The older you get do you have to remind yourself that birthdays are a blessing? I'm not afraid of gray hair or balding, but I am afraid of becoming like some of the older people I've seen and know personally who with age can't take care of themselves and are at the mercy of others. That's what I'm afraid of. I don't like the idea of getting older and becoming more dependent on others. It's probably more comforting if you have a bunch of kids who can take care of you, but what about those elderly people who have no children? Thinking of winding up old and alone I guess bothers me.

I wouldn't say afraid...dread it, yeah, of course aging beats the alternative, but there are some things you just don't look forward to...everything slowing down, you're not as fast as you used to be, and yes there's even the vanity, who wants to wake up one morning and find a wrinkled old person with gray hair and a mushroom sized head looking back in the mirror?

And then there's the fact that old age is really becoming something of a death sentence, you get to be a few years older and then suddenly everybody else knows what's best for you, and they put you in a home or somewhere where they don't let you out of your room, you have to wake up and eat when everybody else does and what everybody else does...people think just because you get old that you have no rights anymore, that's the part that's really frightening.

I am not afraid of getting old, I don't think about it much, its inevitable. I don't want to end up like my father, he has all his mental faculties but the body just dosen't work anymore. Depending on your children is a burden to them, most don't want the responsibility and usually in a large family there is only 1 that will assume the duties and even then its hard for that one person. For myself, I would never be a burden to other people what I would do is when I knew it was getting to the point that I could not take care of myself anymore, I would either look into Assisted Living or find a GOOD nursing home (they do exist) and check myself in.

Quote :

Are you afraid of aging?

Not yet.

Not in the sense of just getting older. I'm fine with that. I don't buy into the idea that we just automatically do or stop doing things because we reach a certain age. So just getting older is a huge non-issue with me. But I do sometimes think about being in a situation where I'm unable to take care of myself. I don't want to be dependent on other people. And I'm one of those people who never wants to be in a nursing home. And if I'm in control of my faculties at the time, it won't happen.

I can deal with the gray hairs and the wrinkling, what freaks me out about aging is becoming more susceptible to illness and loss of strength (mental and physical).

I'm terrified of aging but since the only alternative to it is death....que sara sara.

Ask me in about 20 yrs. I always say I'm old, but I'm really too young to think about aging in a drastic sense.

I am. I don't want to deal with the looks lessening and the body letting me down. Not that I am a hottie athlete at this point! But I worry about what things will be like in 30 years.

No I am not afraid of aging. My only fear is alzheimers/dementia.

Not at all. In fact, at 28 my life has just now started I realize. Nothing could be more perfect. Fortunately I was blessed with really great genes and the common sense to know how to take very good care of myself. Sure I will fight the process to the end to make my outside look as young as possible, but everyday I know my soul is growing older and older and getting wiser and wiser.

I admire my elders for this reason. I listen to anyone older than me. I was just raised this way. With age to me comes knowledge. The day I stop learning is the day you can just shoot me.

Shale wrote:

Yes, a very real concern. This summer I visited my sister who takes care of mom (only 15 years older than me). She has dementia, doesn't eat and broke her hip needing pinning. We thot she wasn't long but made a bit of a comeback.

I do not want to be like that. Quality of life is important to me and if I lose my mobility and ability to enjoy the activities that I do, I will probably kill myself. Even with caretakers I do not want to live being totally dependent on others, nor do I want to be in some fugue mental state outside of the current reality.

I wish our culture embraced suicide. I would devise a simple list of questions and when I was unable to give the correct answers, have a veterinarian come in and do me the favor that we provide for animals but deny humans. But instead I will have to do it myself and probably cut my life a year short to make sure I have the capacity to get it done.

If I ever at any time before terminal or lose my faculties, then my wish is that I'm put down within a year of that prognosis. I don't wanna die by inches, suffer and suffer until I my body finally gives out and I die. That's awful.

Yes

Does the aging process, and the prospect of moving on to the next 'stage' of your life, frighten you?

Not so far!

Nope. Beats the hell outta the alternative.

CeCe wrote:

Nope. Beats the hell outta the alternative.

Yup. Although death is peaceful. But I would like to see some more shit before I take my official dirt nap.