in and out of cars is painful now. Especially since I drive 90s and 2000s Japanese sports cars, which have a tendency to sit so low that it feels like your ass is dragging on the pavement when you drive them. I have no idea how I'm going to be able to continue driving them 20, 30, 40 years from now. I don't want a giant modern car. Even sedans are SUV-sized these days.

Scattered gray hairs on head and beard. At this point, they look kinda good because I’m mostly retaining my natural color.

Used to be super skinny. Metabolism slowed and I have a beer gut.

Far less interested in pursuing hobbies into the wee hours of the morning. I like to go to bed by around 1030pm and wake early even on weekends. I woke naturally at 6am today (Saturday).

Feel out of place in some younger crowds like concerts for young artists. We were definitely some of the oldest people at a 100 Gecs show.

If I sleep wrong I wake up in pain.

It actually takes effort for me to get out of my car. Like I'm having to pull myself out.