The decline from 70 to 80. (60+, supplement, moving, states)
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rodent raiser, I was not referring to your post at #53, but your post at #57.
Ah, I see what you mean now. But I think the same thing still applies. For all of us, I think it's about the quality of life, not the quantity of life.
When I say don't be afraid of the future, I really mean it. If you are already on the downhill slide and wake up with pain every morning and really don't care to face the years ahead, that's fine. That's not liking what the future will bring and it's OK to feel like that. But being afraid of the future is a whole 'nother ballgame and should be approached in a different way.
I'm worried I'll have another aneurysm and not be able to recover from this one and end up in a nursing home completely helpless, but I'm not going to limit my dreams just because it "might" happen. I could also be in a fatal car crash tomorrow and I worry about that too. But I don't let it scare me into not driving anywhere or having a good time getting out and about (yeah, smack me, I'm one of those where you'll have to pry the steering wheel out of my cold dead hands).
Anyway, that's what I mean about not being afraid of the future. If you are, you may as well give it up right now, because if you're going to be afraid for the rest of your life of what's coming down the pike, you don't have the quality of life you should have, even if you are currently hale and healthy. And rich.
And anyway, I think Curmudgeon meant that as a society, we are so bad now, he would be afraid to see our civilization several hundred years into the future. I didn't take it to mean he was afraid to see his own future.
You know, I've had this theory for many years now, that we die when we decide to (barring accidents, of course). I believe that the mind has more control over the body than is usually recognized. The will to live is either there, or it isn't.
I have a 94-year-old neighbor I've mentioned, that gets around well and has absolutely no doubts that he'll be up tomorrow morning. I don't doubt it, either. And yet, I've seen cases of much younger people that I just knew would pass very soon - and they did. You could just tell...they didn't want to live any longer, and felt there was nothing to live for. Nothing much wrong with them.
All that said, I know that women outlive men, often by a wide margin. What do they know that we men don't?
Until menopause, their estrogen protects them from cardiovascular disease, so they don't start to die until their 40s. They just get a later start.
Very true and that doesn't make is any less depressing. I'm still relatively young and I freak out over it. It really scares me.
Quote:
But with those who voted for me I would be pleased to converse
on behalf of this affair which has happened, while the officials are
occupied and I do not yet go to the place where, when I do go, I
must die. Please stay with me, men, for this much time; nothing
prevents our telling tales to one another as long as it is possible.
For I am willing to display to you, as to friends, what ever this
thing means which has occurred to me just now. For to me, judges —
for by calling you judges I would address you correctly —
something wondrous has happened. For my customary divination
from the daimonion was always very frequent in all former time,
opposing me even in quite small matters if I were about to do
something incorrectly. Now, you yourselves see what has occurred
to me, these very things which someone might suppose to be, and
are believed to be, extreme evils. But the sign of the god did not
oppose me when I left my house this morning, nor when I came up
here to the law court, nor anywhere in the speech when I was
about to say anything, although in other speeches it has often
stopped me in the middle while I was speaking. But as it is, it has
nowhere opposed me either in any deed or speech, concerning this
action. What, then, do I take to be the cause of this? I will tell you.
Probably what has occurred to me has turned out to be good, and
there is no way that those of us take it correctly who suppose that
being dead is bad. In my view, a great proof of this has happened.
For there is no way that the accustomed sign would not have
opposed me unless I were about to do something good.
Let us also think in the following way how great a hope there is
that it is good. Now being dead is either of two things. For either it
is like being nothing and the dead man has no perception of anything,
or else, in accordance with the things that are said, it happens to be a
sort of change and migration of the soul from the place
here to another place. And if in fact there is no perception, but it is like a sleep in which
the sleeper has no dream at all, death would be a wondrous gain.
For I suppose that if someone had to select that night in which he
slept so soundly that he did not even dream and had to compare
the other nights and days of his own life with that night, and then
had to say on consideration how many days and nights in his own
life he has lived better and more pleasantly than that night, then I
suppose that the Great King himself, not to mention some private
man, would discover that they are easy to count in comparison
with the other days and nights. So if death is something like
this, I at least say it is a gain. For all time appears in this way
indeed to be nothing more than one night. On the other hand, if death is like a journey from here to another
place, and if the things that are said are true, that in fact all the
dead are there, then what greater good could there be than this,
judges? For if one who arrives in Hades, released from those here
who claim to be judges, will find those who are judges in truth —
the very ones who are said to give judgment there, Minos and
Rhadamanthys, and Aeacus, and Triptolemus, and those of the
other demigods who turned out to be just in their own lives —
would this journey be a paltry one? Or again, to associate with
Orpheus and Musaeus and Hesiod and Homer, how much
would any of you give? For I am willing to die many times if these
things are true, since especially for myself spending time there
would be wondrous: whenever I happened to meet Palamedes and
Telemonian Ajax, or anyone else of the ancients who died because
of an unjust judgment, I would compare my own experiences
with theirs. As I suppose, it would not be unpleasant. And
certainly the greatest thing is that I would pass my time examining
and searching out among those there—just as I do to those herewho
among them is wise, and who supposes he is, but is not. How
much would one give, judges, to examine him who led the great
army against Troy, or Odysseus, or Sisyphus, or the thousand
others whom one might mention, both men and women? To converse
and to associate with them and to examine them there would
be inconceivable happiness. Certainly those there surely do not
kill on this account. For those there are happier than those here not
only in other things but also in that they are immortal henceforth
for the rest of time, at least if the things that are said are in fact true.
But you too, judges, should be of good hope toward death, and
you should think this one thing to be true: that there is nothing bad
for a good man, whether living or dead, and that the gods are not
without care for his troubles. Nor have my present troubles arisen
of their own accord, but it is clear to me that it is now better, after
all, for me to be dead and to have been released from troubles. This
is also why the sign did not turn me away anywhere, and I at least
am not at all angry at those who voted to condemn me and at my
accusers. And yet it was not with this thought in mind that they
voted to condemn me and accused me: rather, they supposed they
would harm me. For this they are worthy of blame
We are not 70 yet. 3 for DH 4 for me. But if our aging accelerates at the same rate we've experienced since 60, look out. Till then we were both doing fine. Then all the overwork and the stress began to take its toll and joints and bones and mental ability to cope began to fade.
We were with a group of older folk last weekend. All were at least 70. Most had just been through major life challenges, diseases, loved-ones dying etc. Their mental outlooks were very different than ours. They just seemed quiet and resigned to their changes. While most were contented, all acknowledged how difficult this past year for them had been. None of them were what I'd call joyful. At 67 and 66, we seemed much more lively. My mother in her 80's would say to me, "I'm living on borrowed time, I'm over the usual age".... it was sad to hear.
yea - but she is probably one of those people that want to live forever. My mom wants to make it to 100.
Not me.
This thread really got my attention. My sister had found a neighbor was planning to put her house up for sale so immediately she was on the telephone to me every day suggesting we move back home and buy the neighbor's home by the creek which bordered property I already owned. The house sounded pretty and so easy a transition. She and the neighbor had been on their neighborhood walk. Next thing you know she was feeling tired then two months later at age 68 she died of liver cancer.
Three of my siblings died of cancer at age 70 or less. My Father also died of liver cancer at age 58. I have one brother left at age 73. For some reason I had always wondered if I would make it to the magic age of 70. I am 9 days away. I got really sick this weekend and commented to my husband I was so sick that I just wanted to lay down and die. I had a flu shot but something attacked me. I called my doctor Monday and was told there was no hope I could see him and was told to go to urgent care. I decided rest in bed would be better than being around a bunch of people with who knows what waiting to see the doctor.
Something rose up in me and I decided if I am to live, it is up to me to make it happen. I am not well but I am better. And I am planning to do my best to enjoy every minute of life as long as I am alive. My mother lived to a week before her 85th birthday. Maybe I have her genes.
I finished calling close to 20 people today to arrange a Christmas shopping trip for our Christmas Bureau. It is happening on my birthday. One of the ladies wanted to meet me and when I explained to her I would be eating birthday cake that day and told her my age she said I did not sound that old. Bet she didn't even realize she made my day.
I went to the gym yesterday and saw a seniors spinning class on the schedule. I looked in the classroom and most were probably well into their 60s and some were probably in their 70s. They were remaining physically active and getting good exercise, big factors in keeping people well.
It seems that many of the seniors I've known have been pretty healthy and active at 70. While most people have aches and pains and some medical conditions, many 70 year olds these days are in reasonably good shape. However, by the time a person reaches 80 (should they reach it), that once vibrant 70 year old is likely to be going downhill - it's pretty rare to see an active and pretty healthy octogenarian.
Does anyone else notice the pronounced decline from 70 to 80?
I'm 61. I noticed my dad aged quite a bit from 70 to 80. But he is in his mid 80s now and still active and pretty healthy. He doesn't drink, is active in his day to day routine (but doesn't exercise specifically as a hobby or for fitness), has a bit of a potbelly now but is generally in a normal weight range and not a "fat man."
The view from the grandstand is different than the playing field.
It's very easy when fit and healthy as a sexagenarian or septuagenarian to gibber about how we're going to live forever or even to the century mark. My dad did that too. He was physically strong and had a sharp mind and would have been a good bet for the century mark because he had the desire like we all do. Then, a rare form of cancer struck and he passed away at age 86 years. There was no cancer history in his lineage.
We will all get our turn and a small slice of humble pie rather than a giant serving of ego cake on this subject may actually help us cultivate and be mindful of this precious day of life we have at the moment.
This past week a new lightbulb came on, as my horoscope suggested it would. I had the mental newsflash to approach health matters in a different way. Yes, I do regular exercise. Yes, I avoid eat junk foods and try to buy quality and organic. Not the total answer. I bought a Nutribullet and ordered the film Food Matters from Netflix. This new resolve comes on the heels of too many of my friends and acquaintances dying in their early seventies, one just days ago (that wonderful person was way overweight and sedentary, and she died suddenly not from heart). I know we cannot control everything, including our genes and environmental influences on health, but I believe I have to do more for my physical and mental health. I hope to make it into my 70s.
I know there are health issues that come up and circumstances beyond our control, but to some extent your zeal for life can have a tremendous impact on your longevity and quality of life.
My great-grandmother lived to be 100, and her dad died at age 95. Both stayed pretty active in their later years. Gram always seemed younger than she was, and a major decline didn’t start until she was about 95 or 96. The last six months of her life were difficult for her, and for us.
I also have an 88-year-old grandfather who still goes to work every day. It’s a business he started. His vision is impaired, but he seems to be making the most out of life, even though his wife (my grandmother) died a few months ago.
On the other hand, my dad’s parents were always preoccupied by health problems. I remember seeing a huge number of prescription bottles on their kitchen table and being astounded. I don’t remember Gram regularly taking anything stronger than Bayer aspirin until she hit her late 90s. (I know a big part of that was good genes). My Grandma on dad’s side was always afraid of getting old. It was something that really bothered her. She had an older relative who had gone through a big decline in old age, and she had a terrible fear of that. Grandma died shortly after turning 70, and I believe if she hadn’t been consumed by this fear, she would have lived longer and would have definitely enjoyed life more.
Sure, Gram (who lived to be 100) would complain “Old age is hell,” but she seemed to have a better outlook and focused on things that she enjoyed doing. Grandma, on the other hand, just seemed to get tired and give up.
This past week a new lightbulb came on, as my horoscope suggested it would. I had the mental newsflash to approach health matters in a different way. Yes, I do regular exercise. Yes, I avoid eat junk foods and try to buy quality and organic. Not the total answer. I bought a Nutribullet and ordered the film Food Matters from Netflix. This new resolve comes on the heels of too many of my friends and acquaintances dying in their early seventies, one just days ago (that wonderful person was way overweight and sedentary, and she died suddenly not from heart). I know we cannot control everything, including our genes and environmental influences on health, but I believe I have to do more for my physical and mental health. I hope to make it into my 70s.
This is kind of depressing reading this thread. I'm 57. I'm trying to structure my life when I'm retired at age 65 so I'm skiing every day with my retiree friends in the winter and out bicycling, walking the golf course, and swimming off the sailboat all summer. I can do what I can to mitigate my dementia risk by minimizing my stroke risk causing vascular dementia and "use it or lose it" otherwise by staying intellectually engaged. It's still impossible to fight genetics. Lord only knows what carcinogens I've been exposed to in my life. My father had vascular dementia and was pretty out of it by age 80. My mom has zero short-term memory at age 83. That's a pretty good predictor of where I'll be at 80 assuming I make it that far.
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