What were you most unprepared for when you got older ?

hollydolly said:
you know, I feel I know exactly what you mean. :giggle:

I never thought that I would get to this age.. albeit my 60's..but I never did, it never crossed my mind I would, in fact I was thoroughly convinced I would die young as my mother did.. so I really didn't make preparations for this.. in whatever way one might be able to prepare
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My mother died at age 53 when I was 22, so that was always on my mind when thinking of my future.
 

What were you most unprepared for when you got older ?​


Advice I'm now giving to young men.

Chaps, you may think that because you are taller and physically stronger, that you are superior to the female sex..... wrong, they have senses and mischievous tricks that you cannot begin to imagine.

For example.
1.
If you have been within 100ft of another woman, your girlfriend will smell her on you.

2.
If you have a one millionth of an inch of hair underneath your jacket collar showing, she will see it and pick it off.

3.
You really have to be very aware that women can read your mind, so be very careful in what you are thinking, because they will know it before you think it.

4.
They scrutinize your teeth to determine what you have been eating, and usually have a sly, analizing sniff of your breath, without you realizing it.

5.
Now this is so important, don't ever think you can win an argument with ladies, because you can't, they think more quickly than men do and can talk five times faster, and before you can work out what the discussion was all about, she will be halfway to the bingo.

OK, you can take me for a pint now. 😊






 

timoc said:

What were you most unprepared for when you got older ?​


Advice I'm now giving to young men.

Chaps, you may think that because you are taller and physically stronger, that you are superior to the female sex..... wrong, they have senses and mischievous tricks that you cannot begin to imagine.

For example.
1.
If you have been within 100ft of another woman, your girlfriend will smell her on you.

2.
If you have a one millionth of an inch of hair underneath your jacket collar showing, she will see it and pick it off.

3.
You really have to be very aware that women can read your mind, so be very careful in what you are thinking, because they will know it before you think it.

4.
They scrutinize your teeth to determine what you have been eating, and usually have a sly, analizing sniff of your breath, without you realizing it.

5.
Now this is so important, don't ever think you can win an argument with ladies, because you can't, they think more quickly than men do and can talk five times faster, and before you can work out what the discussion was all about, she will be halfway to the bingo.

OK, you can take me for a pint now. 😊
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no, it's your turn to take us women for a Pint.. you can toddle of to the Bingo yourself... :sneaky::LOL:
 
I was the most unprepared to still be alive this long. I learned about nuclear war when I was about 10 and figured that was gonna wipe everybody on earth out soon (if there were anybody left, they would wish they'd died at Ground Zero). With the way the world is, I'm amazed it hasn't happened yet, still could any time.
 
officerripley said:
I was the most unprepared to still be alive this long. I learned about nuclear war when I was about 10 and figured that was gonna wipe everybody on earth out soon (if there were anybody left, they would wish they'd died at Ground Zero). With the way the world is, I'm amazed it hasn't happened yet, still could any time.
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Ditto !! I was taught about the likelihood of Nuclear war from very young..probably because the war had just been over 10 years it was on every adults mind that there could be another war and this time it would wipe us all out, so I always believed that we'd be killed in one fell swoop.. and those who didn't would be living in caves ravaged by radiation poisoning..
 
Same as a lot of the above in terms of the physical aspects. But one type of thing I hadn’t anticipated: Decline in international cooperation and social responsibility. I grew up in the end of WWII when there seemed to be a lot of interest in international cooperation, UN, learn about and respect other countries and customs. Be law abiding, , help others.
Then watching the rise of “me first”, more conflicts and more vicious ones, people feeling and acting as though laws didn’t apply to them. No apologies for errors that affect others. Internal conflicts.
Of course there are lots of exceptions,but I’ve developed constant vigilance, getting tripped up once in a while by still being trusting. Having to check up & investigate on things I used to take for granted.
It can be very tiring and draining.
 
Geezerette said:
Same as a lot of the above in terms of the physical aspects. But one type of thing I hadn’t anticipated: Decline in international cooperation and social responsibility. I grew up in the end of WWII when there seemed to be a lot of interest in international cooperation, UN, learn about and respect other countries and customs. Be law abiding, , help others.
Then watching the rise of “me first”, more conflicts and more vicious ones, people feeling and acting as though laws didn’t apply to them. No apologies for errors that affect others. Internal conflicts.
Of course there are lots of exceptions,but I’ve developed constant vigilance, getting tripped up once in a while by still being trusting. Having to check up & investigate on things I used to take for granted.
It can be very tiring and draining.
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you're so right, it is very tiring just living your life being on high alert now.. especially us older folks when we've lived a life where we didn't have to be so alert to everything and everyone.. and now in our winter years we should be relaxing mentally as well as physically.. but you can't take your eye off the ball, and that's just exhausting..
 
I didn't expect to feel so old so soon after retiring, 66 feels like what I thought 70+ would feel and I'm disappointed I didn't try harder to save money earlier and retire sooner.

I didn't expect to feel timid about doing things. Though since my body has been disintegrating when I do stuff (like the second toe capsulitis from just walking, or the ankle twinge I've had recently merely from inching carefully down some steep hillsides on park trails), maybe feeling timid is the better choice than breaking myself.

Although I knew years ahead of time (due to heads up from my eye doctor) that older people cannot focus real close like young eyes could, I am still shocked that it happened.
 
HoneyNut said:
I didn't expect to feel so old so soon after retiring, 66 feels like what I thought 70+ would feel and I'm disappointed I didn't try harder to save money earlier and retire sooner.

I didn't expect to feel timid about doing things. Though since my body has been disintegrating when I do stuff (like the second toe capsulitis from just walking, or the ankle twinge I've had recently merely from inching carefully down some steep hillsides on park trails), maybe feeling timid is the better choice than breaking myself.

Although I knew years ahead of time (due to heads up from my eye doctor) that older people cannot focus real close like young eyes could, I am still shocked that it happened.
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awww I'm sorry you're going through this.. I;m the same age , and I'm the opposite tbh. I do have my aches and pains.. but I;m very much younger looking, acting, dressing, than I ever thought I would be at this mid 60's age.. I always thought I;d look something like my gran when she was this age.. and in truth all her friends and her looked the same.. in todays' world would be about 90...
 
Been There said:
Here in the U.S., we get a percentage taken out of our paycheck each payday called Social Security. We also build a pension from our place of employment. When we retire, we get a portion of our social security paid back to us monthly, plus a portion of our pension money from our employer. There is also a savings plan that most employers offer called a 401(k). The employee can save ‘x’ percentage of their pay and the employer will add maybe 6% (more or less) to that amount, so at retirement, the retired employee could receive 3 checks each money. One from social security, one from pension and one from their 401(k). Some retired people can earn more each money from their 3 checks than when they worked.
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Even ten years ago less than 7% of retired people had all three of those income streams, and I'd think it is less and less each year. 40% were living on only Social Security. None of the companies I worked for provided pension plans, though one had that up until the year before I started there.

Once for three years I had no match at all for 401k contributions, and then at a few times in my career the match was only at 2%. I don't think I ever had a chance for a 6% match, though I did have 3% and 4% matches sometimes. Though I use the term 'match' loosely because the companies weren't matching dollar for dollar, it was on a tier basis, they'd match the first one percent but then the employee had to contribute a couple percent to get the next one percent. I think it topped off if the employee put in 6% of their money the company would put in a total of 3%.

I think union employees and probably government employees are the people who would be lucky enough to get all three types of income.
 
hollydolly said:
What were you most unprepared for when you got older ?
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Answering this question, LOL.

Hard to really say, what I have been surprised by is my need for medical care. Nothing life threatening but things are changing. I never had a heath problem and only rarely visited a doctor until a couple of years ago.

Then I had a UTI which turned out to be a prostate infection, the first surgery of my life was to remove most of it. Then I had a hernia operation, then surgery on my hand for thumb arthritis. And finally the big one, my knee replacement surgery. 67 years without surgery or any hospital visits, and now 4 surgeries in the last 2 years. Not something I was prepared for. Hopefully its all over now, but who knows.
hollydolly said:
I was unprepared for being invisible a lot of the time.. ...sometimes it's shocking when I'm being totally ignored in a store for example..as tho' I wasn't even there..
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@hollydolly , that is really hard to imagine. Your in life personality may be different from online, but still you invisible, hard to picture!
Pepper said:
The inability to walk long distances, sometimes for hours... Me, who loved to walk, to hike. A cruel joke.

Also, if I may, being fearful. I've always been brave and tough. Now I'm a sniveling coward who lost her superpower!
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I understand the walking problem, same here, I am hopeful my new knees will help. Anything you could do?

@Pepper I can imagine you as a number of things, a "a sniveling coward" ain't one!
Gary O' said:
Thought it would take longer
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Yeah, seems just a few minutes ago I was in my 30s... sometimes it still does, but not for long.
Furryanimal said:
Arthritic knees
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Absolutely!! Where did that come from?
 
I cannot think of anything that I was unprepared for. Unlike some posters in this thread my mother and aunts all lived to be quite old and I was close to all of them. I have seen at first hand what old age brings and I am grateful for the medical advances that have made my aging less physically painful.

In my twenties I read The Female Eunuch and later, The Change. Both books by Germaine Greer so I knew about the way you become invisible during middle age. I found this to be especially true when I went into a store selling electronic gadgetry years ago. No salesperson would come near me, preferring to spend time with the twenty somethings. Now, as a whitehaired old lady I just waltz up to them and tell them what I want. I find them much more helpful when they know what I am looking for.

I still live in the cottage we moved into in 1966 and over the years we have made changes to the layout and the furniture. I have been mindful of the need to make cleaning easier and to avoid trip hazards. It's no palace but I can stay here for the foreseeable future and that is all I expect. One day, if I live long enough, I will go into care and I am mentally and emotionally prepared for that eventuality.
 
i was unprepared for the loss of people close in my life. The stark reality is that I probably will not develop close friendships that took years to develop at this point in my life so when I do lose a long time close friend I feel like a part of my life has also went away.
 
Alligatorob said:
Answering this question, LOL.



@hollydolly , that is really hard to imagine. Your in life personality may be different from online, but still you invisible, hard to picture!
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Well really I'm just the same in real life as I am here.. no shrinking violet.. and as you can see not a little old lady either.. which is why it's more surprising to me anyway.. that it happens.. but clearly to the young I must look old enough to not be bothered about..
 
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