{"id":901,"date":"2024-01-05T16:29:12","date_gmt":"2024-01-05T21:29:12","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/random-musings.org\/?p=901"},"modified":"2024-01-05T16:29:14","modified_gmt":"2024-01-05T21:29:14","slug":"i-am-x-years-young","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/random-musings.org\/index.php\/2024\/01\/05\/i-am-x-years-young\/","title":{"rendered":"I Am X Years Young"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

Occasionally I see someone who claims to be 50 or 60 or 70 year young<\/em>. This strikes me as being kinda dumb.<\/p>\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n

I mean, I get that a person might want to assert that even though someone has lived a long time, it doesn’t make them too old. That they’re not so antiquated that they can’t enjoy life. There is a lot of ageism going on, where people are judged and rejected because of how old they are.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

But asserting that you’re so many years young seems self-defeating in a couple of ways. First, it’s inaccurate. You’re however many years old, not young. Second, it implies that there’s something wrong or negative about being old.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

If you’re old, you’re old. It’s not a crime. It’s not a sin. It’s a consequence of not dying young. And it’s OK to be old, even very old.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

I choose to embrace my age. I am old. Elderly. A Senior Citizen. In my Golden Years. That last is some bullshit, but it’s a pleasant sort of fiction.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

As an elderly person, there are many things I can no longer do, that were possible when I was in my twenties, say. Can’t stay out all night and go to work. Can’t work out as heavily as before. And so on. Age brings some limitations, and it’s important to acknowledge that and make allowances.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

But none of this means I can’t enjoy life. In many respects, I can enjoy life more now than I could when I was young. For example, I am not so driven to find a mate, or worry much about how I might appear. I wear clothes for comfort now, not to show off. I have much more peace of mind now, than I did throughout most of my life.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

I’m able to look at things with some perspective. Much of what appears new is a variation of what has happened before. The news repeats itself over time. The longer you’ve lived, the more you can see how this happens.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

I’ve seen most of the tricks or scams that people try to run. Not all – there’s always some genius who comes up with something new. But those are rare. I may have fallen for some of the scams, but at least I can recognize them when I see them again..<\/p>\n\n\n\n

So, while I believe that my age doesn’t mean I must give up on life of friends, I am indeed old. And I’m fine with that.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Occasionally I see someone who claims to be 50 or 60 or 70 year young. This strikes me as being kinda dumb.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[31],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-901","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-social-commentary"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/random-musings.org\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/901","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/random-musings.org\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/random-musings.org\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/random-musings.org\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/random-musings.org\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=901"}],"version-history":[{"count":3,"href":"https:\/\/random-musings.org\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/901\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":905,"href":"https:\/\/random-musings.org\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/901\/revisions\/905"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/random-musings.org\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=901"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/random-musings.org\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=901"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/random-musings.org\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=901"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}