At what age did you realise you were "old"?

Grannynannywanny

I feel at age 69 I’ve aged a fair bit in the past year mainly due to arthritis . I went a lovely country walk last week and stopped at my favourite little humpback bridge.

I did as I always did last summer and edged my way down the embankment to sit on a large rock next to the stream. After an hour I decided to get moving and that’s when it all went wrong. I couldn’t for the life of me negotiate the small but steep incline back up to the roadside. I was wobbling around and couldn’t put one foot in front of the other . I had to get down on all fours and crawl up. Thinking there was nobody for miles around I uttered a few expletives about myself on the way up.

I dragged myself to my feet at the top once I had a gate to grab. Then realised there was a walker standing on the bridge eating his sandwiches and he’d witnessed the entire spectacle. I was mortified 🙈

I did a similar thing a few years ago and made a spectacular of both DH and myself. It had stopped raining hard and we went to one of our usual walks. The gates were locked so the only way was to climb a quite steep embankment. DH went ahead and we both got to the top he started to go down the other side and I followed only to find it was muddy and I started to slide down and could not stop. I hurtled towards him and the only way he could stop me was by thrusting his arm through my crotch and grabbing with the other or we would have both been rolling in the mud.
Some teenage boys were bent double laughing, the one saving grace was I had jeans on.

Maytime, I hope your treatment goes well.

Now in my mid-seventies, I try to think positively (it's been a bumpy health journey which I am still on but I am still here) and although I can't do stuff as quickly as previously at least I can still do whatever.

I was non-weightbearing for six weeks some ten years ago after breaking limbs and whenever I think that I can't be bothered to undertake a boring house task now, I think back and remember the utter frustration of not being able to do it at all. I then feel fortunate that I am still here and able TO DO whatever. If it takes me five times as long, so be it.

I first felt old when my granddaughter said that she was going to be married young. I asked why and she said that I probably hadn't long left to live so wanted me at her wedding!!

Not got there yet, but I know it's coming because I cannot run down the stairs as fast as I used to. 83 now.

When my DiL took my arm before walking down a few steps!! She obviously considers me to he old!

I felt old at 50 when my husband decided at 60 (10 year age gap) that he was 'too old for sex and all that stuff'

I was 70 last month and my first great grandchild was born 10 days ago . I still don’t feel old yet . Maybe soon ?

I m 66 and I m most definitely not old yet ….lol, it annoys me when people refer to the elderly as over 60 ´s or over 65’s, there’s a lot of life in this spring chicken yet 😂

In my head I’ll never be old - although I think my body got a whiff of it about five years ago.
Stay young, stay free!
USA Gundy

I was 70 in April and realise that I have old skin! Also, my daughter thinks we should be buying a bungalow now ready for when we can’t manage stairs. On the other hand, she is now 42 and believes she is pre-menopausal. She has read that daughters tend to copy their mothers concerning the menopause. I was 48 when everything stopped.

When I realised that, after my cats go (they're now aged 15 and 11), I shouldn't contemplate getting any kittens. I shall get older cats from a rescue centre.

....assuming I DO outlive my present cats!

Discovered I was old in 2020 after the arrival of the pandemic. Maybe it was all that labelling as "elderly vulnerable" that became a self-fulfilling prophecy, or maybe it was just a gradual loss of confidence in going out after lockdown periods and the suspension of normal activities (interest groups etc.). Now approaching 80 and definitely old but grateful that I can still take part in pilates and U3A groups (even though I'm likely to forget dates, lose my glasses, mislay my hearing aids etc... )

The only time I feel old is when I have to scroll down for my year of birth, or if I have to say my age out loud! It’s such a shock as inside I still feel young!

Looking after my twin baby grandsons five days a week has given me a new lease of life. I feel useful again.💙💙

I’m 64 and went to pick up some fish and chips for my 11 year old grandson who stayed in the car with his grandad, on my return he said was the lady rude to you I answered no why, he said mum thinks she’s rude but she probably wasn’t to you cos your an elderly
Everyone says I don’t look my age but I felt twenty years older after that had to laugh though 😂

My head says I'm still 19 inside but my body must look older, as I realised when a shop assistant called me "dear".

Two years ago sudden onset of arthritis, especially knees and hip. Then to rub salt into the wound my daughters 50th birthday this year [ shock ].

Waiting to get off a tram, as the doors opened there was group of early teens waiting to get on. One leapt forward to climb aboard but his friend pulled him back saying "let the old lady off first". I looked behind me for the old lady, before realising he meant me - I was about 35 at the time!

Lots of interesting responses! And my response is that it’s only this year after I turned 80 that the thought occurred to me that I shouldn’t be putting off the things I want to do, or the places I want to visit - because life doesn’t go on for me indefinitely! And I found that a sobering thought. I still play tennis a couple of times a week, just taken up playing pickleball - and love my spin classes at the gym - I’m always there at least twice a week. We have a small garden that I love to potter around in, and I also rent an allotment and grow my own veggies…..so it’s not that I don’t have the energy or have lost the desire to keep active and busy ……it’s just this niggling thought that planted itself in my brain that reminds me - hey, you’re 80 now …..and you won’t be around enjoying life as you do for ever!

Sukikoo - wise words . Yes it's a privilege to get older. I always say I had friends who didn't make it past 50 ! So it is an achievement and we should be very grateful .

Forever 21 in my heart and mind. My body reminds me daily I'm not. Though having had Fibromyalgia since my 40s I do.put it down to my disability more than anything

I asked a very dear neighbour this question. She is 80, and not too well. She said ‘When someone I loved many years ago died, I had never told him and now couldn’t. I was too old to do anything about it , other than keep my grief to myself.”.
I thought that incredibly sad.

Back in the Spring a couple of friends were coming up to 77 and were not happy about this. I asked what the difference was between becoming 76 and now 77 and they said it is nearer to 80. I thought that was not important, but now nearing 77 myself I suddenly feel as if I am getting 'old'. It could be that aches and pains have got a little bit worse, and the recent hot weather seems to have worn me out. I think Covid and lockdown slowed a lot of people up and it was difficult to get that momentum going again. I am extremely pleased though, that when getting on crowded public transport I am now always offered a seat. DH is three years younger than me and I am very pleased that he still has the strength to do heavy lifting and serious gardening. However, he decided that painting the outside of the house was a task too far and for the first time we had people in to do it!

I feel old when I walk through the glamorous cosmetics departments of large stores and the young girls trying to sell expensive perfume completely ignore me. I deliberately stop and ask them for a sample.

When I had to apply for my driving licence, I wanted to keep the larger vehicles d towing categories so had to go for a medical and another eye test. Doc didn’t know me (I never go!) and so I said see you inn3 years time.

Ageing

Achievements dwindle with the passing years,
As muscles shrivel, and one's scant of breath.
Brave hopes give way to health-related fears,
Bold, optimistic thoughts to dread of death.
The bracing morning walk becomes a stumble
Along the garden path to get some food
Out of the garage freezer; then a grumble
That wretched weeds have grown where plants once stood.
The joy of serious reading now depends
On gathering the strength to lift the book
And drive one's weary eyes through chapter ends,
Before sheer boredom lets one off the hook.
But there is one small triumph left to me:
I make it through the night without a pee.

Perish the thought that the book in question might be Hilary Mantel's massy tome "The Mirror and the Light".

In my student days I was in a production of Dick Whittington that included the couplet "What you see on stage is The later Middle Ages." I have decided that I am not old, just later middle-aged.