Does your age have anything to do with FEELING old?
Are you as Young as you Feel?
´´ Those were the days, my friend,
We thought they´d never end,
We´d sing and dance,
Forever and a day.
We´d live the life´d we´d choose.
We´d fight and never lose,
Those were the days,
O, Yes, those were the days....´´
Sung by Mary Hopkin
The song, partially quoted above, was just a happy tune to my friends and myself, as we sang along and danced to it during our teenage years.
Not realising the seriousness of the line....´´We thought they´d never end´´..
Man alive !!!!. We were having so much fun., at 17, 18 19 yrs of age...........
It never occurred to us that life would be any different ...... ever....
(I realise how dumb that sounds now.)
Our little group of close friends all worked hard in our own ways. Some at college, some in employment. For me...... The week began at my desk in an office on Monday mornings
9.0. a.m. SHARP:! Finish at 5.0. p.m.. Even that was fun. I loved my work, the office was a large one with varying age groups and lifestyles.
Lifestyles.......While at the office, I´d sit with my hair piled up into a neat chignon, my clothes, conservative, modest and neat.......but come Friday.........wheeeeee! The lifestyle of a normal teenage girl along with my normal teenage friends. (Show me a ´normal´teenager........)would begin... Hair down, freedom loving, flowing clothes, dancing and ... er... well probably a little too much drinking. But heck! , that sort of went with the territory. Life was one big party, we thought... and yes, however naive it may seem now, I personally did expect life to just continue as I liked it. Fun. Fun. Fun. .............
Falling in love, slowed me down only slightly, we continued with the life is fun concept together..
Marriage, children, reaching the age of 30, then 40, even 50, despite life´s traumas I never concerned myself with my age. I enjoyed every moment of bringing up my children, despite the trying times when they behaved just as I had. ...(them thinking they were 1st to do it.)
Many people, especially women, even one or two of my friends, worried about getting older. Personally, I didn´t ´´get it´´. I was still me.
So what makes a person FEEL old?
My first grey hairs put a smile on my face. I felt I must now finally be a grown-up. (It wasn´t true, of course. We are still waiting for that to happen)
Plenty of hair products on the modern market could eliminate grey hair, so as you´d forget you had them.. So grey hairs didn´t make me feel any older.
My children married young, resulting in my becoming a grandmother at the tender age of 38.Still young enough to play with them. Still believing I was ´´young´´. No problem.
Not even when the grandchildren (at least 2 of them ) settled down at a young age and each of the two presented me with a great grandchild within 3 months of each other.(Was it a race???)
Even this title of great grandmother had no effect on me feeling older. I found it much more difficult to get my head around the idea of my son being a grandad.
My health had , on occasions, forced me into a wheelchair. This MUST have made me feel I was aging, surely .? NOPE! I just knew I had an illness and my bones were crumbling. Could happen at any age....
Silly, happy, crazy, me.....Was I still having fun? You bet. Totally oblivious to the FACT that I was and am aging. Am I having fun yet? Am I supposed to be grown up now?.........
PLOP.!!! One day, without warning, drops an envelope through our letterbox onto the carpet. A suspicious looking envelope, therefore I ignored it and my husband opened it.
He passes a card the size of a credit card to me.......It had a picture of a woman I did not recognise, yet my name and date of birth were typed right next to it.........
THUD!!!!!! It has finally happened . I feel ancient , not old. The card is my bus pass.!!!!!
A senior citizen bus pass.!!!.
Aaaaaaargh!!! When did it happen?. Of all the different events, good, bad, crisis, joy, all natural events as we age (including menopause, which I have avoided mentioning.! Nightmare....but still didn´t make me feel old.)
All it took was for our Great British government in their infinite wisdom to grant me a bus pass....and that´s it! One tiny card with a picture of some woman claiming to be me and I feel ancient , not old. I´m done for. It´s all over. Whooooosh...........Was that my life?. Yep! Afraid so. Goes quickly when you´re having fun doesn´t it?
In my head I can still hear.......´´´We thought they´d never end . We´d sing and dance forever and a day.......´´´´
Does anything make you feel old.? Does it even matter?
I´ll love to hear some opinions.
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Comments
- Author
Thank you for reading and leaving me such an interesting family story.
When my great grandfather died, age 101, the doc said he was, "Just an old piece of machinery that wore out." His youngest, my grandfather, died at age 81 after his doc told him, "Wiley, you have GOT to retire! You are simply too old to go on working the way you do." He died within weeks of that diagnosis. So I've learned that age is an accident of birth, that "being old" is a diseased state of mind and to avoid work at all costs if I want to continue on from my present 64.
Thanks for a good read, Dim! I'd have read it sooner, but I only just got here a few days ago.
....well I must say I'm 'crazy' about you ....
- Author
Hello Colin,
How nice of you to visit one of my older hubs.
You are a gentleman, sir, and I thank you for your continuous support of this slightly crazy lady.
It´s pouring rain here, so I´ll just picture the Autumn sun where you are in my mind.
....you are one of the youngest women I've ever met in my life - because of your beautiful heart and open mind - and yes what a lovely song that was by Mary Hopkins back in the day (she was, I believe, the first artist to be recruited by the Beatles for their new Apple label.)
sending you warm wishes and good energy from the epi-man on this most gorgeous sunny and warm day and it's October 1 - gee I hope that's a good omen
- Author
Oh Thank you, funny man........ placemats is a hilarious idea.
My husband thinks so too, so if he disappears into his den, I´ll know he´s attempting to make them.
Your support is much appreciated.
Take care,
Dim
I think you should make a copy of the bus pass and make them into placemats and put them around the kitchen table.This way when you see them you can have so much fun with it.I enjoyed your hub very much.My father use to say age is just a number.He never did elaborate that the number gets larger and larger.My father inlaw would reverse his number and joke instead of 81 he was 18 and he flet that way too.He knew he could joke and laugh even though his body wans't the same.For me I am 47 and I am coming closer and closer to the big 50.I guess I can't share my thoughts with teenagers anymore since they wear their pants so their underwear shows.They fist bump instead of shake hands. A different world but I am still going to think young.Have a great day.
- Author
Hi Mekenzie,
Thanks for readng my page., and leaving a cute comment.
Nice to meet you too.
- Author
Hey mckbirdbks............ I need my glasses to read the bus pass, does that count???
Hi Dim, nice to meet you. Your hub was a delightful read and I see a very young spirit throughout. I hope that the bus card is just a temporary setback. You are certainly young at heart. We are what we think we are.
God Bless!
Mekenzie
Dim, as long as you can read the bus pass you are doing ok.
- Author
Oh and I loved your coment- Wow!!!
Thanks for taking the time to read and comment.-
I guess we're as Old as we feel. Some days I'm still like a 25 year old...and somedays I feel double that and so on. But It's all in the mind. My mother taught me that, when at 75 she had a Lover who was 91! I swear! And Poignant, he out lived her!
Loved your Hub Dim.
- Author
hi there, Curiad,
Everything is all in the mind, Isuppose. Being positive makes such a difference to peoples´lives.
I am positively grateful that you took the time to read and comment here.
Thank you.
- Author
Hi Paul,
I know exactly what you mean about music. My husband is 67 and couldn´t understand, recently why one of the grandchildren didn´t know who Bob dylan was. Hee Hee.
Thanks so much for taking time to come to my page.
- Author
Hi janhorner,
No, Ididn´t get my buspass at 60 either . In Britain they are gradually altering it until it becomes 65, you need to be. Somehow it symbolsied old age to me. My life has´t changed. Writing is my passion. I feel too youg too have a bus pass....... guess I just should be grateful. Still, as you noticed this hub was very tongue in cheek. not to be taken too seriously.
I appreciate you taking the time to comment. Thank you.
As most have said, "old" is all in the mind, the attitude. Yes out bodies age but if we continue to share who we are, what we have experienced, we are eternal!
Dimflaxenwick,
I will turn 68 in August, but I still really don't feel or consider myself to be old. Retiring from my job in the States, and starting to receive social security didn't make me feel old. I guess it's because I'm still active every day teaching and around young people who help make me feel young. The only time I really sense that I am old is when I realize that my students don't know about or like the music of the 50s and 60s which I grew up liking and still like to hear. Voted up as interesting and sharing!
Hi, I turned 60 last year and because of the government changing the rules I did not get my bus pass! How dare they! In my mind I don't feel much different to my younger days. However, I have a bit of a 'middle spread.' My hair is only just beginning to show signs of grey (I'm a natural redhead). I cannot rush about like I use too and I still work full time; have to be up by 4 a.m. to get ready for work which by the end of the week begins to make me feel a little weary. However, I refuse to give in!
Loved your hub and the humorous way you have written this. Voted up.
Jan
- Author
Hello gmwilliams Thanks for taking the time to comment.
Age is a number to me. Although that does ñot stop me feeling old and decrepid some days. I just meant that I´ve never been afraid of reaching 30 as if it is the end of the world, or 40..etc.,
Sadly the buspass has floored me.... Now I know I´m old....
- Author
Dear Velvet Vignettes..... Thank you so much for your comment.
I agree tht everyone seems worn out these days. I can remember , many years ago making my bed in the mornings , and wondering how soon I could get back into it.
My dad used to say we´re as young as we feel and somedays we all feel about 105..!!
I´ve never considered washed out feelings with my age.....At least.... not until I received a bus pass........
The years and the body often metamorph but you are still you! Feeling young and/or feeling old is a matter of attitude. If you believe that once you reach a certain age, you act old and change your personality and beliefs to societal perceptions of what it means to be old, then you are acting on a quite negativistic self-fulfilling prophecy. However, if you ignore all the negative societal perceptions and act yourself and believe that age is only a number then you are doing quite alright! Just be!
I admire your exuberance! I'm afraid I'm the polar opposite of you; twenty years old and I feel ancient myself. Different personalities, perhaps? Outlook on life? I'd like to know too. Maybe too many people confuse feeling 'worn out' with feeling 'old.' It seems from your article that youth may really be just a state of mind after all.
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