At what age did you feel 'old'?

alumende27

I always wondered when I was a teenager what it would feel like to be older. 45 now and still waiting to find out.

My parents are both well into their 80s and give no indication of feeling old either. My dad still pops over occasionally to help *me* with DIY! (Tasks that require two people and he offers, I dont ask him for help!). As my mother puts it they keep busy by skiing. (Spending the kids inheritance).

Having said that my mother complains she only feels old when she gets a cold and can't do anything productive for a few days.

amateur_house

I am 54 and don't feel old yet. But when I read anything, e.g a newspaper article, that mentions someone my age I think 'they're getting on a bit' before I stop and think 'but younger than me' . Then they seem young again :rotfl:

codemonkey

I turned 36 last year and that was troublesome for me. I'm not sure why. 30 was ok, 35 was fine, then 36 sent me into a tailspin.

In many ways I still feel young and that I'm convinced that the 90s were only 10 years ago. But nobody warns you of the deterioration in your 30s. I used to dye my hair to make it pretty colours, now I dye it to hide the grey. I have thrown my back out in the shower. I find it increasingly hard to shift weight. In my teens and early 20s if I felt my favourite jeans get too tight, I'd go off to the running track and do a few laps and within a week I'd be OK. These days I'd need to do laps, pilates and diet for months to get the same effect. All my student haunts are gone now and I have no idea which clubs are good anymore. Some of my colleagues were born in the late 90s and we don't share the same cultural references. The Christmas charts were playing and I realised I had not heard any of the songs on it. If Top of the Pops was still on, no doubt I'd be squinting at it saying 'This isn't music it's noise'. I find myself furious at the lazy remakes and reboots of films from my childhood.

At the same time, I still giggle at fart jokes, so I can't be that mature.

beautiful_ravens

I'll be 41 this month. I dont feel old in my head - I think of people in their 20's as not much younger than me haha; but am noticing physical signs of ageing like injuries not healing up so quickly, getting wrinkles and funny feeling skin, a bit less hair than I used to have, and generally feeling tired more easily, I can't go on and on of a day like I used to. Losing weight has become a long term, difficult thing compared to the quick weight loss I used to rely on. But mostly, if I stay away from the mirror, Im ok with it all!

jp1964

I don't. I genuinely don't really think about age that much at all, despite all my children being grown up now, and at the age of 52, my mind feels just as it did when I was in my twenties, body less so, but feeling old? No, I really am not.

Missus_Hyde

I never used to feel old until about ten years ago when I was 55, but I notice that when I meet new people now at social gatherings, rather than flirting and laughing with them, we spend the time discussing our medications and hospital appointments.

Teacher2

I am sure that others see me as old but, even after I turned 60 in October I didn't really feel old, just older.

My mother thought the end of the world had happened when she turned 40 and she started to look older when she was 50 but today with greater access to money and enhancing products and with a greater emphasis on remaining fit and healthy it really does look as if 60 is the new 40 - and so on. My retired colleagues still look fabulous and I am slimmer and healthier than I ever was as I now have time to walk and exercise. Much is to do with mental health, too, and I no longer have the stresses of work and have cultivated a much more philosophical attitude to life.

I guess good health is the key to staving off the ill effects of ageing. I would not be so blase if I suffered from a debilitating condition rather than the minor aches, stiffnesses and pains of a creaky body.

justme111

First time it was when I was 17. It was about my mind, thinking about life and how this world works. Then at 27 when I noticed first lines on my face. Then 31 when biological clock syarted ticking re children. Then at 40 when noticed my neck sagging and face changing. From then on it the notion of ageing is constant but I do not think it is negative. One of my friends died and two other acquaintances had their lives cut short suddenly , one leaving 6 yo child behind and one at the cusp of his career. So getting older is not perceived as negative by me.

tain

I still feel like I'm far too immature to be a 'grown up' at 34yo!

But in the past year I've been having trouble just standing up from a slightly sore back - it really makes me feel my age, and older...

Bellisima

I'm 58, but I started to feel old at about 55. My looks changed (saggy face!) and I developed knee and hip problems. I've just had a hip replacement and due a knee replacement when I've recovered, oh joy! Up until then I was active and young at heart!