People with life experience question: would you consider getting older a bad thing because your youth is over, or a good thing?

Question

Would you consider getting older a bad thing because your youth is over , or a good thing because you are more wise even though you are closer to death? I got introduced to that new perspective today and part of me agrees with it EXCEPT it was said by people in their mid 20s. So how can that outlook be substantial and important to them when they haven’t experienced actually getting old yet? Thoughts from people in their 40s and older would be appreciated.

Realistic07 · Accepted Answer

One must keep in mind that although most commonly experience is a development of age, and time that does not mean that experience/ wisdom cannot come to those that have not experienced the same amount of time. The reality is experiences in life can sometimes come very quickly for some, and for others may be very slow. No one is the same in their journey in life, in some experiences change people no matter what age they are. It really speaks to the reality that no matter how similar we may be as people externally or even in the physical our minds are ever vast, and our lives often take twist and turns in ways that we can never really predict. Some people adapt to the worst of situation in game experience very quickly, and others adapt to the best of the situation, and gain a completely different type of experience or perspective on life altogether. The thing to realize is that experience causes so much more than just wisdom, and one person’s wisdom may not be the same as another persons due to the fact that one life is not equivalent to another. Therefore age is not a factor in determining experience, wisdom, or perspective. The only real factor in determining those things are the individual experiences that we go through as individuals that culminates together in one’s own life regardless the age. Depending on the experience, and the perspective you take from said experience one may or may not become wiser depending on who they are and what they have determined to be necessary to retain as knowledge for the sake of simple survival. What we forget very quickly is that survival is the ultimate goal of all life, and the things that determine one’s own perspective of survival are the factors in ones life that they learn from to develop knowledge and further survive. So in a nutshell wisdom is simply the knowledge of how to survive in a or any given situation, and depending on how many situations you’ve gone through in life whether that be a bunch all at once, or greatly spread apart you may gain more wisdom or not. It’s amazing how we ourselves determine what is necessary for survival even before we formulate clerical thought in our development as people survival, and how to achieve it is arguably one of the first thoughts that we have as creatures in one form or another. So with that I say that To grow old is neither good nor bad simply another step down the path of survival, and within that path there are many twist and turns. Some of them lead you to good Fortune, and others not so much. That said regardless the path one takes wisdom is bound to be gained through one perspective or another of the given path that one chooses to take.

Anonymous · Accepted Answer

My life keeps becoming better and better the more I age. I think progression is key. I have a lot more wealth than I did in my early twenties. I have more education. I have a nice physique that I’ve worked for the last decade. These are the external responses to my internal growth though.

Most importantly, I’ve worked on myself. Identifying your issues and working on them throughout your twenties is important for sustained happiness.

I know I have issues with arrogance, lust, overthinking, and anxiety. I’ve spent the last several years working on these things.

I’ve strategically placed myself in humbling situations to work on the arrogance. I’ve read a lot of books about how arrogance limits potential. I’ve also found that merely listening to others and asking questions with an open mind helps a lot.

I’ve gotten in touch with my spirituality when it comes to lust. I’ve lived through the ramifications of it and have reflected a lot on it. I avoided particular situations for a while. I stopped watching porn, and I have come to a point where it’s not so much of an issue anymore.

With overthinking and anxiety, I’ve learned how to meditate like a champ. I’ve came up with rules for myself that have become muscle memory. If I fucked something up, then I spend no more than 15 minutes dwelling. Then I change the dial and move onto something else.

I could write an entire novel on how I’ve progressed with all of the things I’ve mentioned. But I’ve found that age gives me time to get closer and closer to what god wants me to be. I become stronger, more self aware, more effective, more intentional, and just an overall better version of myself with age. If we’re not using our time wisely, then we will just drift along life and be pushed wherever the forces of the world put us. Age becomes more depressing if you live your life like that.

I’m only 28, and feel as if I’ve lived a lot of life. I’m excited to keep progressing though.

Brokenheartedx · Accepted Answer

Im heading to 40 and i see the world differently to when i was a teen.. To be fair the world has changed a lot esp now over the past few years, i have seen the young teens have their freedoms removed, what i enjoyed at their age, they can no longer go. Us we are living in dangerous times, terror threats, everyone hating each other. When the youth look back on their life in 20 years all theyll remember is fear and face masks and thats a sad reality.

As I've got older I've become less trusting, via bad relationships, we all make mistakes when we are younger but that helps us grow and mature, so what we did as kids we as adults are mortified by oyr behaviour. I dont think its a bad thing to grow as a person as long as the growth is a positive impact.

sheikalana · Accepted Answer

It's a good thing. Maturity comes with age. I still feel pretty young tho however, I've experienced a few things in life some made me grow others made me change my opinion and see things in a different way. You should never be afraid of growing older there's so much more to gain than to lose.

ChrisMaster69 · Answer

It’s a bit of both or neither really.

i am definitely not wiser at times, I still make the same mistakes I did at 20, we can as humans really fail to learn basic shit lol.

Most of my life I have been close to death, serving in the military and deployed on Ops, it’s just a fact of life that you face the chance of death.

i lost friends when I was 18 and still remember them, it’s always been my thing to enjoy life when and where I can.

At 20’s we are starting that adult thing and some have confidence in their ability and views on life, they just have not usually been tempered with the fails and wins and emotions that is growing up.

It’s not bad that my youth is over, I can run better 5km times now than at 25, I am still capable of stupid childish things.

Some people on their 20’s act as if they are 50 and have a pipe n slippers.

I don’t consider getting older a bad thing, it’s just something we face head on and accept, then keep making the best you can of what life throws at you, never giving in and always ready to seize the day when opportunity presents itself.

One thing I don’t think about is death, it’s inevitable and I’ve faced it a number of times and simply accept it will happen when it does.

live life and get as much as you can from it, this is no matter your age, you can always try new stuff and do new things.

Lliam · Answer

Excellent question, kyleelyn.

Well, it feels weird to be considered old. Totally unexpected. I remember when I thought 30 was old and had no concept of aging.

I'm no longer as hot and bitchen as I was when I was younger. Teen and twenty something girls are a thing of the past. That's okay. Been there, done that, and it was great.

The interesting thing is, I've had the most amazing life so far. So I have all those memories and, honestly, inside I'm still the same age I've ever been - 6, 16, 26, 36, ... And, along the way, I've gained a certain amount of wisdom and knowledge as a result of my experiences. I also managed to accumulate some assets.

Being retired is the best thing about reaching a certain age. I am soooo glad that I don't have to go to a job every day anymore. I saved money for retirement when I was working. I get social security and a small pension. I love my wife of 25 years and the house we bought almost 20 years ago.

I've never been real afraid of dying, not that I plan to do so anytime soon. I also tend to be a glass half full kinda guy, so I'm grateful for the past and present and hope the future works out for my wife and me.

All things considered, I'm pretty happy being the age I am. It's been a grand adventure. My wife and I are having a lot of fun and have no intention of stopping.

TheBigGuy9 · Answer

I don’t mind getting old because I’m satisfied with what I've done in life. We all have to go through it. We all eventually die and get judged. This is not only for me, but for God. I’m not perfect, but I don’t want to end up in hell. As you get older you will realize that life is much more dangerous and you should cherish every moment you have.

Im at an age where I pass on my advice to young kids. You’re in your 20s. Have fun. Fuck like animals. But realize you still have responsibilities. If you don’t get married or have 5 kids, so what. Just know when you’re my age you cannot be going to college parties. Like on Road Trip movie. Watch it if you haven’t seen it.

Also, I can say that many of people around your age will die before me. Car accident, overdose, murdered, health problems, etc. 19 people I graduated with are already dead. So there’s that. Age doesn’t matter much if you don’t take care of your body. I cannot emphasize that one enough. Take good care of your body. Get all your levels checked at your doctor and take vitamins and minerals and work out etc. It matters when you get older.

StrongMale · Answer

My experience with getting older has been all positive. Life experience has given me some insight and perspective that helps me to be wiser in my choices. At the same time, I have worked my ass off in the gym to maintain and even improve my physique and physical strength. I am in better shape now than I was in my 20s, and wiser and smarter too. I might be closer to death, that is true. But what comes with that is a perspective that helps you to realize what is important and what is not in this life. Yes, youth is wonderful. But I wouldn’t trade the maturity and wisdom I have gained at this age to return to the immaturity and inexperience of my 20s. I have knowledge, confidence and sure footedness today that I didn’t have back then. Also, even at my age I don’t feel that my youth is over. I still feel very youthful in many ways!

HighValue · Answer

There are good and bad things about getting older.
For me I work out and never did any drugs, don't drink alcohol, etc. so I can actually outperform most young guys physically if I do sports related things.
I do know much more now about how the world, society, etc. works than I did in my early 20s.
You have more work experience so you are often much more qualified for more jobs than younger people are if you want to switch jobs/work somewhere else.

The bad part is that your parents and relatives tend to die off, especially if they didn't take care of their health. Also people tend to move away for work so friendships are often lost. In my case I was purposely not putting in effort to my friendships that I had from when I was younger because those people turned out to be bad people and got worse so I didn't want to be friends anymore.

TheorionMage · Answer

In Nature, the "ideal" is... in your youth, your divinely-programed purpose is to observe and perfect survival skills borne of knowledge, in order to impregnate the most 'desirable' (based upon prevailing conditions) female and to defend and educate her and YOUR offspring, til their maturation and have that cycle repeat. THAT, is "the baseline meaning of life"

In Nature, AFTER engendering and educating & defending that next generation, YOU have served your ordained purpose. Like drone bees and salmon, evolutionarily YOU'RE 'superfluous' and marking time til your cell's telomeres run down.

ALL else is romanticized ideological superfluous 'busy work' and pastimes.

molonski2 · Answer

Hey , look Id love to go back to being 24 , but only if I could take my current logic and smarts with me , honestly I was a pretty arrogant smart arse when I was young , always smart enough not to be a complete lunatic and hence , Im still alive.
I think both my daughters were much smarter than me in 20s , but I was probably better at making money , so the idea is okey , but at the same time young view is young view and I generally get on well with young people , but I've also learnt a lot by living in Asia.
The key is to never stop learning , never stop maintaining your body , being the correct weight , and the understanding that nothing is ever black / white , there are always reasons.

Finchie40 · Answer

I’m in my 40’s n honestly i feel like I experienced a lot in life already and don really tolerate nonsense anymore and drama , I am more content now and satisfied with what I achieved , there are still things I would like to experience , true love is one of them and to travel the world. But other than that I feel like I don’t really have much more to look forward to lol I am not saying I want to die but I know I am going to one day , so I just try to make the best of each day I wake up and be grateful for what I have achieved and try to eliminate the negativity as much as possible

AviatorTom · Answer

As I got older, I learned things... about myself and about others, as I experienced different things in life... some happy things, some sad things. Major thing I've learned is that there are rarely black and white choices... shades of gray rule. I still try to be a child at heart though.

DryGermanGuy · Answer

As with many things, it's a mixed bag.
With age one gets education, experience, seniority, professional success, independence. With maturity comes the ability to focus on the important things. Of course the skills to make party for a whole week and recover for one night are gone, but oh well.
Quite a few of my relatives lived to be 90+ years old, now they had some interesting stories to tell! :-)

Uannoyme · Answer

Getting older beats the alternative. There are times when I think back to when I was younger, and I kind of wish I could go back. That's mostly because I'd like the chance to do some things differently. Honestly, I don't feel all that wise.

Jintendo18 · Answer

I’d like to know myself from people that managed to make it there childless. It sounds like a fruitless shell of an existence without a family of your own.

Anonymous · Answer

It was slightly frightening to give up my youth but I'm in such a better place now than when I was young. I think I've done pretty well so far and I feel good about myself (which has been a long time coming).
I'm busy planning for the next stage of my life.

Jerre · Answer

I am 51 and in excellent health. I do not think about getting older as I know it will happen. In expect to live another 30+ years and continue to enjoy life at its fullest.

nawtee_me · Answer

Death is a part of life so you can not be afraid of living. Life. Besides people die at young ages too. Don’t be afraid of getting old, be afraid of getting old without living life.

ChiTown33 · Answer

A good thing. Your entire life is a competition. Competing for jobs, love, respect etc. Then one day you realize it's a losing battle anyhow. Most people don't even care about you. By the time you're older you've usually figured out who and what's most important to you. And if you've worked hard and been fortunate. You now have the resources to relax and enjoy it.

I would NEVER want to young again.

OrallyFixated · Answer

Yup!

NYlatefun · Answer

Great question. Def not a bad thing, youth is so valuable though. But in my case being 46 I'm sharper than ever and ironically fitter than ever, having said that and to your point, closer to death, so that's a big downside, but I'm enjoying this age so much more, I'm more confident and overall happier.

dolemite89 · Answer

i’m sad some parts of being younger are gone but i don’t feel like i missed out on anything so i’m not jaded that i’m not 21 anymore. Plus men tend to not have as many problems dating as we get older so that’s a plus.

KatherineJ · Answer

I’m in the middle. There is a sense of losing my youth as I get close to 40, and gravity is not my friend…. But I do like the respect that I get being a little older. People actually listen to what I say now.

People with life experience question: would you consider getting older a bad thing because your youth is over, or a good thing?

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