5 Hot Spots in the Ageing Process

Here are some more thoughts I had on the aging process:

1.     Puberty.  You can’t wait to be old enough to grow the extra bits and get the extra fluff.  And what happens a couple of years after you have got used to having the extras – you notice all the problems with having them and wonder why you ever wanted them so much in the first place.

2.     Nightclubs.  You spend all your time wanting to be able to get in them.  You try dressing the part, trawl the internet for ways of getting fake ID, try to get in with older looking mates who can sometimes get in.  When you are finally old enough to get in you find you don’t want to go any more because it is full of young kids who did manage to get in.

3.     Having children.  You want children but don’t know when to have them.  You think you should wait until you can afford them but that never happens – you just have to make ends meet when you do get them.  All your friends are having children and you find you have nothing to talk about any more.  You find there are no friends to go out with any more either as they have different priorities now.  But as soon as you have children yourself you find your life has changed totally – you thought it would be just the same but with an extra little person around - but it doesn’t work out that way when you have a child.  It’s not like having a pet.  These days people are having children later and later in life than 20 or 30 years ago when the majority of people had their first child in their early 20’s but now it is quite the “norm” to have a first child in your forties.  So the whole “when” situation is a nightmare.

4.     Children leaving home.  You have been through all the traumatic shocks of “oh I must be old - my 1^st child is now in school”, then in senior school, then in college.  But when they eventually leave home and you have the house to yourselves it feels totally strange.  If they were away for a while you “knew” they were still coming back so it felt different but when they get their own place and leave for good some people hit the “empty nest syndrome” of hating the idea that the house seems empty of young people around.

5.     Retirement.  I hear so many tales of older people just not knowing what to do with themselves once they stop work.  Some people cope with it well and can finally have chance to do all the things they wanted to do but didn’t have enough time for when they were working – for them there is still never enough hours in the day and they wondered how they ever managed to find time to work.  For others they seem to feel totally lost and abandoned and just sit around all day because they can’t cope without something to do and work filled that need for them.  While I am on this age range I got to thinking about the Over 60’s Club.  When I was a youngster this was a very popular activity for older people who seemed to look and presumably feel old, but nowadays I can’t possibly imagine the current over 60’s thinking they are anywhere near ready to go to that sort of club as it now seems to be more of an Over 80’s club.  I just hope that the illnesses and aches and pains that are associated with over 50’s start later in life as well otherwise we will soon be experiencing old age symptoms and stiffness for half our life instead of just the last 20 years of it.  Not a nice thought as all our hospitals will be much fuller and busier than they already are.  We never appreciate our youthfulness and flexibility when we have it until we find things difficult to do.