I never thought I'd feel so old in mid 40s - anyone else?
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Anonymous
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I mean I realized that mid 40s wasn't young, but i never realized that it would be a time of figuring out what retirement and end of life looks like, and that it is actually not uncommon for people to get sick and die at this age (and also that everything starts hurting).
I think what gets me the most is you go from young 'I'm going to live forever' of your 20s to 30s (too busy having babies and keeping them alive) to suddenly being expected to synthesize that life for you, your peers and parents could theoretically end any day; absorb the info, live accordingly BUT continue to parent and work as if none of that was the case. Does this make sense? Anyone else feel this? |
Anonymous
Yes, I think most of us have similar feelings. It's a shock to look at photos from even just a few years ago to realize how much I've aged, and I'm healthy and fit and active! It's a transitional decade. You're leaving behind youth for good and the future is also more limited. I think about retirement all the time now, making sure I'm on the path to have a comfortable retirement and estimating savings from each year for the investments and so forth. I'm also much more conscious about making sure I remain healthy and fit with my diet and exercises because instinct tells me if I give up now, the harder it will be to get back on track and the more I'd be setting myself up for health problems down the road. But at the same time I am also aware of the unpredictability of future health issues, from watching my parents and their friends, all in their mid 70s into 80s. My father has Parkinsons, which came out of the blue, but my mother has absolutely no health issues whatsoever. |
Anonymous
| Wait until you hit 50s! |
Anonymous
| I am mid 50s and just joined a gym. It is so humbllng to take a class. |
Anonymous
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This means you need to take care of yourself, OP.
I'm your age and don't feel old at all, even though I have a chronic disease. It's all about getting tested for prediabetes, checking your cholesterol and blood pressure, eating clean and exercising/stretching thoughtfully (no mindless jogging that will wear your joints out). Get your mammograms, pap smears, etc. Take vitamin D - in the northern hemisphere, everyone is low on vitamin D. Or go ahead and take a full multi-vitamin. To slow skin aging, use sunscreen and retinol, if you can tolerate it. Perimenopause might be doing a number on your mental health. There are certain days when I feel sluggish and imagine I look awful, even though I'm actually perfectly fine. Tracking your cycles with an app may help you identify if your mood synchronizes with certain moments of your cycle. A cycle tracker is useful during peri, when cycles go out of whack. Some people swear by hormone replacement therapy, others can't due to family history of cancer/blood clots. |
Anonymous
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It’s when I started getting injured doing seemingly simple workouts…, or just sleeping.
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Anonymous
| 43 y/o and not feeling like that yet. |
Anonymous
I think it hits in 44-46 range. |
Anonymous
This. I didn't feel it until over 45. |
Anonymous
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Op - I literally posted this and then threw my back out bending over.
Fml. And I do all the things - physicals, work out every day, pt, strengthening, supplements, yoga. I feel like I’m 80 |
Anonymous
Gently, you don’t know what 80 feels like. |
Anonymous
Yep. A switch flips at age 45. [NP] |
Anonymous
Not for everyone. |
Anonymous
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It’s not just physical.
It’s the flip from being an age where getting sick and dying would be a shocking thing and being the age where it happens. And it does happen to everyone around you your age and older. Very hard transition |
Anonymous
| I lift weights (and finally recovered from a running injury) so my body feels strong, but all of the monthly cycle shifts hit different, especially mood swings. |