Is there anything actually good about getting older?

completedit

It is so mindblowingly dull already. I just hit the second year of my 30s and I'm scared of what life has in store. Everything is just so monotonous now with or without Covid. I feel you have sort of cemented who you are as a person and the journey of discovery sort of grinds to a halt. Your 20s open you up to the world and yourself; for many of us it's one amazing experience after the next from traveling to meeting the prospective romantic partner who will in your optimistic eyes save you from yourself but then something happens. Yoi realise its all been done before. The novelty wears off and you're no loet a work in progress, now you're in your 30s with no relationship, no kids, barely any money and a friends group that has become so disparate that you don't really have much of a group at all. It is bleak. I wonder did I truly appreciate the 20s that I was lucky to have? Probably not truth be told.

I want to be going to South William for cans on the street this weekend but I'm starting to feel like an old codger. Everything suddenly becomes so rigid and dull and mostly focused around the consumption of coffee with some milk alternative . Oh just what I needed! Another hike and a flat white.

I

timeToLive

you can choose who you want to be

Government buildings

Anything good about getting older? No.

guy2231

completedit wrote: »

It is so mindblowingly dull already. I just hit the second year of my 30s and I'm scared of what life has in store. Everything is just so monotonous now with or without Covid. I feel you have sort of cemented who you are as a person and the journey of discovery sort of ends. You live through your 20s waiting for the next big life event, the prospective romantic partner who will in your optimistic eyes save you from yourself and then you realise its all been done before. However now you're in your 30s with no relationship, no kids, barely any money and a friends group that has become so disparate that you don't really have much of a group at all.

I want to be going to South William for cans on the street this weekend but I'm starting to feel like an old codger.

Sorry to here you've been struggling lately man, I don't know what to say to you but I do know you have to make some drastic changes in your life or nothing will change, the problem is nothing to do with your age it is deeper than that there are many young people feeling the same way as you do right now.

You should listen to some of the motivational videos on Youtube they have helped me out in the past when I've been down here's a good one to get you started https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=Ps4hAQ_Fp5k

FrKurtFahrt

completedit wrote: »

It is so mindblowingly dull already. I just hit the second year of my 30s and I'm scared of what life has in store. Everything is just so monotonous now with or without Covid. I feel you have sort of cemented who you are as a person and the journey of discovery sort of grinds to a halt. Your 20s open you up to the world and yourself; for many of us it's one amazing experience after the next from traveling to meeting the prospective romantic partner who will in your optimistic eyes save you from yourself but then something happens. Yoi realise its all been done before. The novelty wears off and you're no loet a work in progress, now you're in your 30s with no relationship, no kids, barely any money and a friends group that has become so disparate that you don't really have much of a group at all. It is bleak. I wonder did I truly appreciate the 20s that I was lucky to have? Probably not truth be told.

I want to be going to South William for cans on the street this weekend but I'm starting to feel like an old codger. Everything suddenly becomes so rigid and dull. Oh great another hike and a flat white. How about a sea swim and a flat white? Wow.

You are already 'mindblowingly dull'. You have no ambition and ooze apathy. Stay where you are, you have f**k all to offer any age or generation.

Ash.J.Williams

completedit wrote: »

It is so mindblowingly dull already. I just hit the second year of my 30s and I'm scared of what life has in store. Everything is just so monotonous now with or without Covid. I feel you have sort of cemented who you are as a person and the journey of discovery sort of grinds to a halt. Your 20s open you up to the world and yourself; for many of us it's one amazing experience after the next from traveling to meeting the prospective romantic partner who will in your optimistic eyes save you from yourself but then something happens. Yoi realise its all been done before. The novelty wears off and you're no loet a work in progress, now you're in your 30s with no relationship, no kids, barely any money and a friends group that has become so disparate that you don't really have much of a group at all. It is bleak. I wonder did I truly appreciate the 20s that I was lucky to have? Probably not truth be told.

I want to be going to South William for cans on the street this weekend but I'm starting to feel like an old codger. Everything suddenly becomes so rigid and dull and mostly focused around the consumption of coffee with some milk alternative . Oh just what I needed! Another hike and a flat white.

Recreational drugs sir , get stuck in

endacl

You don’t get duller when you get old, unless you start out dull.

guy2231

FrKurtFahrt wrote: »

You are already 'mindblowingly dull'. You have no ambition and ooze apathy. Stay where you are, you have f**k all to offer any age or generation.

A lot of ass**** like this this in life where everything worked out perfect for them and will put you down due to a feeling of superiority above everyone else, people like this should motivate you, in fact this is what motivated me more than anything to get where I am today.

completedit

FrKurtFahrt wrote: »

You are already 'mindblowingly dull'. You have no ambition and ooze apathy. Stay where you are, you have f**k all to offer any age or generation.

That's exactly my point you troglodyte

FrKurtFahrt

guy2231 wrote: »

A lot of ass**** like this this in life where everything worked out perfect for them and will put you down due to a feeling of superiority above everyone else, people like this should motivate you, in fact this is what motivated me more than anything to get where I am today.

Where is all this shown? Oh....lets have a grouphug

D.Q

FrKurtFahrt wrote: »

You are already 'mindblowingly dull'. You have no ambition and ooze apathy. Stay where you are, you have f**k all to offer any age or generation.

Malcolm Tucker esque put down.

"You are not a grandee, you're a ****ing blandee. No one knew what the **** you stood for. Political ****ing mist. No substance, no weight. You've got all the charm of a rotting teddy bear by a graveside.

By the way, women ****ing hate you. I can show you the polling. They think you come across like a jittery mother at a wedding.

The best thing you ever did in your flatlining non-leadership was call for an inquiry because that will **** the government and it will **** you.

So now, please, **** off back to your home, you headless frump, and prepare for your column in Grazia."

GooglePlus

Wrong forum lad, this where the old and dull come to convince themselves otherwise.

Sounds like you're a bit down to be honest and this isn't set in stone or cemented as you say. You might just need to find a way to get that drive back.

Stihl waters

FrKurtFahrt wrote: »

You are already 'mindblowingly dull'. You have no ambition and ooze apathy. Stay where you are, you have f**k all to offer any age or generation.

Perfectly put

guy2231

GooglePlus wrote: »

Wrong forum lad, this where the old and dull come to convince themselves otherwise.

Sounds like you're a bit down to be honest and this isn't set in stone or cemented as you say. You might just need to find a way to get that drive back.

Hahaha couldn't have said it better myself

begbysback

I was feeling grand until some numbskull started a thread about feeling old at 32

yes 32

Hyperbollix

The key is to keep looking and moving forward. Adapt and adjust to new realities. Enjoy your 20s. But don't keep looking back at that time and wondering why you can't really relive it. You can't.

Accept your new life as a fossil of 32 years old and take comfort in knowing that you still have a few years left until you are ancient history, ie 40 plus.

Leg End Reject

As you get older you care less about what others think of you, especially from your mid 30s, that's very liberating.

Life is mundane for everyone at the moment, hopefully things will improve as more reopens.

Life also has frequent peaks and troughs, no one is always deliriously happy, don't sweat the small stuff and work your way through the big stuff.

Andrewf20

After covid, book some flights to South America or some far off off destination for a few weeks and let the adventure unfold.

Or closer to home, I think there is a hell and back mud run in September in Bray.

Life is what you make it.

Life happiness tends to follow a u shaped curve with the age of 47 being the low point. After that, studies have found that happiness rises as people start to leave behind the stresses of the rat race and raising young kids.

o1s1n

Relatively speaking, we'll all be dead soon enough. Our lifespans are but the blink of an eye on a cosmic scale.

Moping around at 32 because you're 'old' is just embarrassing really. You've your 40s, 50s, 60s, 70s and maybe even 80s to give our about that sort of thing. Enjoy your 30s while they're still here. When you're in your 40s you'll look back at these years in the same way you look at your 20s now.

Tony EH

The 2nd year of your 30's?

hahhahahahahahahhahahahahhahahahahahhahahahahhhahahhahahahaha.

Anyway, no, there's not much that's good about getting older. You might gain a bit of wisdom (if you're open to it that is).

That's about it.

Airyfairy12

It all depends on how you look at it! I can only speak for myself but im the same age as you and I hated my 20's! Men I encountered where immature and self centered, women were immature and bitchy, I remember everyone comparing and judging each other and there was so much pressure to find a long term partner, travel the world and get a degree and a good career and have it all figured out within the space of a decade. Many people in their 20's manage this but alot don't and that's ok!
Ive never travelled, I never had the money to even though id have loved to see the world but since hitting my 30's I dont feel the same pressure to do these things and dont even have the same want travel as I used to. I wouldnt mind going to visit a few places to see them but the thoughts of backpacking or staying in dingy hostels would be a living nightmare as far as im concerned. I dont think I ever wanted to do any of this as much as I wanted to be able to say I travelled to make myself sound interesting to people I dont care about or even like! Im so much more focused on what I want out of life and not what others expect me to be doing.
The pressures off as far as im concerned and im already enjoying my 30's way more than my 20's. For a start im not half as insecure, im more sane, im not rich but I have more money, better jobs and a healthier way of life.
Im doing a masters, ive recently learned how to drive, ive changed jobs and im so excited about my future.

Nothings set in stone, if you want to change something then change it! Age has nothing to do with it and 32 is young, youre talking like youre 70 with one foot in the grave!

dd973

Nearly 50, my early 20's were spent working like a lackey in jobs I hated and getting pissed, however all the peer group stuff falls away as you exit your 20's and mid 30's so all the negative aspects of that aren't so bothersome anymore. I get pissed off occasionally about the lack of a wife and kids however these days it seems to be only seriously wealthy or poor people who do that stuff now, there isn't much one can do about other people's personalities, how others react to them and how their lives seem to work out so why bother your head with it?

There are people in their 60's, 70's and beyond whom are fit as butchers dogs, happy, healthy and following their own path and hobbies.

There are 30 year old clinically obese shut ins who never leave their locality and obsess about gaming or some other unhealthy obsession. It's all relative. There's also some of those folk in their early 20's now who won't make it for some reason or another.

Fuascailteoir

When you start to feel like that, lash the Ayahuasca into you to give you a bit of perspective

Airyfairy12

dd973 wrote: »

It's all relative. There's also some of those folk in their early 20's now who won't make it for some reason or another.

This so much! There are so many young people in their teens and 20's who die young. They never get the chance to reach their 30's. My neighbors son died suddenly of a brain hemorrhage at age 21 last year, My brothers friend killed himself at age 19, A girl up the road from me died in a car crash at age 24, a local lad was murdered a few years ago at age 18, he'd just finished school.

Be grateful for everyday you get and make the most of it!

Muppet Man

With luck you are one third the way through your life. How you live the remaining two thirds is your call. Don’t fcuking waste it by feeling sorry for yourself my friend.

Hamsterchops

begbysback wrote: »

I was feeling grand until some numbskull started a thread about feeling old at 32

yes 32

Very unfortunate to be feeling old at 32 when you should be in your prime and at the height of your powers.

Irish_wolf

Life only becomes boring and monotonous if you let it. If you are in a habit of doing the same thing every day, every week and have surrounded yourself with people who do the same, then yeah things arent going to get better. There's nothing objectively wrong with this but if you are unhappy and no longer get enjoyment out of it then it's you who needs to change. If you stay on this path you will get cozier and cozier until breaking your rhythm seems like a mountain of a task.

The trick is dont let that happen, try new things, try new foods. Walk into a book shop (when they open) and buy a random book on sale and read it in the park, go to a restaurant that smells good or you like the look of without checking the reviews. Take an evening course in something that interests you, take up a new sport and put everything into it. Think about something you've always wanted to do and start working towards it. The only thing stopping you are the limits you have put on yourself (within reason).

Live a life as full as you can so that when you go drinking with the young ones you're not the old codger you're that cool hippy type who's gas craic and loves life. Be who you want to be! You have choice now. Dont let your dreams be dreams etc.

GooglePlus

GooglePlus wrote: »

Wrong forum lad, this where the old and dull come to convince themselves otherwise.

guy2231 wrote: »

Hahaha couldn't have said it better myself

And yet here you are.....

begbysback

“Short then is the time that everyman lives, and small the nook of the earth where he lives, and short too the longest posthumous fame, and even this only continued by a succession of poor human beings who will very soon die and who know not even themselves, much less him who died long ago”.

Understanding the previously unknown is the best thing about getting older.

completedit

completedit wrote: »

Is there anything actually good about getting older?

The question makes no sense. It is like asking "What is the color of happiness".

Or I guess a better analogy is "Is there anything actually good about breathing"?

"Breathing" and "Getting Older" are just things that happen while you are doing better things. If you sit around asking yourself if there is anything good about them - you might be missing the point about what they are for.

JustAThought

Promotions coming - with that
comes power and money. And with the
money you can open doors.

Citys going to be opening up soon enough - sure friends are scattered but time enough to plan your new escape. Could be learning a new vice - windsurfing, kitesurfing, seaswimming with the messsy boozy aftermath, mixed sex cycling club, traithalon training. Choose an impractical
future vice & start to train for it - in a few weeks you can start with new people, new places & new mates to learn. It’s not all downhill. And you
might meet up and end up with new gf that way - new vice, new body, new drinking mates,
new gf - everyone has been locked
up for a year and is as bored and horny as hell. Party’s just ramping up slowly & new people to meet & get to know - make the right decisions & catch the wave!

begbysback

I’d say yellow, it’s got to be yellow, think most people would agree

Deleted User

Deleted User wrote: »

The question makes no sense. It is like asking "What is the color of happiness".

Or I guess a better analogy is "Is there anything actually good about breathing"?

"Breathing" and "Getting Older" are just things that happen while you are doing better things. If you sit around asking yourself if there is anything good about them - you might be missing the point about what they are for.

Pretty much.

If you like life, getting older is a blessing, another day to celebrate

If you dont like life, every day you are getting worse, another day to endure.

It's a mindset, it's all who you are.

Just be kind to yourself.

Best of luck.

Strumms

The best thing about getting older is having more experience of life.

More experience as to when life throws you a curve ball, you not only know how to handle it but you also see it coming.

More experience to evaluate which person/people to spend time with and effort on.

More experience to know when to say no to people who are putting you in potentially difficult situations that compromise your enjoyment of life and wellbeing.

More experience to know when to cast people who are too much effort and drama, into a foggy wilderness from which they’ll never return.

More experience to trust your gut, it’s rarely wrong. Always trust your gut, over words spluttered by others.

The experience to be your own best friend. You don’t let yourself down.

That’s all comes with age and is invaluable.

The Oort Cloud

Muppet Man wrote: »

With luck you are one third the way through your life. How you live the remaining two thirds is your call. Don’t fcuking waste it by feeling sorry for yourself my friend.

This^. Simple and straight to the point message. I agree.

Everyone gets down in some part of their life, but at 32 years of age OP should be thinking of a hobby that they might like... Mountain hiking in Ireland with others can be the best thing not only to get you out, but to get your blood flowing good for the brain. There are organisations and groups that do mountain hiking training and radio communications and safety courses for the nice hike in good weather like we have now.

Sheeeeeit, 32 years of age is very young. I'm 52 but feel 32. Try the mountain hiking for the Dublin mountains or Others in Ireland wherever you are from as you will get to meet some good people and you will have a great time. You just have to make that effort.

https://mountaintrails.ie/ireland-guided-hikes/

Best of luck OP.

Vita nova

The best thing about getting older is not dying.

KungPao

I had a bit of an early mid life crisis around that age. Started boning ladies 5-10 younger than me. It put some pep in my step for a while.

But yeah, your life’s pretty much over. Welcome to the club.

Purple is a Fruit

Early 30s was a great age for me - personally I don't think of it as a "getting older" stage (yes I know, we're getting older at any point but you know what I mean) however, as said, it's dull for anyone of any age at the moment.

When you have babies and/or a mortgage (or when lots of your friends have babies), when you don't have the energy you used to have, when you would prefer to stay in of a Saturday night or just go for a meal or go for just a couple of drinks in a quiet pub and go home early (hangovers really do become appalling) when you really get to like stuff like gardening and interiors and cookery and find discussing supermarkets and fabric detergents really engaging, when you haven't a clue about current youth culture, when you no longer listen to radio stations that play music during the day (apart from Lyric)... that's the getting older stage. And when you like all that, then it's not a problem. You also stop being bothered by the small stuff (which is great) but start worrying about the big stuff (like health and your parents getting old) but you have better skills to deal with it because it's just life.

Yes, your routine does become rigid but then you've gotta find interests outside of work.

Stihl waters

Think of all the poor souls who died young without living even the most mundane of lives, who'd have given anything for a other day or hour or minute with their children or partner, my sister died 8 years ago with her children by her bedside and clinging onto life with all she had so she could spend seconds more with her little darlings, life as hard as it is is the greatest gift we possess and questioning it is normal but don't spend too long thinking about it, some day very soon that'll be that and it would be utterly shameful to have spent your time wondering is this it because this is really it, make the most of it

Purple is a Fruit

Stihl waters wrote: »

Think of all the poor souls who died young without living even the most mundane of lives, who'd have given anything for a other day or hour or minute with their children or partner, my sister died 8 years ago with her children by her bedside and clinging onto life with all she had so she could spend seconds more with her little darlings, life as hard as it is is the greatest gift we possess and questioning it is normal but don't spend too long thinking about it, some day very soon that'll be that and it would be utterly shameful to have spent your time wondering is this it because this is really it, make the most of it

Oh my god that's awful - very sorry to read it.

Yeah every so often it's no harm to be reminded that while getting older can feel crap, it's something a significant number of people don't get to experience. Not to guilt trip people for feeling down or anxious about getting older but just a bit of perspective to help look at things differently.

A college friend of mine who was diagnosed with advanced cancer at 34 was so pleased about reaching 35 - but said she would have been disgusted at the idea only a year before. Sadly that was her last birthday however.

The best bit you genuinely dont care what others think of you, sit out your front garden with your buddies watching others go by drinking wine, asking a stranger would they like to join them. That happened too recently and I thought fair play to them they don't give a dam who see them and this is in a nice area, their 30-year-old selves would never have done it.

is_that_so

completedit wrote: »

It is so mindblowingly dull already. I just hit the second year of my 30s and I'm scared of what life has in store. Everything is just so monotonous now with or without Covid. I feel you have sort of cemented who you are as a person and the journey of discovery sort of grinds to a halt. Your 20s open you up to the world and yourself; for many of us it's one amazing experience after the next from traveling to meeting the prospective romantic partner who will in your optimistic eyes save you from yourself but then something happens. Yoi realise its all been done before. The novelty wears off and you're no loet a work in progress, now you're in your 30s with no relationship, no kids, barely any money and a friends group that has become so disparate that you don't really have much of a group at all. It is bleak. I wonder did I truly appreciate the 20s that I was lucky to have? Probably not truth be told.

I want to be going to South William for cans on the street this weekend but I'm starting to feel like an old codger. Everything suddenly becomes so rigid and dull and mostly focused around the consumption of coffee with some milk alternative . Oh just what I needed! Another hike and a flat white.

I

Meh, early mid-life crisis calling. You've two ages, what's in your head and what's on your birth cert. The one in your head allows you to show up for cans on the street if you want and the physical age not to care who sees you. Build memories and experiences is what I say. Always have one to tell yourself about at the end of the day. If you don't you're not living life, just drifting through it!

ArnoldJRimmer

Best thing I have found about getting older is being a lot more comfortable in my own skin. While I'd rather not have the physical aches and pains I now have, I wouldn't swap it and go back to being the deeply unhappy person I was in my 20's. I only see that with the benefit of hindsight of course, so I would say a good thing about getting older can be the wisdom you pick up.

That said, 32 is no age, there is a ton of new stuff you can explore, just be willing to give things a go.

RiderOnTheStorm

Best thing about getting older?

Children. Then grandchildren. I'm a grandfather of a 2 year old and its opened a new phase of my life that i could not have imagined. Its like getting your own kids back / going back in time, but now you're not worried about promotion / house / rat-race . These things still exist, but I think you spend less time on things you can't control.

They say life begins at 40. IMHO this is true. You get to drop the young adult hangups and get more comfortable in your body / life.

Oh, and car insurance gets cheaper.

...... everyone will die, but not everyone has lived....

The DayDream

Bro no one cares what age you are if you're out on a session it's the more the merrier as long as you're a pleasant person to be around. Haven't we all enjoyed the chats at a pub with auld fellas? Well you're not even there yet, you've another 2 or 30 years to go.

You're only in your early 30s that's your prime man. Tom Brady is still winning super bowls at 43. I'm 40 and I was up in Dublin for a specialist appointment a few weeks ago, and as nowhere is doing takeaway pints in the small craphole I live in I found the 'open air party' in Stephen's Green to be a godsend.

I had 3 pints and I was buzzing (the one good thing about getting older for me is I know my limits now which is way less than it used to be- any more than 4 and I'm on the floor).

I'm not married no kids no car work a low paid job. But I still have all my hair and I honestly wouldn't want any women or kids wrecking my head. All my non work time is my own, meaning I can work on my creative projects like my epic novel which I'm sure will become a classic posthumously.

You need to learn how to accept it all - don't let your past mistakes overshadow your good accomplishments which there are probably more than you realize. Accept that time only moves one way. The alternative to getting older is death and you're past the 27 club might as well keep going. Today is tomorrow's past. Don't get to be 42 and say I wish I would have realized at 32 I could still go down to William St and have cans if I wanted. Go there now and be grateful you can do it. 32 year olds with kids and a wife can't! Not without ending up in the doghouse!

Naked Lepper

Airyfairy12 wrote: »

My neighbors son died suddenly of a brain hemorrhage at age 21 last year, My brothers friend killed himself at age 19, A girl up the road from me died in a car crash at age 24, a local lad was murdered a few years ago at age 18, he'd just finished school.

!

eeek, that's awful
sounds like you live in summer bay or somewhere

DellyBelly

While 32 isn't young it really isn't that old. You still have loads of time to enjoy the rest of your life. One of the benefits of being your age is that you probably are more well off then when you were in your 20s. Probably have a house and a nice car and I'm sure you are earning more money in your job so that's a major plus.

massdebater

Am I the only one who realises the OP has just turned 31? Everyone is saying 32!!

pauliebdub

Physically there's nothing great about getting older. Im heavier, less energy, more aches and pains, worse hangovers and often constipated. Nothing in my wardrobe fits properly and I absolutely can't be bothered to get new clothes or lose weight.

Financially, I've considerably more disposable income now than when I was younger which gives me a bit more freedom to do what I want.

McGinniesta

Certain things fade as you get older. Looks etc.

However, there are certain benefits. If you have had any kind of a life then you will accumulate experiences and wisdom along the way that can only serve you good.

You also appreciate things that little bit more.

The DayDream

DellyBelly wrote: »

While 32 isn't young it really isn't that old. You still have loads of time to enjoy the rest of your life. One of the benefits of being your age is that you probably are more well off then when you were in your 20s. Probably have a house and a nice car and I'm sure you are earning more money in your job so that's a major plus.

Uh he said he didnt have much money. And I know more early 30s people renting than I do own homes, and the most of the ones doing well financially it only happened after they emigrated. Recession and housing crisis has royally fecked OP's generation. Unless you have a degree in tech or engineering a single person hasn't a hope of getting a house.