People Born Before 1980 Share The Struggles Of Their Age And Here Are 30 Of Them

Getting older comes with a whole host of challenges and changes that almost matches puberty in a way. But the truth is that many of us don’t really accept that we are aging until it’s staring us right in the face.
A netizen asked “What was the biggest change to getting older that was the hardest to accept?” and older folks shared their best stories. We also got in touch with the person who started the viral thread. So get comfortable as you scroll through, upvote your favorites and be sure to share your own thoughts below.

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People Born Before 1980 Share The Struggles Of Their Age And Here Are 30 Of Them No matter how I work at it - eating right, exercising, etc. - my body can't keep up with my brain anymore. One damn thing or another is always on the fritz. Back feels great, finallllllyyyyy???? F**k you, says my right knee, try this on for size! (collapses)

Good times!

PurpleBeads504 , Valeria Boltneva / pexels (not the actual photo) Report

Final score:

122points

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🦄 Unicorn Princess 3 months ago

This!!!!!

19points

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People Born Before 1980 Share The Struggles Of Their Age And Here Are 30 Of Them I'm not in vain, but I think it's incredibly difficult to lose your looks. Going from young vibrant looking to old and haggard. visually, you can see you're getting old, even though you don't feel old inside.

mannuts4u , Martin Péchy / pexels (not the actual photo) Report

Final score:

111points

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Auntriarch 3 months ago

Helps if you were no oil painting to start with.

37points

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People Born Before 1980 Share The Struggles Of Their Age And Here Are 30 Of Them Weight gain that I can’t lose no matter what I do.

Zestyclose_Big_9090 , Andres Ayrton / pexels (not the actual photo) Report

Final score:

106points

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Antony Aston 3 months ago

Been on a strict diet for the last three months. In the first few weeks I lost 30lb - not an ounce since.

11points

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People Born Before 1980 Share The Struggles Of Their Age And Here Are 30 Of Them A few things come to mind. Lack of stamina. Good grief. I have been active for all my life, but now, even the simple gym routine wears me out. It bothers me each day that physical tasks take longer, I often ache afterwards, and the thought of breaking down bit by bit scares the stuffing out of me.

My never having been beautiful physically, you would think that not being noticed wouldn't bother me. It does. Getting the aid of a store clerk has become task. I find myself having to force myself on people. That's annoying.
The forgetting of names, proper nouns when I know those are words are somewhere in my brain just aggravates the stew out of me. Where did those words go? Hours later I will be loading the dishwaher and, damn, the name or book title will pop in head as though the brain kept searching for it long after I forgot I needed the name earlier. What's up with that?

Getting shorter. Freaking gravity. I was never tall and now I know that centimeter by centimeter I get closer to the ground. Argh.

Arthritis. All the activity, wear and tear on my joints as a young adult has come to haunt me. I have spent the last seven years doing resistance weight training to strengthen the muscles around the achy joints. Thank goodness I did, but nothing has helped stop the stiffening of joints.

Not being needed on some level. I spent so much time taking care of growing children, making professional decisions in my work life, coming up with solutions to make systems better and now I often feel hollow, useless. I want to know that I can help not just be a token.

Another sad thing concerns my decreasing lack of patience. I can no longer suffer the insufferable and wanton ignorance around me. I must walk away. Civil discourse disappears when grown a*s adults believe and repeat lies and conspiracies. That's not a debate, it's chaos. There's no deference to the expertise in our world. Retired insurance salespeople are not experts on geopolitics or macroeconomics. They just aren't. Ugh. For goodness sake, just shut up.

I must be cranky this morning. So I will shut up now.

Photon_Femme , Andres Ayrton / pexels (not the actual photo) Report

Final score:

100points

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Isabella 3 months ago

Arthrisis hit me with my thyroid going out of window at 33. Fun times, nobody believes you, "young people do not get so sick"

22points

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People Born Before 1980 Share The Struggles Of Their Age And Here Are 30 Of Them Having to let go of a dream or goal that will never be achieved. 😢.

linda70455 , Gabriel Gurrola / unsplash (not the actual photo) Report

Final score:

97points

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Isabella 3 months ago

For many of us, this dream is not being homeless. We will never afford homes

24points

Carl Roberts 3 months ago (edited)

Never say never. When I turned 50, I was convinced I would never own a home. 2 years later....I own a home. Never give up on your dream, even if you have to make sacrifices to accomplish it.

4points

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Alexa Saltz 3 months ago

I accept that some of my dreams are not likely to happen. However, it is not over yet. I will keep dreaming and reaching..

5points

liz MacClain 3 months ago

If you're not dead don't let go

2points

Cynthia Marrs 3 months ago

Not enough years for all the crafts I want to try, places I want to see...

1point

Kathryn Walker 3 months ago

You find new dreams, or you revise old ones. I went through a divorce that turned my life upside down, leading to a depression, that I tried to cure with whiskey, that led me to a different level of hell. One night I just knew that if I didn't change, I was going to die. I had lost weight, never left the house, lived in my ratty pajamas. I remembered the me that I used to be, and I was determined to be her again. Only better. I am writing things that I send out for publication. I am working on a book that I will self publish if necessary, selling it on street corners. I challenge myself every day. I am stepping into social media, even, because I am good company, so why keep me all to myself? I will be 64 years old in December. I feel more like a kid just getting started in life. You can only really die if you let yourself die. Keep busy. Keep moving forward.

1point

Magenta Blu 3 months ago

Like having any kind of relationship with anyone...

1point

EJN 3 months ago

This may be the most painful thing. After 60 years old, even if you want to make a change and do something else, you cannot easily do it because of decreasing physical strength, decreasing income, and decreasing amount of time left in life. The only option is to do things that will not require a long building time. Society also sets up roadblocks like mandatory retirement and undervaluing of older people.

0points

Kakashisith 3 months ago

It`ś very easy.

0points

Clover 3 months ago

My dream is one that I'm pretty sure that I will never achieve. I have dreamt of being " # 1 " to somebody. I'm in my late 60's, and the only time I have been # 1 to anybody, was my cats. My last cat went to the Rainbow Bridge several years ago, and my husband doesn't want me to have any more. I do not feel as if I am # 1 to him.

0points

DowntownStevieB 3 months ago

I'm doing that in my 30s now.

0points

Debra Robinson 3 months ago

College. Own house or at least an affordable apartment. Dentures. A decent job or business. Too many to list here.

0points

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People Born Before 1980 Share The Struggles Of Their Age And Here Are 30 Of Them Decrease in stamina; why is everything so tiring now?

EXXPat , Eduardo Flores / unsplash (not the actual photo) Report

Final score:

92points

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Skara Brae 3 months ago

Someone I know is in his 80s and has greatly reduced stamina. When he's resting he can get up and move around for a while. However, soon he has to move slowly and rest often. It turns out his aortic valve is mostly calcified. This means it doesn't open as far as it should. This means he can't replenish the oxygen in his blood fast enough when he's moving around. A heart surgeon measured his valve (everyone is different) and it should open as far as 4 square centimeters. Currently it can only open as far as 0.9 centimeters, so they are planning surgery.

18points

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People Born Before 1980 Share The Struggles Of Their Age And Here Are 30 Of Them I have noticed a change in my short-term memory over the past several months and it's concerning me.

WTFuckery2020 , Lisa Fotios / pexels (not the actual photo) Report

Final score:

91points

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Isabella 3 months ago

This is actually scary.

28points

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People Born Before 1980 Share The Struggles Of Their Age And Here Are 30 Of Them Crepe skins and loss of muscle.

Annual-Hovercraft158 , Pixabay / pexels (not the actual photo) Report

Final score:

90points

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Norma 3 months ago

It's weird to look down and you don't even recognize your own hands.

46points

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People Born Before 1980 Share The Struggles Of Their Age And Here Are 30 Of Them Vision. Letters are too small on so many things. Glasses on. Glasses off. Where are my glasses? Bifocals.

someguy14629 , Jilbert Ebrahimi / unsplash (not the actual photo) Report

Final score:

86points

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Papa 3 months ago

I've been wearing bifocals for about 15 years. The only "Glasses on, glasses off" I do is when I'm at the computer. I have a second pair (that aren't bifocals) set for my vision at arms length so I'm not straining my neck looking at the monitors through my bifocals.

10points

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#10

I’ve always had a cat (or two). After my previous boy passed, I went and adopted a bonded pair, because I’m getting *two* out of the shelter, right? But after a couple of years I came to realize that- if they stay healthy, they could easily outlive me and my husband (we are both 70). And then what happens? Everybody says, “Oh, provide for them in your will! Get a commitment from a friend or family member who can take them!”. What if you don’t have anyone who can take them?

Maybe we’ll be lucky and outlive them. Maybe my daughter halfway across the country (who currently has a cranky cat and two very energetic dogs) will have an opening. Maybe a cat-loving neighbor will still be living nearby. Maybe. 🥺🥺🥺 I worry about it.

littlespawningflower Report

Final score:

84points

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Jeremy James 3 months ago

I used to volunteer at a sanctuary with over 700 cats. Many of them came from elderly folks in that exact situation.

39points

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#11

Going on Reddit and reading all the hate for Boomers. Apparently we are one giant evil monolithic hive-mind because we were born between 1946-1964. That’s all it took, just being born at a specific time. We’re like the Borg.

On the other hand, all the other generations consist of millions of individuals with different personalities and political viewpoints and different and individual hopes, dreams, hobbies, and interests.

squirrelcat88 Report

Final score:

79points

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Nils Skirnir 3 months ago

Blame the marketers and politicians for that. Divide, conquer, and sell c**p to

35points

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#12

People Born Before 1980 Share The Struggles Of Their Age And Here Are 30 Of Them Becoming invisible. No one tells you and then it’s too late.

Izdabye , Kaique Rocha / pexels (not the actual photo) Report

Final score:

77points

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WindySwede 3 months ago

25points

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#13

People Born Before 1980 Share The Struggles Of Their Age And Here Are 30 Of Them I used to have so much discipline. I could keep my weight down, exercise 7 times a week, keep my home organized, etc. Now I just want to eat gummies, Doritos and hang out here.

Glittering_Sky8421 , Gabin Vallet / unsplash (not the actual photo) Report

Final score:

77points

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Bluonthefront 3 months ago

I'm ok with letting go of some things. Idc if my home and yard look photo ready. They look good enough. I spend my time on the things I enjoy more.

16points

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#14

Menopause... and all the s**t no one warned me about. Like losing your sex drive. ( which I've fortunately gotten back, somewhat).... or aging 10 yrs in 6 months. Waking up one morning to find I have NO eyebrows.... you know, s**t like that!

Bluesage444 Report

Final score:

76points

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pipboo@live.co.uk 3 months ago

Me too! I see the age of 50 and the menopause as a huge watershed in my life. HRT has successfully removed all of the unpleasant medical symptoms, such as sweats, anxiety and insomnia, which allows me to keep working, so I'm very grateful. On the other hand I've metamorphised from an attractive and sexually active wonam in my 40's into a wrinkly, silver haired asexual old grannie in my 50's. And all that happened within a year, just bizarre!

51points

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#15

People Born Before 1980 Share The Struggles Of Their Age And Here Are 30 Of Them Realizing that the end is no longer over the horizon; it is the horizon.

S_L_Raymond , Mike Bird / pexels (not the actual photo) Report

Final score:

75points

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Bat cat in a hat 3 months ago

I'm ok with that, better die sooner than suffer for years with some horrible degenerative illness

40points

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#16

People Born Before 1980 Share The Struggles Of Their Age And Here Are 30 Of Them That events/cultural references that you remember vividly are a lot older than you think, and in many cases, younger folks will have no idea what you are talking about.

Mooseagery , Josh Sorenson / pexels (not the actual photo) Report

Final score:

74points

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keyboardtek 3 months ago

I saw the progressive rock group Emerson, Lake & Palmer when I was 17. One of the best concerts in my life. Young people today would not even have the attention span to listen to all the musical ideas in one ELP suite like Tarkus.

21points

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#17

People Born Before 1980 Share The Struggles Of Their Age And Here Are 30 Of Them I’ve been a personal trainer, marathoner, martial arts instructor, yoga teacher, …… since I was about 22. I’m 57. In my youthful, delusional mind, I truly thought I would be 80 before I started slowing down. Aging is humbling. We can exercise, eat right, and avoid most of the bad stuff. But, accidents happen. Genetics happen. Illness happens. I’m still very grateful that I have stayed fit and healthy through the years. But I was so sure I would be a marathon running grandma. Aging has checked my ego in a big way.

YogaBeth , Bruno Bueno / pexels (not the actual photo) Report

Final score:

68points

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Auntriarch 3 months ago

I guess you would have been worse off if you hadn't started out fit. And at least you don't have my sister in law who is a marathon running grandma and she only started running just before COVID

15points

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#18

Not knowing who some “famous” people are. I look at the cover of People magazine when checking out at the supermarket and half the time don’t know who the people they are crowing about are, lol.

SurrealKnot Report

Final score:

68points

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Jeremy James 3 months ago (edited)

I swear they keep making up new famous people and just expect us to play along.

48points

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#19

People Born Before 1980 Share The Struggles Of Their Age And Here Are 30 Of Them When you are younger it feels like you have all the time in the world to do things. I am now coming to terms with the fact that “someday” is a lot smaller of a window.

Alternative_Sock_608 , Ari Alqadri / pexels (not the actual photo) Report

Final score:

66points

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JM 3 months ago

And it feels true (to me) that time goes by faster. Even for small things - I was recently taking the sheets off my bed for laundry and thought to myself, "I just did this!" (a week ago)

21points

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#20

Damned QR Codes for literally everything.

Mooseagery Report

Final score:

66points

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keyboardtek 3 months ago

Small print on all the grocery store items. Packages now have ten different fonts and sizes of fonts, and trying to focus on reading them when eyesight is getting worse everyday becomes very frustrating. Reading a magazine! Once the word processor was invented, idiots decided that every page has to use every font available in twenty different sizes with five extra boxes on every page in fourteen different colors. It lacks any level of symmetry, or visual sense of harmony.

11points

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#21

People Born Before 1980 Share The Struggles Of Their Age And Here Are 30 Of Them Being patronized by doctors.

HawkReasonable7169 , Karolina Kaboompics / pexels (not the actual photo) Report

Final score:

63points

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WindySwede 3 months ago

"Just take a Tylenol" 👩‍⚕️👨‍⚕️

14points

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#22

People Born Before 1980 Share The Struggles Of Their Age And Here Are 30 Of Them The people I love won’t be around forever.

Daisy_W , cottonbro studio / pexels (not the actual photo) Report

Final score:

62points

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JoNo 3 months ago

Increasing awareness that I won't be around forever.

30points

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#23

People Born Before 1980 Share The Struggles Of Their Age And Here Are 30 Of Them Singing well. I can’t hit high notes anymore and sometimes my voice is shaky and off key. I don’t sing in public, just in the car or at home, but it saddens me that no one will ever say “Wow! I didn’t know you could sing like that” ever again. 😒.

NoIndividual5987 , Andrea Piacquadio / pexels (not the actual photo) Report

Final score:

60points

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Steve Hall 3 months ago (edited)

My singing has always been an easy way to upset cats.

17points

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#24

People Born Before 1980 Share The Struggles Of Their Age And Here Are 30 Of Them Can’t wear high heels.

Pure-Guard-3633 , Apostolos Vamvouras / pexels (not the actual photo) Report

Final score:

60points

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Auntriarch 3 months ago

Sigh, yes I have a fabulous pair of stilettos in the cupboard which I'm pretty certain I'll never wear again, I used to go shopping in them.... But I have gold birkies, so that's very consoling

21points

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#25

Dealing with heat & humidity; untrustworthy knees.

Sicon614 Report

Final score:

57points

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BarfyCat 3 months ago

I used to love summer. Not anymore!

21points

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#26

People Born Before 1980 Share The Struggles Of Their Age And Here Are 30 Of Them Loss of ambition and drive. Part of me kind of likes it because deep down I'm just a bum but overall it's been tough to accept. Hard to describe but you reach a point of just feeling finished with it all and energy doesn't come easy anymore.

Unless I'm super stoked about something, I basically don't care about it and can't even force myself to pretend to care.

PicoRascar , Maksim Smirnov / pexels (not the actual photo) Report

Final score:

54points

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Irish Lassie 3 months ago

You’ve just described what millions of women go thru after menopause. You’ve also just described me to a T! It takes so much just to PRETEND to be interested, never mind being ACTUALLY interested. I choose naps over almost any other “activity”. The saddest part is that I used to be a gymnast and barrel racer (horses) and now I can barely muster the energy or strength to get out of bed. I believe it’s called depression. I envy those women who, at 60+, seem to be unfazed at all by age, injury or mental health issues. Thanks for passing that trait on to me, Mom! She’s 85 and has been depressed since I can remember. Go easy on us, children. You’ll soon be right where we are someday. 👵🏻👶🏻

29points

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#27

People Born Before 1980 Share The Struggles Of Their Age And Here Are 30 Of Them Not only hair growing out of new places that never had hair before but growing an inch over night.

johngknightuk , cottonbro studio / pexels (not the actual photo) Report

Final score:

54points

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Nils Skirnir 3 months ago

Eyebrow combover

22points

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#28

Realizing me and hubby can't just lift heavy objects like we did 20 years ago when we moved in. We're buying and putting together new furniture and deep calculations go into how we're going to get it up the stairs or room to room. Literally stuck with a very, very old bedroom set (hubby's grandma) we no longer can get downstairs to get rid of it. Will have to hire movers so we can get a new set.

Yeah, we're old asf. Hubby just turned 70 yesterday.

Insult to injury: I take him to a winery for his birthday/ We're sitting outside on a beautiful day sipping white wine and eating some cracker, hummus, and stuffed olives, and chatting (we use sign language) before going to dinner. A women is walking around and back and forth (I swear I caught her filming us while a video call she was on). At one point she passed by again and says, "You two are so cute. Sitting there just enjoying yourselves in the sun." I say thank you, but...

I'm thinking, so we've become that cute little old couple now??? WTF?! 😳.

Paulie227 Report

Final score:

51points

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WindySwede 3 months ago

filming? what the FLICK

22points

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#29

People Born Before 1980 Share The Struggles Of Their Age And Here Are 30 Of Them The hardest thing to understand as it's happening is that your circle of friends gradually grows smaller and smaller. They're still your friends and when you see them it's like old times. But the times you see them gradually decrease to almost never. And these people who were/are the most important people in your life for such a pivotal time in your life slowly begin to have other normal priorities - partners, families, work commitments, general adulting.

You grow up watching TV shows, seeing people in their 20s and 30s hanging out all the time, seeing each other daily, and you expect that to be your life. And it sort of is for a short time in real life. But the people pair up (normal), no longer need roommates (normal), get jobs in another city (normal), buy a house (normal), get married (normal), have kids (normal) and so on and so on.

This has been the hardest thing to accept.

FewWave4322 , Sofia Alejandra / pexels (not the actual photo) Report

Final score:

45points

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keyboardtek 3 months ago

At 70 I have found making new friends is nearly impossible. As a male, if you start talking to other men you casually run into like at the pool or the gym and start small talk, they think you are gay and shut down conversation quickly. Plus so many oldsters have bad hearing and conversation is difficult.

27points

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#30

My life getting smaller. I used to travel but that is pretty much gone because my husband hates to travel and I have health issues that makes it hard for me to go by myself. I used to be a Global IT Project Manager flew off around the world now the grocery store is an adventure. My kids are grown and gone. Just not much life anymore. I do enjoy our community that keeps me going.

Delaneybuffett Report

Final score:

37points

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Nils Skirnir 3 months ago

This

6points

Note: this post originally had 51 images. It’s been shortened to the top 30 images based on user votes.

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What do you think ?

wowbagger 3 months ago

A few months ago I started working at a fabric store where the staff and customers are almost all older women. At 53, I'm one of the youngsters. It has made me realize how biased I was against older women. At first, I was genuinely surprised by how much humor, energy, creativity, and even raunchiness I saw, which just goes to show how ignorant I was. I'm now feeling a lot more positive about my own aging. And, for what it's worth, we (older people) are not invisible to each other.

26points

Come on in, the water's lovely!

12points

Getting older definitely has drawbacks, but it beats the alternative. There are also some good things about it. My wife and I have two adult children that we are proud of, and have good relations with. I had to buy two new tires for my tractor a few years ago. Those tires will probably outlast me, and should definitely last until I no longer need a tractor, so that's something I won't have to do again. I've cut back on my responsibilities, to give me more time to focus on my home and family.

13points

Steve Hall 3 months ago

When I was a child, I couldn't wait until I became an adult. When I became an adult, I couldn't wait until I got old enough to retire. Now that I'm old, I can't wait for my second childhood to begin.

Michael Largey 3 months ago

The biggest thing for me is that, sometime in the future, everyone I've ever taught will be dead. Then I'll really be gone.

Shannon Matthews 3 months ago

I've had 3 shoulder surgeries since July of 22. I have no good stories of 'hey you should see the other guy!' Getting old sucks.

3points

Loch Ness Monster 3 months ago

I want to have words with the person who decided that being born before 1980 makes you old! People born in the 80s are still children! It was only 44 years ago... oh... oops... I guess I really am old now...

Rienk Kroese 3 months ago

Complaints don't make it better. Life is suffering and all things fall apart. Maybe U should have read what the Buddha said, instead of going to yoga class.

Adam Benson 3 months ago

The scariest thing about my age (45) is that I'm now closer to retirement age than the start of my working career. I've already been rejected for some jobs in favour of younger candidates.

Meami 3 months ago

I laughed at the title to this post. Most of the people who posted here (myself included) were born before 1960 - long before 1980. I did great until my mid 50s or so. Every year older I find I struggle more with fatigue, weight-gain, and aches and pains. I find it harder to remember things and my hearing and eyesight are worsening. But you know, my friends have the same struggles so we try to support one another and keep a positive outlook.

RamiRudolph 3 months ago

Well that was depressing. I'll turn 37 in a month, but the thought of what awaits me makes me anxious.

Boo 3 months ago

36? You're still a young 'in

Uncle Schmickle 3 months ago

Realising that I'm now the eldest in my family. The previous generation have all passed away. It's a strange feeling not to have the presence of parents, aunts, uncles, etc. with whom you grew up and were always just " there ".

AnnaB Premium 3 months ago

Seeing how quickly the last twenty years passed by and knowing, if I'm lucky, I'll have only another short twenty ahead of me.

brittany 3 months ago

im 36 and feeling all of this.

People Born Before 1980 Share The Struggles Of Their Age And Here Are 30 Of Them

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