anyone ever depressed over getting old?

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Jan 22, 2005
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as im getting older i feel as if all the good times are behind me. When i was younger i had more people around me, grandparents and my mom, more friends. But now that im 32, life is just a rat race; going to work; and the usual routine. Im not married yet, and most of my friends are married and dont have any free time anymore. We all used to go ride motorcycles on weekends or do something fun, but now they are all tied up with their kids. Just wondering if anyone else finds it hard getting old?
 
32 isn't old! I turn 27 tomorrow. I don't mind getting older, even though, like you, I'm single and childless. I like being single and childless, actually.

It probably helps that I like doing stuff on my own. And also that I didn't have such a great time in high school and college. I'm glad to be free of all that.

~ashes
 
First of all, how would you know? 32 isn't old. :)

To that end, there is a solution. Don't get old!! Getting old isn't defined by how many aches and pains you have, or by how many friends and loved ones are no longer with you, or that friends and loved ones are nbow more interested in which type of diaper to buy than in which brand of motorcycle has the most torque. People's interest change. Be flexible, and learn to enjoy things on your own. Enjoy those trips in the woods, because you will also come around to the diaper-changing state of mind one of these days (in all probability). And that should't make you old either.

I'm a lot older than you, and in diaper changing mode. I will still find the time this year to accept the invitation of a well-known knifemaker to visit him and learn how to forge san-mai damascus steel. Learning new things keeps the brain young. And that is all that there is to it.
 
You're 32 and single. Depressed about getting older? GMAFB.

And as for the rat race thing -- you're gonna' be on that wheel for the next 35 years or so, so get used to it.
 
dsvirsky said:
You're 32 and single. Depressed about getting older? GMAFB.

Get up, get out, and do something. The less you do, the older you are. (You're not dead until you stop moving :D)

dsvirsky said:
And as for the rat race thing -- you're gonna' be on that wheel for the next 35 years or so, so get used to it.

urban vermin on the run
workin hard is hardly fun

takin time to smell the rose
got a thorn right in the nose

smart money always knows the way
gettin rich will be ok

dont you worry time will come
our boy will get him some
 
Well, as I told my friend Jim when he turned 40. "Don't look at it as if half of your life is over. Look at it as if the FUN half of your life is over" :eek: I don't think I cheered him up much.

Getting "older" doesn't bother me. Getting fat and lazy bothers me and I seem to be too set im my ways to change my habits.
 
woodsy..
life is what you make it...so find a new challenge..take up a new hobby. Go back to school, Travel to a place you have never been before...at 32 your whole life is ahead of you...
 
You gotta find something positive in everything that happens. That's my secret to not getting depressed. I know a lot of people who get all depressed during the Winter months. My take on that? I say, sure it's cold, but there's NO mosquitos. You're only as old as your mind tells you to be.
 
Time
Ticking away the moments that make up a dull day
You fritter and waste the hours in an offhand way
Kicking around on a piece of ground in your home town
Waiting for someone or something to show you the way
Tired of lying in the sunshine
Staying home to watch the rain
And you are young and life is long
And there is time to kill today
And then one day you find
Ten years have got behind you
No one told you when to run
You missed the starting gun...

(Partial Pink Floyd song)

I am having different fun now at 48 than i had at 28. Though I really had fun at 18. That is where all these aches and pains derive from. I like my battle wounds even now as I enjoyed getting them. Things change subtley over time. Run while you can without wheezing.
 
I think if you get another group of friends like you once had everything will turn around :D

BTW, ref. the Pink Floyd song, it's nice to see some decent lyrics. Most of today's popular songs don't live up to such status.
 
I'm 62 and the only thing that depresses me about that is the thought that there are so many blades and so many books and so little time. :) :)
 
I'm older then I used to be,but I'm younger then I will be.At my age thats the only way to look at it.
 
I'm 49.

I'm fit, healthy and strong. I had a stressful, crappy job, but it's over now and I never have to work again unless I want to.

I have a lovely, happy young wife who makes my life a joy.

I have paid off my mortgage.

I have no kids to support.

This year we plan to move to somewhere wild and beautiful. We will buy puppies. Spiglet will tend her garden and do a little job that she enjoys.

Afraid of growing old? Hah!

"Annual income twenty pounds, annual expenditure nineteen nineteen six, result happiness. Annual income twenty pounds, annual expenditure twenty pounds ought and six, result misery."

Charles Dickens, David Copperfield

maximus otter
 
I was in a similar place as you at around the same age. I turned 30 and took stock of my life. I was in the profession I wanted to be in, but working for a total A-hole. I was making an obscene commute to this hell-hole work place, was consuming way too much caffeine, and really getting stressed driving. I was still playing rugby, but was suffering a string of nagging injuries that slowly robbed me of my ability to train and play. Socially, I occasionally got lucky and found a woman to date for awhile, but the pickings were mighty unrewarding. I had a "list", and most candidates were stricken pretty quickly. In a short time span, I had a road-rage incident that really scared me. Nothing happened other than the other guy seeing me and the extent of my anger and willingness to do some serious harm, wisely decided that he would get back into his truck in one piece. I also started having heart palpitations, which turned into a full blown cardiac work-up.
Long story short, it was determined that I had way too much stress in my life, and was not sleeping enough, drinking too much caffeine, etc.
Also around this time, I was set up on a blind-date... who eventually turned into my wife. :) Having the RIGHT person in your life really solves a lot of problems. I had to quit playing rugby due to some severe and irreversible arthritic changes which ultimately led to joint replacement. I no longer over indulge in anything, (alcohol, caffeine etc.) and have found other things to indulge in. (knives, guns, hunting etc.)
So, VW, go get yourself a good woman, get married, have some kids, a big mortgage, car payments etc. You'll have a whole bunch of things to be happy and proud about. You'll also get stressed and depressed about these things too. Life goes on, go buy a new knife... it helps.
 
If you think 32 is old, wait till you get pass 40 and you'll most likely panic. Don't worry too much, it won't happen over night though.
 
32???...Damn, I can hardly remember 32...It was soooooooooooo long ago.:D.
 
The only thing I regret is the design of the human knee....

At 58, I have more interests than I can possibly find time for, a decent job, a good marriage (30 years) and a very energetic puppy.
 
maximus otter said:
I'm 49.

I'm fit, healthy and strong. I had a stressful, crappy job, but it's over now and I never have to work again unless I want to.

I have a lovely, happy young wife who makes my life a joy.

I have paid off my mortgage.

I have no kids to support.

This year we plan to move to somewhere wild and beautiful. We will buy puppies. Spiglet will tend her garden and do a little job that she enjoys.

Afraid of growing old? Hah!

"Annual income twenty pounds, annual expenditure nineteen nineteen six, result happiness. Annual income twenty pounds, annual expenditure twenty pounds ought and six, result misery."

Charles Dickens, David Copperfield

maximus otter
You are truly a blessed man. I hope to be where you are someday.

I'm 36, balding, a bit overweight. I have high BP, a wife and twin 2 year olds (so I have almost no time for me). I have a good job (of course the pay sucks).
But I'm 13 years from being able to retire(I'll be 49 :) ). I may keep working, I my go and get another job and retire from there too or I may do nothing. The house that I plan to buy/build in the next year will be over half paid for at that time. I've got things in motion that should take care of my kids college or least most of it so I don't have to worry about that. My high BP in under control with meds. Like everyone else I'm trying to lose at least a little weight. I can't do anything about the balding. Am I depressed over getting old? Hell no, I'm excited about where I am in life.
There was a point I was sort of depressed about my age. Then I realized it was because I not even started doing any of the things I had wanted to do in life. Now that I have plans and have started working towards them, I'd much happier. :D I don't think of my life as being almost over. I think of it as I almost there.
 
What an interesting thread. Thank you for sharing this sentiment.

As I look around me, I notice that more and more people are much younger than I am. That's the chief observation on getting older -- in my case 44.

I just love my life. I just worked out with weights and I'm in the best shape of my whole life.

I work very hard on the mental angle. I am better at observing my thoughts and exploring their truth. I find more and more beliefs that are hangin out there and I say "aha!" and then I explore them.

Getting old sucks. Can you really know that's true? Really really?

For me I'm much wiser. I pity the guy in my memory that is me at 20. I was in such pain and feeling so bad about things. I am so grateful that I've grown up -- something that happened in my case only in the last few years.

As my mental mood has changed (on its own -- I'm not trying to change it) I notice that I am less attached to expectations. I live less in the future. I am more willing to be open and listen to someone finish a sentence, for instance. Little things.

It's a cool thing, this life.
 
You aren't even close to old. If I could be any age I wanted it would be about 40, that way I could look forward to 50 and mid-life crisis all over again!
 
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