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None of us are meant to live forever. There comes a point where it's time to call it a day. Being a care patient for the medical/nursing establishment to 'meal-ticket' off of is not the way I wanna go.
So the kids come along, you want to see them through high school graduation, then you stick around to see them graduate from college, then they have kids, so you stick around for the grandchildren, then they have children, and then you stick around for the great grandkids. It never ends! It's not gravity that keeps us here, it's something more powerful, it's called curiosity!
If your health stands up, you may want to live to 90, if your health fails you, in some way, even in your 50's, stay away from guns!
Why? My husband died when he was in his 50s. Never went to see a doctor until it was too late. I'm surprised he didn't do something about it. He owned a gun.
My brother blew his brains out when he got stuck in Yemen during one of their wars and couldn't get any treatment for his cancer. He was 54. Cruel, but my husband was 54 when he died.
I've been aiming at 75 for a lot of my life. I'm 42 now (no kids). By chance my father just turned 75. He's still doing quite well physically and mentally and can easily pass for mid to late 50s.
I should be able to retire at 55 and enjoy twenty solid years of relative health and relative wealth. I figure if I can't get it done in those twenty years it's not going to get done past that and doesn't need to get done.
I want to die on my own terms. I want to attend my own funeral and have it be a celebration of my life with all of my friends and family.
I don't want to get sick or too old.
I figure I won't want to inhabit the world much past about 2050 due to the vast changes in technology and culture and the meaning of being a sovereign person that will occur.
I want to retire early while I'm still relatively young.
I also don't believe there'll be much of a job left for me to beyond ~13 years from now due to artificial intellect and automation.
I believe saving until 2030 gives me about enough savings to afford no more than about twenty good years.
My plan is to take matters into my own hands in my mid eighties if nature doesn't step in. How many folks do you know that are actually enjoying life beyond their mid 80s? Not too many. So I've always believed it's better to end it before you are no longer independent. Once others start making decisions for you it tends to be too late.
Hubs has a 106 year old great aunt. She is having the time of her life, living in an assisted living with a long time best friend.
Going on vacations with her daughter etc. She is so positive which is the secret to long life.
Two states already give patients meeting certain conditions the right to medically assisted suicide. A some point with the insurance and healthcare system under so much strain, I think that people will have to decide before they get sick how much they want to spend on end of life treatment.
When that money is spent, you go to a palliative care specialist who also can give you a less expensive, messy and traumatic ending.
I've mentioned on City Data before that my grandmother passed away last December at the age of 99 and she had been planning to re-do her bathroom in 2017. She had a sharp mind and was more than capable of taking care of herself and others. I will never forget that when she was 88, she flew to Chicago to take care of my daughter because I was in the hospital and recovering from a third bout of breast cancer.
I just turned 43 last Saturday and I feel blessed and lucky to be here. I want to live to be 95, 96, whatever because I consider my life to be a wonderful gift that I don't want to end. My husband also feels that way as well and he often jokes that if there is some sort of after-life, he wants to spend it with me if he doesn't have to deal with my temper!
My dad is 93, sitting in an assisted living community, in a wheelchair, no use of his left arm. Every day he says, "I hope today is the day I have a heart attack". He is not depressed. He engages with everyone around him, watches his ball games, still eats like a horse and his thinking is as clear as it ever was. He still has his sense of humor. But, he will tell anyone, "there comes a time when you're just ready to go, I'm just waiting no to die". I don't think that is unusual. And if I could help him along without going to jail I most certainly would. But I don't plan to allow myself to end up in the same predicament.
One of my gma's told me to never get old. She outlived her friends. She couldn't hear her family talking to her anymore. She couldn't physically do all the things she enjoyed anymore. Life is cruel and terrible to us regarding aging.
When I was a teenager, I thought 35 was OLD. Then it slowly migrated into 45. Then in 60. Now I'm 62 and I actually wish to live long enough to see my grandson wedding. He's 18 months old.
Op, what you experience WILL change.
Maybe I'll have kids one day so I'll want to stick around longer for them or wtv. But at the moment, I can't imagine living to be over 75 years old. I use to be depressed. What do you think? Is it a sign I'm still very slightly depressed, or is it weird but natural to not want to be around too long ?
There is no need for you to imagine living to be over 75. Focus on reality. You will either live to reach 75 or you will die younger.
I think you are asking the wrong question. You say you are depressed. If that is true then in your depressive state you are becoming morbid. I think you should focus on why you feel depressed. If you can't figure it out for yourself then you might consider counseling (see a psychologist).
The way I see life is that you either get older or you get dead. I don't like being older but I prefer it to being dead. I'm well along in my years but I'm doing something about it, tackling my physical fitness more aggressively. I've always been extremely active mentally and I'm continuing along that path. I'm set on becoming better while getting older, and I believe I'm succeeding.
I was discussing a related subject with my mentor today and I asked, am I different or are baby boomers different from previous generations? My mentor supported my suspicion, and she told me that boomers are not just retiring and dying like previous generations. They are starting businesses in their retirement, they are continuing the process of self improvement, they are tackling new projects, they are continuing or increasing their efforts as they retire and they are using the freedom of their new found time since it is no longer a requirement to work 5 days a week... Just like me.
The baby boomers are different from their parents, "the greatest generation." My own parents may have been forerunners of the change, their slogan was "we're going to wear out, not rust out." And they gave birth to the boomer generation. We boomers have taken that a bit further, and we're refusing to retire and get out of the way like previous generations. And even better, I see no reason why generations later than the boomers, their children and grandchildren, will be any different.
There was a big change somewhere during the era when the torch was passed from the greatest generation to the the baby boomer generation, and I think this is a permanent sociological change that will carry to all succeeding generations. We have developed the technology to live longer, to stay healthy to an older age, and to remain more active in our later years, so why not use it?
Wait until you are 75 and then ask yourself if you want to die tomorrow. I'm not that old yet but I already know my answer. I want to live as long as I am healthy, as long as I am not in permanent pain, as long as I can continue to be productive. I fully intend to celebrate my 100th birthday some day.
OP, you should find out why you feel depressed and address that problem. You have decades left to worry about what to do when you reach 75.
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