At what age did you start feeling old?

[rec7]

I would say for me it was in my 40's.

[Indexfan]

At age 52 last Sept when I signed my prepaid funeral contract.

[moneyman11]

I'm 44, and do not yet feel old.

Keeping up with athletic and active teen kids helps.
Also, both my parents are still alive and very vibrant 70-somethings, so that helps from a "setting an example" point of view.

Check back in another 10 years.

[johnep]

When I turned 50, I always thought I looked a few years younger. One day I went to a golf course and the lady asked me if I wanted the senior special. I asked her how old you had to be to qualify. She said 50. I asked her if she wanted to see my id and she said " that is not necessary". I really wish she would have asked to see my id. My introduction to senior citizen discounts.

John

[scouter]

Not yet. 55.

[Easy Rhino]

at 30.

[alanf56]

at 54

[JohnP]

Next month I'll turn 69. I've yet to feel "old". Dad died from a fall at 89 and mom is living independently and driving at 90.

JohnP

[kuttolas]

I am 38 years old, I look like a 48 year old and I feel like a 58 year old

[stoptothink]

Having had 2 knee surgeries, surgery for both a torn biceps tendon and pec, a broken clavicle which never seemed to heal correctly, a tilted pelvis from a serious motorcycle injury which requires semi-regular traction to fix assymetry issues, and chronic injuries from running(ITB syndrome, achilles and patellar tendonitis), I am beginning to feel physically old at 30. Paying the price for the two decades of fun I had playing football, competitive powerlifting and triathlons, and racing motorcycles.

[Midpack]

Actually just recently, about 57 years old.

I was feeling a little old in my late 40's, then I started exercising regularly and almost felt like I was (physically) in my 30's again, but it's started to catch up with me again.

And having the need for reading glasses hit me at 44 was an unwelcome inconvenience...after having 20/15 eyesight most of my life.

[dalerobk]

At age 52 last Sept when I signed my prepaid funeral contract.

Unless you have cancer or something, this is just weird. Weird enough that I wouldn't even admit to it on an internet forum.

[Jake46]

65. I started feeling the effects of a couple of health issues & couldn't do all the things I was used to doing.

[Mitchell777]

Late 40's when some health issues hit

[heyyou]

Due to stress and physical but not heavy work at my long term job, I too felt older in my late 40s and early 50s.

Now in retirement, and healthier than my retired friends, I no longer feel as though I'm aging. My coworkers were a skewed sample of age and fitness. The work filtered out those prone to back injuries, and other chronic health problems. Better diet, enjoyable exercise, and escaping from job stress helped me to lose 30 pounds and to feel better, younger, and happier now than ten years ago.

As much as possible, get rid of whatever is making you feel older. You may not realize the severity until it is gone.

[ddunca1944]

When my youngest son (my "baby") turned 40. I'm really going to feel old when my oldest turns 50...

[deerhunter]

I just starting feeling old last year at age 68. My golf swing started to fall apart. I can still hit it 250 plus but I sometimes stiffen up and can't get through the swing.

I also stopped hiking over the hill to hunt deer. Now I stay close to the house and seldom stay in my climbing stand for more then a couple of hours. When I killed a deer this year with a bow, I had to go get help to pack it out.

Turning 70 in March and I can feel it but still having a great time in my retirement. Best advice is to stay active physically whether it is golf, hunting, running etc. Have some hobbies. I am so busy in my retirement I sometimes think I should go back to work to get some rest

[sscritic]

At age 52 last Sept when I signed my prepaid funeral contract.

Unless you have cancer or something, this is just weird. Weird enough that I wouldn't even admit to it on an internet forum.

I bought my funeral plot at age 48. It was an investment in raw land. A speculative investment to be sure, but an investment none the less (not that I will profit from it, but whoever buries me or my estate will have saved whatever the then current price will be).

That reminds me. I should go get a current quote on an equivalent plot. Then I could compute my CAGR on my investment. I could also include the value in my net assets calculation.

[Keim]

30-When I had my first heart surgery.

[epilnk]

At 41, when I was prescribed bifocals, I realized youth was behind me. But it was hitting menopause at 50 that really made me see what is going on; minor changes of course had been creeping up on me but it took a more dramatic change to catch my attention. It turns out this aging stuff is real after all. It's no longer a theoretical concept to me; I now have a subconscious awareness of the direction I am heading in. When I hop onto the kitchen counter to get something from the top shelf I now think, "I need to be careful, I can't let myself fall." That kind of thought was never a companion before.

[shmidds]

Not yet. 57 and still playing ice hockey with 20 year olds.

[greg24]

At age 52 last Sept when I signed my prepaid funeral contract.

Unless you have cancer or something, this is just weird. Weird enough that I wouldn't even admit to it on an internet forum.

I don't think its weird at all. I know a few older folks who have prepaid funeral contracts.

My wife and I are 39 and thinking of buying plots. But thats because its a "family" cemetery where they cost $25 per plot.

[investor]

last year when I turned 70. I figure there are 10 more good years before I start falling apart.

investor

[ilovedogs]

Right now. 49.5 years old. The feeling may pass, and how I feel does not match what people say to me. People always think I am younger than I am. I don't look old. I sure as heck feel old right now. It's not my body, it's my mind. I've seen too much.

[travellight]

I hope I won't feel old till well into my 70s.

I am just now feeling no longer young, at 50. I still have never colored my hair but notice I have gone from about 3-5 grey hairs a couple of years ago to maybe 15, a veritable explosion.

[FlyHi]

Now 73, I don't feel or look old but when I realized that I am really on the other side of the mountain and can't go back up I accepted the fact that I was old. I plan on making it to my 90's as some of my uncles did.

[OldOne]

It was the day we were to get our 3rd grade report cards and, hopefully, move on up another grade. I was so nervous that day I couldn't shave.

[StoutDrinker]

Not yet 30, so I don't feel old. I plan to stay feeling young by just keeping active...but I feel life is so short considering I've most likely lived a 3rd of my life

[Rodc]

Closing in on 55. I'm not sure I so much feel old as not feeling young.

I am slowing down. I commented to my wife after a recent 10 mile run that I'm just not the man I once was. I can no longer go out for a four hour run like I could at 40. Now a mile and a half swim is long, rather than 6 miles in my 20s. I can no longer rock climb or backpack multiple days in a row. She kindly did not agree and said it was just because I don't have time to train like I used to. She lied. Slowing down in many ways for sure. Don't heal as fast either. So I can tell I am on a down hill slope. Fortunately for now the slope is gentle.

Having 11 year old twin boys to take hiking (went backpacking this past weekend, their first full on winter hiking, complete with ice, crampons and below zero weather!) and otherwise run around with and after helps a lot I think. Who has time to be old?

The thing really that occasionally makes me feel old, before returning to my normal self is when family members or friends my age die. That kind of knocks me for a loop. Slowing I can deal with. Full stop not so much.

PS:

When I hop onto the kitchen counter to get something from the top shelf I now think, "I need to be careful, I can't let myself fall." That kind of thought was never a companion before.

Yes. When actually young and skiing if you did not have at least one epic crash you weren't skiing hard enough. Now the imperative is: Don't crash!

[kramer]

I first was cognizant of aging at age 33.5. It was at that point that I thought about my mortality and that I better think about whether I want to get married and have kids, etc. (the answer turned out to be NO, but that took awhile to figure out).

I am 46, retired at 41, and do not feel old. I feel like I am getting a bit younger each year recently. I am stronger and in better shape than at any point in my life (gym now, no gym earlier in life). I first seriously trained for a 5K when I was 40. Ever since then, my times have been getting faster over the years. Thanks to the internet and more spare time, I feel like I am well read on a broader range of topics than at any point of my life so I don't feel a mental decline (yet).

[reggiesimpson]

Mid 50s. This was further corroborated after i read "Younger Next Year" by Crowley and Lodge. Crowley (the curmudgeon) found himself worrying about death/aging in his 50s but now in his 70s he doesnt. Its a great read and i have re-read it several times (another sign of aging?)

[auntie]

66 here, don't feel old yet. Well, maybe just a little.

When I was diagnosed with cancer last year my reaction was "I'm much too young for this" but a little research set me sraight on that.

My parents are turning 92 and 97 this month. I can't be old as long as my parents are still going strong.

[statsguy]

Feeling old is both a state of mind and a health issue.

I don't feel old, in fact, my wife thinks I am childish. I like to "skateboard" shopping carts in the parking lot, splash in puddles, etc. I generally think I am a teenager despite being 57. On the otherhand, my body started falling apart a few years ago (around turning 40 I had a surgery a year for six years and now I deal with arthritis). Some days I walk like an 80 year old but in my mind I am still a youngin.

Stats

[NAVigator]

I only feel old at 58 for fleeting moments. One example is when the ladies open the door for me as I amble along with my cane. That passes because I feel young in my mind. Being disabled is just like retirement with a few challenges. So I enjoy the time that is now mine rather than the corporation's. Having inoperable and untreatable cancer makes one appreciate every day. Live young! It is mostly a choice.

Jerry

[3247]

At 70 I still don't 'feel' old...just don't quite feel up to the task at hand sometimes....such as shoveling snow. For me, as long as I can still shop, cook and feed myself, I don't think I'll feel old. At least I still have my own teeth and hair and I still get a 'rush' out of playing with my portfolio and grandkids...what more could I want?

[jln]

When I was 20 in college and a high school kid called me "sir" in a fast food restaurant when he asked if he could take a chair from my table. I still remember it quite well. I was shocked.

For real? Probably around 50 or so when I discovered I no longer had either the physical energy or the passionate desire to stay up all night programming computers, when that was what I did all day at work already. I started to get interested in other things. This was not a bad thing.

John Norstad

[scrabbler1]

The first time was when my mother passed away at age 59. I was 32 at the time. Since then, there have been an assortment of other things to continue this trend including (but not limited to) burnout at work later in my 30s, leading to wroking PT then ERing 3 years ago at age 45, and seeing more cut grey hairs drop into the smock when at the barbershop. Answering the age range question differently in surveys due to hitting a new plateau (45 was a big one there) is another one.

[newbie001]

At seventeen. True story here. I grew up in a house that was about a quarter mile from the local grade school. Kids started to cut through our back yard to save themselves a good chunk of time on their way home. I was eating a bowl of cereal in the kitchen when I first saw it. I ran out on to the back porch and yelled at them to get off the lawn. It was only after they had run away that I realized that I was an 80-year old trapped in a young man's body.

[at ease]

....when i recently read PSALM 90-10 again...= " The days of our years, there are seventy of them, and if there is greath strenght, eighty years....." and thought to myself....70 isn't that far off anymore....??

[Rodc]

At seventeen. True story here. I grew up in a house that was about a quarter mile from the local grade school. Kids started to cut through our back yard to save themselves a good chunk of time on their way home. I was eating a bowl of cereal in the kitchen when I first saw it. I ran out on to the back porch and yelled at them to get off the lawn. It was only after they had run away that I realized that I was an 80-year old trapped in a young man's body.

[interplanetjanet]

I had a moment in the last day or two when I was reading a post by Rick Ferri that included the phrase "as outdated as a black and white TV with a rabbit ear antena [sic]" and mulled on the fact that my sixteen year old son would have next to no clue about what that meant. I'm in my late 30s but my first few TVs growing up were black and white with tubes, and patching the rabbit ears with tinfoil when they'd get bent was something that came to mind.

I've already noticed slight changes in my own physiology, it's a bit harder to keep weight off than it once was, presbyopia is starting to get more noticeable and so on. Having a driving-age child is a bit of a jolt, I remember being his age, vividly - and hope he gets into less trouble than I did then.

Sometimes I feel rather young or a bit out of place here when I hear about people starting families in their 30s. I'd never tell anyone else to have children as young as I did, but the realization that even my youngest will probably be out of the house and done with her undergraduate education (if she finishes on time, anyway) by my mid 40s is interesting. Maybe I'll feel a bit younger with them off living their own lives (less day to day responsibility?), or maybe if one of them makes me a grandmother at that point it'll be another jolt. Time will tell.

-janet

[travellight]

I am somewhat disturbed by the amount of time I wasted feeling older, if not old. I think my prime years were age 30-50 and should have celebrated those years even more than I did... physically I was in my best shape at 40 and should not have let the number bother me at all.

[FireProof]

About 10.

I was a child prodigy, #1 in the country at 8, but by then I realized I wasn't a real contender any more, and I was only losing ground with every passing day.

As my dad said (although not until my 21st birthday): "Child prodigy, promising youth, ordinary adult."

[interplanetjanet]

I was a child prodigy, #1 in the country at 8, but by then I realized I wasn't a real contender any more, and I was only losing ground with every passing day.

That makes me laugh (with agreement). I was taking Calculus at 12 and felt like hot stuff until the next year I ran into a ten and a half year old who was. Oh well.

As my dad said (although not until my 21st birthday): "Child prodigy, promising youth, ordinary adult."

Sounds about right.

My SO went through much the same - he was giving musical performances in concert halls at age 7 or 8, and then "topped out". He still plays beautifully but didn't get to where everybody was expecting him to - we've had some bonding experiences over all the expectations that were put on us and not living up to them.

-janet

[TRC]

At 25, my body (bones & joints) starting give me some wakeup calls that I'm not invinsible anymore.

[imgritz]

I knew people that were in their mid-60's that were young. I knew people in their mid-20's that seemed old to me. I realized it was all about your attitude.

I'm am 29 with a few anniversaries (two decades worth) of my 29th birthday.

[chaz]

I'm in my 80's, and do not yet feel old.

[AnimalCrackers]

At 41, I briefly took up amateur boxing. I got schooled by some 17- and 18-year-olds. Then, I quit. After that, I started feeling old. I assume there was some coincidence and some cause-and-effect.

[TheEternalVortex]

Around 22 or 23.

[yobria]

You'd have to define how it feels to be old. As in, "no longer a bundle of raging hormones and insecurities"? Or as in, "walker with tennis ball feet"?