No, the future is what you make it, but sooner or later you'll reach a point where you know who you are, what you are, and where you are. If you're lucky, you can look back on your life and say "I got it done," and now its Miller time. Kick back, take it easy, and make it easy on yourself because you earned it. You'll be secure in the knowledge and even a bit liberated by realizing you don't need all that crap you accumulated in your youthful days because now your an old man, and you know you won't be going to save Gotham, or doing the Lone Ranger thing. As an old fart going fishing on the bank of the river any little ol pocket knife will do. As will any little ol pocket gun for self defense. You won't have any need for cutlery that will do for surviving the Amazon, or taking out Chinese paratroopers while yelling "WOLVERINES". You raised your kids and then grandkids and you won't be backpacking into the back country wilderness any more at your age. And you know what? You don't really want to. Been there, done that.
Needs change as you age. Going off into the wilderness with just what is on my back, maybe a nice survival knife may be needed. But the last time Karen and saw Yellowstone, we took the tourist bus around, and later sat on the nice veranda of the Yellowstone lodge and watched Old Faithful with cocktails in hand. We don't travel by motorcycle anymore, but we do like the road trips in a nice car with some books on disc, a little cooler in the back seat with snacks, and our own quiet air conditioned environment. No more bugs in the teeth, getting into our rain suits when it rains, instead use turn on windshield wipers and turn up the volume of Vivaldi's Four Seasons. We reached a stage of life where we didn't want our motorcycles any more. Natural stages of life.
Its only depressing to go through the stages of life if you fight evolution. Things change and theres not a damm thing we can do about it except run right at it and embrace it. Its natural, we get old, it happens. Get over it. I'm not going to be the guy that tried to fool himself by franticly trying to stay the same. I don't need the bigger knives I used to carry for a few reasons. I'm not that 30 something year old guy anymore, but an arthritic septuagenarian. A peanut size knife or small SAK is all I need, so thats all I bother to have. I don't need anything tactical in my life. And I'm good with that. I will keep a little pocket gun hidden out, and that will be good enough for some low life that thinks the old white bearded guy limping on a cane will be an easy meal. And in 2017 it was enough.
Yes, aging can be a little depressing, but you go on. No, you can't do a lot of what you used to do. BUT...do you really want to? To be honest, I feel no urge to lug a backpack up a mountain, cook some freeze dried turkey tetrazzini over an alcohol stove, and sleep on a thin foam pad. I like traveling by car, eating at the restaurant and sleeping in a nice bed these days. So does the better half.
They say old age is not for the faint of heart. Yes, I can vouch for that. But, whats the alternative? Keep on going as long as you can, even if its at a slower pace or not going as far. Like Teddy Roosevelt said, "Do what you can, with what you have, where you are."
And enjoy it.
