I loved this post and completely relate to what Sharon says. Some of you sound downright jealous! I think by sixty-something (I'm 65, just so I'm not accused of hiding anything ) you know who you are and what you want. Someone mentioned health - yes, poor health can spoil lots of plans. After cancer I had to make new plans, slow down, adjust, but the bottom line is I'm still alive and intend to make the most of it. And indeed, who cares what others think! I see teenagers and even those in their 20s and 30s so pressured by what I call the "tyranny of cool" that they can't enjoy being themselves for fear of not being accepted by those who dictate what is in. Enough already. Who dictates what is "cool" anyway?

Hey!

I had Mrs Brown in mind. I'm glad you got it.

petallus

The thing is, I don't believe her.

That's what Mrs Brown always says (that's nice) but with an edge of menace to it

I think she is describing contentment and appreciation of the minutiae of the day to day. The sign of a life well lived in my view.
'What is life if full of care, we have no time to stand and stare' (or something!)

Oh. Right.

So, she's sitting there quietly contemplating her navel meditating and watching the flowers grow, and at the same time, she's having her own little little adventure.

That's nice.

It's an inner adventure jingle. Extroverts won't get it!

pompa now you're really pushing it !!

Being a gentleman, I would never ask a lady her age, Sharon, how much do you weight ??

I may be overthinking this.

I don't understand the last bit. "Others might find me invisible, and my life boring; but you know what? I don’t care. The adventure just got real!"

What adventure?

I feel as though I know exactly where Sharon Maas is coming from. Her blog made great sense to me.

What a relief not to have to strain to 'stay young ' in old age and wear bloody purple.

And I am a year older than you Ana

Google reveals that she was born in 1951 - same year as me!

So you don't care what people think anymore Sharon? I don't get that impression when you won't reveal your true age and you introduce yourself as sixty something!

If you can't accept what age you are, obviously you care what people think.

I can manage to be disgraceful from the comfort of my chair - as I'm sure many of you think.

annsixty

I hope you can accept and understand my post was not how I normally feel. No more to say really.

I am like you there Gagagran, being content is great. I have done some very odd things in my life, and look back at them with some regrets, but a lot of smiles, and I know that in the future I am no not going to be able to travel far, achieve great feats, attempt something new and daring, but I do still look forward to each day, and enjoy the garden and the calm of my lifestyle. I don't think it is a question of growing old gracefully, just accepting that that is where I am, and enjoying it.

But you can only ever speak for yourselves. For some people, a quiet life, including some solitude, is a peaceful harbour after what may have been a busy and even traumatic life to date. Not everybody yearns for excitement or going to new places or doing new activities. There is joy and pleasure in small things if you look for them and they can be as life-enhancing as all the adventuring some people seem to want. It all sounds a bit stressful to me. I like quiet and calm and peacefulness to enjoy the good things I see in my life.

I would love some real excitement in my life. It isn't going to happen but a quiet life is not life enhancing at all, it can suck all pleasure out and believe me I know.

It surely means different things for different people. A quiet life is fine for some, I like some quiet time myself, but for me as I am lucky enough to be relatively healthy I intend to get out and do all the things that I wasn't able to because I was busy earning a living.

There were so many things my DH and I were planning to do in our retirement, that unfortunately can't happen now so I feel I can go and do all those things for both of us.