By DiAnn Mills @DiAnnMills
Tweet this: Questions to Ask Before Getting Old
I don’t recall taking a class in high school or college about what to ask myself before getting old.
Psychology courses gave the textbook approach to ease our fears: this is what happens to the aging mind; what is lost, and what is retained. Frankly, I didn’t pay attention. I never thought it would actually hit me.
But it has.
At least that’s what my birth certificate, driver’s license, and voter registration claim. I have to keep track of those documents, but I refuse to carry an AARP card. Call it vanity. Call it pride. Call it whatever you want because I understand age is a state of mind. Or denial.
Lucky me—I even get discounts at some businesses due to my . . . age.
Here are a few things I wished I’d known before climbing the ladder called life.
- Why didn’t anyone tell me it would take so much more exercise to keep my body in shape?
Keep strong and pedal on!
- Why didn’t anyone tell me that it doesn’t matter how many reps of weights I lift, I still have flabby arms.
- Why didn’t anyone tell me the extra brownie added unsightly pounds immediately?
- Why didn’t anyone tell me some people believe age equates to loss of hearing? I don’t need to be screamed at.
- Why didn’t anyone tell me that grandkids are so adorable but incredibly blunt? Hint: Keep a journal of their cute sayings.
- Why isn’t there a hip brand of clothes for women who want to dress fashionably without looking like a thirty-year-old single? My legs are not pretty.
- Why does it take a multi-magnifying mirror to put on make-up? Can’t be my eyesight because the extra view makes the lines in my face look like plowed fields.
Why didn’t anyone tell me I’d need a gold mine to pay for the multi-vitamins and minerals necessary to keep me fit? It’s not working like the ads state.- And why didn’t anyone ever tell me how much fun it is to write books?
We can’t stop the aging process, but we can be nutritionally healthy and most of us can exercise providing we are physically able. We can also laugh at ourselves. A lot.
How do you handle the aging process? Do you have a favorite tip?
Tweet this: Questions to Ask Before Getting Old
This is great, DiAnn. I also noticed that once I reached age 50, the TV show The Golden Girls suddenly struck me as hysterical (unlike when I was 30 and didn’t get it. LOL).
Hi Julie, I think when we laugh more – the world is an easier place to live. Thanks for the reminder of the Golden girls!
After reaching my sixties, I’ve developed the opinion that every hotel should install magnifying mirrors in each room if they truly want to make the “more mature” ladies happy. I’m in denial about becoming a senior because my mind tells me I’m still young. I just can’t figure out why my body creaks and pops. It would be nice if the medical field would figure out how to do an oil and lube job on the human body like car dealerships do on vehicles. Oh well, I’ll just settle in with some coffee and dark chocolate and envision growing slimmer as I stare at my treadmill.
Loretta, You are so right! We all need a maintenance check – oil and lube job on our aching joints and muscles!
My doc warned me when I was in my twenties, to stop treating my body as if I were 6’5″ and weighed 250…I’m 5’3″ and weighed 122.
With my German, Irish heritage, I was/am freakishly strong so I’d carry 200 lbs of grain at a time, on my shoulders, buck 125 lb hay bales, etc….paying for it now, though.
No disc left and can scarcely walk or sit…wish I had listened!
Oh, Kathleen, I’m so sorry! Yes, those doctors pay a lot of money to get “wise.”
Diann I love being older. I am smarter and dumb enough to know that everything I have is thru Jesus. I have been retired a little over a year now. Love not having to get in the rush hour traffic in Houston. Wake up without an alarm clock or take a nap if I feel sleepy. Go shopping at the grocery store anytime I want, not having to wait for the weekend when I had more time.
Can email my grandchildren and sister anytime. Husband plans wonderful vacations for us each year. Oh, the most fun are the projects I start, some get finished and others are just waiting for me. Another fun item, which helps keep the body in good muscle shape is the Silver Sneakers program at the YMCA. Meet lots of people there everyday.
Hi Brenda, So happy for you! We simply live seasons.
My dad told me something that his eye doctor told him when he was diagnosed with Age Related Macular Degeneration. He said I have good news and bad news. The good news is that you have lived long enough to get it. The bad news is you have it.
Hi Jan, Ouch. Makes us value our good eyesight.
Oh DiAnn, I can so relate. My husband and I attended a Barbershop Chorus concert the other night and I looked around the room wondering what I was doing with all those old people! My family liked to laugh, and I remember calling home one day and my mother answering the phone laughing so hard, she could barely say hello. I asked what was so funny and she said, “Daddy and I just found out something else we can’t do anymore!” and burst out laughing again. I never asked what that was. But I have a favorite way to look at being forgetful these days. – I’m always learning new things and always meeting new people!
Hi Marilyn, thanks for posting! If we didn’t have to look at the physical reminders, getting old wouldn’t be so bad.
I just had to laugh at all those. I’m at that age too. By the way, I carry my AARP card proudly!!!! Lol.
Hi Doris, I should carry it proudly … Thanks, you made me laugh!
I used to worry that I was not acting my age as I got older. Once I voiced my concern to a senior friend. Never act your age, she replied.
Getting old is an exciting phase, not a symptom – not an illness to avoid. Life is more than the number of years, it is how we live.
Never ask: what do I do now that I am older? Just live!
Hi Frances, what precious words of wisdom! Thank you, my friend.
My only question is…”Why didn’t anyone tell me that even though your body seems to get older, your mind still thinks your 20?” Anyway, I turned 50 last year and made my family have me a party. (A clean party). My mother had an Elvis impersonator and we had LOTS of fun. I personally was excited about becoming 50 because my thinking is that I get discounts, which means I don’t have to pay the full price. I can say what I want and I can wear hats and not be concerned if someone thinks I am a little bit loco. I have come to realize now that I am an older person, most people think because you turn 50, you are hard of hearing, not able to see very well and maybe a little bit crazy. Well, I am 2 of those…. And the most exciting reason for turning 50 to me is that I am a little bit closer to going home. Not that I am hurrying it along, but this old world we are living in is just temporary. As a Christ follower, my home is with Him in Heaven.
My last thought is that as you get older, just embrace it, hang out with family and good friends and laugh. Laugh so hard that it works out your abs!
Hi Cindi – I like your suggestions – especially laughing so hard that it works out our abs!
Love this post, DiAnn. I’m right there with you especially with the magnifying glass needed to put on makeup. My sweet oldest daughter bought me glasses that the magnifying lens switch side to side with the non-covered eye to put make up on. Works pretty good. Now, if I could just get more money to buy supplements & vitamins. Love the writing, though.
Hi Janet, thanks for posting! Age is just a state of mind – with a few adjustments.
Life has become easier as I’ve aged. I don’t sweat the small stuff. I spend lots of times with my grandkids trying to get them to see the possibilities. Why didn’t anyone tell me to look at the possibilities? I still get to spend time with my Mom of 93 years, but have lost 3 of my siblings and my dad. It will be a real party tho when we all get back together. Being positive is a choice and it took me too long to figure that out. Today I find the little things to smile at, enjoy all God has graced me with and try to be that ray of sunshine that my dad called me.
Hi Mary, Imagine the party we’ll have in heaven! What a family reunion – and we’ll have all those great new bodies.
I hear you, DiAnn!
The Good News is: I’m never too old to sit on Jesus’s lap!
Hi Rachel, Love that quote! Thanks.
I love hanging out with ladies who laugh a lot.
Surely laughing and not taking ourselves too seriously keeps us young (er). 🙂
Hi Julie, absolutely – laughter keeps us young.
Good post. I Keep telling myself that I’m not old. Then I talk to people on the phone abut so many different things. I was talking to a young man at the satellite company and he was telling me about different things I could have and what he liked and there were many that we had in common. I found out he is 20 years younger than me. This could be my son if I had kids. YIKES! There have been so many kids that I’ve come in contact with that are adults but yet to me they are kids. I have to keep reading and doing things that make me feel young. Thank goodness that reading can be done at any age and all abilities. I too dye my gray hair mostly a dark auburn. I have been coloring since college and have been the gamut from raven’s wing black to brightest red, never blond though. When I get together with my friends I feel like I did in college and feel like I never aged until we do something that causes me to feel pain. Oh well, it beats the alternative, right? Although to be with God would make me young again.
Hi Connie, thanks for posting! And, yep, considering we’re Jesus’ kids, we’re all young.
Diann, I needed that today. I’m feeling physically ready to retire the second time, but my mind just keeps acting like it did when I retired the first time after teaching for 33 years. I still want to write, write, write! I never have finished the novel you encouraged me to work on in 2008; there’s still so much I want to do, so much to write! You have always inspired me. Thank you!
Hi Ann, remember the first time we chatted at the Blue Ridge Conference? Yes! Keep living and writing.
i may be getting older (it’s *just* a number) but i REFUSE to grow up!!! good list, DiAnn—which reminds me, i’ve brownies in the kitchen waiting to be made…..
Hi Robin, Rich, dark chocolate brownies? I’ll be right over! Love the caption!
How to handle the aging process? Life is always best lived in hindsight. That’s why wisdom seems to come with age. When I was 17 I was ignored by those older as “you’re a teenager what do you know”. When I was 35 I was just starting to grasp life but didn’t have all the answers. When I turned 50 I had gained some wisdom but to the 35 year olds I was not hip. Then when I passed 60 I realized how fast the last 30 years had gone by. Physically I don’t feel that old. I realize now if the next 20 years fly by like the last 20 I truly am on the last lap of life.
So how do I handle the aging process? Mostly it’s through example of those who I have seen doing it well. My dad who worked till age 91 and graciously lived a thankful life set the tone. My stepmother who was the most positive upbeat person you’d ever meet up until the end when she told the doctors I’m ready to go at age 89. And many other beautiful mature Christian ladies have shown me how to age by example.
I hope I can accept aging graciously and let God’s light shine regardless of my circumstances. May I be thankful for each day until the last.
Hi Daphne, you offer the best advice for any age – May I be thankful for each day until the last.
DiAnn, Very good list of questions that the younger readers of this blog won’t understand at all–and by the time they finally do, it will be too late! Thanks for sharing.
I still like the advice of Satchel Paige, great pitcher in the old Negro League: “How old would you be if you didn’t know how old you was?” I vote for…oh, say 45. Young enough to do whatever I want, old enough to know better.
Love it! And I’m calling that a caption!
Why didn’t I ask my parents more questions about their life “in the olden days” before they passed. Where did my dad serve in the War? Who did he admire the most? ……….etc.
I did hold my mother hostage until she made and wrote down every ingredient in her Spaghetti Sauce (she always told us she didn’t use a recipe). (ps. her secret was she started with a pork chop).
Hi Renee, thanks for the new questions!
I tint my hair. I’ve been doing this for years because I began graying early. Yes, I know the scriptures about gray hair equating to wisdom, but I prefer to keep that between God and me. It’s more fun to tint my hair a different color each decade. I just turned ?? this past year so right now my hair is red. Last decade it was blonde. Aging is fun. I have another ten years to decide what my hair color will be when I turn ?? if I don’t change it again sooner.
Hi Marlena, What fun! Then there is the hair color thing . . . like you I’m not giving in easily.