When did you start feeling old?

At about 42 when a child in my infant class called me grandma,
I worked in an area where the average for having children was 20. When I did see her gran she looked liked Dolly Parton....compliment I don't think so.

As a rule of thumb-

Young = teens, 20s, 30s

Middle aged = 40s, 50s and 60s,

Old = 70s, 80s and 90s

100+? - you're wonderful for your age.

Psychologically and emotionally I’m positive, happy and whatever old is, I don’t think I’m it.
Physically, well I have various health stuff, I ache in the places I used to play. ( thank you Leonard Cohen for expressing it so well

Honestly, I don't feel old ... 70.

Kate1949

I'm 72 and feel exactly the same as I did when I was 20. The mirror tells me otherwise.

Same here Kate....

Somewhere around five years ahead of me is when I might be considering myself old. It's currently a moving target.

Greenfinch ??

Kate1949

I'm 72 and feel exactly the same as I did when I was 20. The mirror tells me otherwise.

Every word fits me Kate1949.

My grandmother was furious when she had her gall bladder removed and found herself on a ward full of old people. She was 92!

I don’t feel old.

I know I am old, I’m not in denial

I used to stop at a little shop for a tea or coffee before work. They started automatically giving me a “senior discount” when I was in my early fifties!

45.
Someone assumed my 8 year old son was my grandchild

I’m 58 now & I’ve become ‘invisible’ so that definitely makes me feel old.

I must say that I find people who insist that they may be 60 or 50 or 80 or 90, but feel like they are 20 or 30 0r 40etc. very strange.

I am, proudly - 80 years old. That age (I hope), having brought with it the wisdom, calmness, and maturity.

Not sure how you can 'feel' any age. I am much more relaxed and calmer now than I was twenty, thirty plus years ago. Still get annoyed about things happening, but do not now re-act in the same way,.

I can easily accept some age-related health problems, thankful that retirement means that these do not really cause me problems in having them and leading a good life.

Cannot really remember how I felt at 20 or 30 or even 60 years old- I do know thatthere was much more stress in my life back then, grateful that I do not have any of that to cope with now.

Just wish that people would accept that age, in itself, is not something deserving of 'respect' that has to be earned by our actions at all ages

Not yet - I'm 77. with a body that seems to be trying to pack in around me, but old? Not yet!

I began to 'feel my age' in an unsatisfactory way towards the end of my forties when teaching a two hour Scottish dance class to kids (so lots of demonstrating the steps on my part) meant that I was 'wrecked' physically for the rest of the weekend. Even having had arthritis (and painkillers every day) since my mid-twenties hadn't prepared me for that.

There was no way I felt the same as I had in my twenties and thirties so, like Franbern, I find it odd when people in their seventies and eighties claim they feel as they did in their twenties and thirties. Mentally and emotionally perhaps (though I don't feel the same emotionally either – I've gained self-confidence) but physically? I have my doubts.

I also think it is the essence of ageism to get defensive as one gets older. Why would I care what age anyone else thinks I am?

I had a telephone appointment with a GP yesterday as I have had a painful neck for quite a while. He gently suggested that, because I am 75, it could be wear and tear! It's a good job I wasn't in the same room as him.

Thanks to Franbern, I don't really need to express me feelings about ageing. I agree with her wholeheartedly. No longer do I object to the description 'elderly', though I reject absolutely the demeaning term OAP!

When I attended a busy a and e recently and a nice nurse got me a chair in a quiet corner. I like to keep my elderly on seats over here she said.

Also this last week 2 shopkeepers have advised me to look after yourself dear.

I’m 63 now but started feeling old when I hit 50 and all my physical complaints started, I’m limited in how far I can walk due to various health problems it upsets me sometimes how fast I have become old

Not properly just yet. I think I’ll start when I can no longer run upstairs (still do when I’m not at all tired, though it does happen less often nowadays.)

Sometimes I do think ‘How can I possibly be 72?? How did that happen?’
As a grandmother once told me, you don’t feel any different inside. Of course I was sceptical, being maybe 18 at the time!

In some places in Eire, anyone over 60 is referred to as a "Senior" citizen which I prefer. They do not use the phrase OAP which to me is slightly insulting?

I forgot to mention, some nice polite young chap offering me his seat on the bus the other day - and there was I thinking that at least a face mask covers up a lot of the wrinkles!
I declined with thanks, but was getting off very soon anyway.

Sixty nine isn’t old! It’s true the body might be creakier but that doesn’t mean you need have an ‘old’ outlook. My mum is almost 94 and complains about the ‘old folk’ who (in normal times) she comes across. She has a very modern outlook.

I’m in my late 60’s and have been mistaken for my 3yo GD’s mother, which was rather cheering. I’ll confess I do feel old when she’s woken me at 2:30am, though.

On the other hand, I don’t feel as I did when I was twenty. I wouldn’t want to because to me that would mean I had learnt nothing from life’s experiences.

I forgot to say, where my dd trained as a medic, the ‘Elderly Unit’ only took patients who were 85+ years old and even then, you weren’t admitted there unless you had a specific problem they dealt with.