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A school friend of my mother's, when she recently turned 70, said something interesting in a conversation with her: "I look at the date of birth on my passport, I look at the calendar - and I think that this is probably some kind of mistake..." In fact, she's so right—we all get old, and we aren't always ready to accept this inevitable truth.
Each of us at different times and in different ways realizes that we are no longer young. For some, this is the first "age-related" health problem, and for others, an unexpected look in the mirror—and a strange old guy in the reflection, or for others, just another jubilee. Well, let's find out what made netizens think about their age for the very first time.
More info: Reddit
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#1
Getting to the point where makeup makes you look worse rather than better. I remember a few years ago at age 46 or so, getting ready for a day out and putting on foundation in the daylight. The more I applied around the eyes to cover dark circles, it all gathered in the creases and looked awful. Same with the eyeshadows. I ended up scrubbing it all off and just going very lightly with it thereafter.
Kate Jones 3 weeks ago
I hear ya! I film videos for a funny book think that I do and I've never really warn makeup, but when I started filming I realized how bad i look on camera without it. so I started doing makeup for the first time--I'm 45. I'm sure it's a mix of not really knowing what I'm doing and also having older skin now, but foundation and BB creams just look so crazy on my skin. It feels like it doesn't go into my skin at all. Someone told me taking hot showers can ruin your skin for makeup because it's almost like giving your skin 1st degree burns, and I think that may be what it is. It feels like it sits on top of my skin and doesn't blend at all. Especially on my nose. I'm using a really high end bb cream, too. So now I just use a tinted moisturizer and a little powder, and I do my eye makeup and that works fine for me. I don't want to look like those fake eyelash, puffy lip girls that i see online. They're wearing like 3 pounds of makeup. It looks so fake. I just don't like that look.
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#2
I distinctly remember the small text on a page suddenly wasn't as crisp as I would have liked it to be. It dawned on me that the problem wasn't the printed page--it was my eyesight. After a good five decades of clear, crisp vision, it turned out that I needed to wear reading glasses.
I'm still not used to wearing them, and I miss being able to pick up anything and read with my naked eyes.
Nota Robot 3 weeks ago
Reading glasses are right around the corner for me, but the optician has recommended to postpone using them until my arms shrink too far to read unassisted.
#3
Crepey skin on my arms.
Kate Jones 3 weeks ago
Yes. I look a lot younger than my age because I'm overweight (weight tends to hide wrinkles or age in the face. At least for some people). But you'll know how old I am by looking at my hands.
A few days ago, a thread appeared in the AskReddit community, where the user u/Antique-Swordfish-14 asked netizens: "What was the first thing you noticed about your body that made you realize you are getting old?"
As of today, the thread has over 1.3K different comments, with a wide variety of revelations, from funny to sad, and from poignantly true to sarcastically witty. And we, Bored Panda, offer you today a selection of the most interesting posts from this thread.
#4
Getting up to pee in the middle of the night. Then getting up to pee two seperate times in the middle of the night. Then three times. You get the picture.
Kate Jones 3 weeks ago
I used to think this was just men but it affects women, too. I find that as I've gotten older, I'm fine, fine, fine then suddenly I have to pee so bad I almost don't make it. It's like there's no warning. I lay down a lot because I have my computer in my bedroom, so I lay on my side in bed and watch it like a tv. So I think that's why. I'll stand up for the first time in a few hours and it's like my bladder suddenly realizes it's going to burst.
#5
I'm a HS teacher, 56. This year, I realized I can no longer squat next a desk because I can't get up. I forgot this past week, and had to ask a student to help me up. Ugh thankfully, these are big boys. If I taught 1st grade, I'd be in trouble.
#6
I looked in the mirror and saw my father.
Kate Jones 3 weeks ago
This is both comforting and horrifying. I find myself laughing and it reminds me of my mom. I feel an expression on my face matches her. It's strange to be so much like her.
Each of us has our own "biological clock" in our body, measuring our age and the threshold beyond which aging begins. This depends on both internal factors—our genes or our gender (for example, women statistically live longer than men), and on ourselves, too. For instance, bad habits, hard work, or an unhealthy lifestyle often lead to early aging.
#7
Sagging. Everything sags. I am not a heavy person. As a matter of fact, people say I am skinny, but everything sags anyway. Face, b***s, arms, butt. 😁.
Mel in Georgia 3 weeks ago
I wish there were a surgery where they cut open the top of your head and shake you like a pillow in a pillowcase to eliminate the sag! 😆
#8
When I shrank 2 inches in height! I hate this - I liked being tall, plus now my middle is even lumpier.
#9
If I sit for more than 15 minutes my joints rust. Then when I get up it is a serious of cracks, pops and serious pain for the first few minutes.
So, at some point, we realize—that's it, youth has finally passed! When, swinging wide to throw a stick to our doggo, we feel an unexpected pain in our back. When we see the first grey hairs on our temples or the first wrinkles in the corners of our eyes that never smooth out, or when we change our facial expressions. When we get out of bed in the morning and suddenly feel dizzy...
#10
Having difficulty opening new jars of things like pickles. It felt like losing my autonomy.
LizzieBoredom 3 weeks ago
And once you get the lid off, there's a impenetrable paper seal with a helpful pull tab.
#11
I’ve had both knees and both hips replaced, and survived cancer in my 40s. But I rehabbed well, returned to weight lifting and felt strong.
In my early 60s, I was tying down something in the bed of my pickup, and somehow lost my balance and fell over the side of the truck- breaking my pelvis.
It wasn’t the broken bones that bothered me- it was losing my balance. As I lay in the driveway my thought was- f**k, I’m officially old aged.
Kate Jones 3 weeks ago
Ugh the mobility thing is really what kills me because no matter how much you know you can't move like you used to, you still forget. I live on a 2nd floor and I have an hour drive home from work. So sitting for all that time... by the time I get home and start crawling up the stairs, without fail my knee pops. It's like a rubber band snapping and my leg feels like it's going to collapse. I have to give it a minute before I can keep going. But I have to be so careful carrying anything because I could fall down the stairs if I'm not expecting it. I always try to make sure i'm holding the rail. It'll happen sometimes when I'm walking, too. Just for no reasons--snap! My whole leg buckles. So annoying. Getting older really sucks.
#12
Thinning hair. I went to make a ponytail, and I couldn't get a hair tie to even stay in.
Kate Jones 3 weeks ago
I'm a woman and I feel like women don't talk about hair loss enough. I'm thinning on top a lot. My grandmother wore a little wiglet on top because she had almost no hair there. Thanks for the genes, gramma.
In fact, of course, there is no universal recipe for longevity. However, if we analyze the habits of supercentenarians around the world, we can deduce several common patterns—healthy eating, physical activity and, importantly, a philosophical attitude toward life's adversities.
For example, in our recent article about Ethel Caterham from the UK, who at 115 years old is recognized as the oldest living human on Earth, we said that her life credo has always been: "Never arguing with anyone, I listen and I do what I like."
So, perhaps, you shouldn't argue with nature either. We will all inevitably grow old, but it is in our power to make the aging process as long and pleasant as possible.
#13
Hair growing from places it never used too. Getting asked if you want your eyebrows trimmed.
#14
When a simple paper cut took a long time to heal. .
In any case, I sincerely believe that you will be interested in reading this selection of human stories—even if you are very young and have never thought about how much time is measured on the clock of life. Well, and if you, for example, have already found some gray hairs or wrinkles—why not share your own story with us in the comments below?
#16
At 40 while at my annual Dr. visit, when my PCP asked me if I had any concerns, I said yes, the skin on my arm doesn't look normal. She looked at my chart and said, you just turned 40. I said, okay so why does my age have to do with it? She just smiled until my brain could comprehend, I am aging. 😁.
LizzieBoredom 3 weeks ago
Think of your body as a giant globe. Everything that used to be above the equator is now below the equator.
#17
Getting tired easily.
Kate Jones 3 weeks ago
Honestly, I've been tired since I was born. I'm not sure if it's necessarily an old thing. It's just the nature of how crazy life has become. Almost anyone you ask will say they're tired all the time.
#18
My a*s deflated.
I used to have glutes like bowling balls!
#20
My tummy suddenly began telling me that it couldn’t handle chili dogs. .
Kate Jones 3 weeks ago
Once my body stops letting me eat the food i love...that's when it'll be time for the dirt nap for me. I just love food too much. Life isn't worth living without good food!
#21
Losing muscle mass.
Helen Rohrlach 3 weeks ago
I had to stop buying 35kg bags of chook food and start buying 20kg for this reason. Just couldn't lift them into the feedbin anymore.
#22
Creepy skin on my neck.
#23
Not being able to get up off the floor, hearing my joints crack, not being able to hear the tv or see without a ton of light and a magnifying glass, crawling on all fours to get up the stairs, having to lay down after climbing two flights and currently walking around with a heart monitor. But my b***s are still perky!🤣.
Serena Myers 3 weeks ago
Best not to get down on the floor in the first place unless you can get onto hands and knees and crawl somewhere to lever yourself up!
#24
Losing elasticity.
Nota Robot 3 weeks ago
I feel this one. Look at the screen in deep thought for five minutes and spend the rest of the day looking like Droopey.
#25
If you have laugh lines, consider yourself lucky! I don’t have very impressive laugh lines, myself, and I’m 70 years old. What I do have are these lines on each side of my mouth, but slightly lower down. I call them my quote marks, because that’s what they look like. They make it obvious that I have spent a good part of my life making tense, angry faces. D**n tattle-tales! I’d love to have more laugh lines!
Michael Largey 3 weeks ago (edited)
An interviewer asked Mick Jagger about his wrinkles. "They're laugh lines.", Jagger said. The interviewer replied "Surely nothing's that funny."
#26
Oh the first time I felt old because of my body was when I was handed a box, and I had to do that classic old person move where you move it closer and further away to try and get the right focal length.
Uncle Panda 3 weeks ago
When she was three, my niece realized she could make me bob my head by pushing something in and out of my focal plane. She had fun with it for a while.
#27
My eyelashes are so sparse now.
Janelle Collard 3 weeks ago
Ugh! I think I've tried every mascara out there for "thin lashes." The current one that seems to work is Lancome Lash Idole Flutter Extension. 2 coats of that work ok.
#28
Waking up at night with itchy legs and feet.
Kate Jones 3 weeks ago
Might be nerve damage. You may be prediabetic or you may have a compressed nerve. Or it might just be that you have late developing allergies.
#29
The eye bags that started to guest star on my face.
A number of years ago I started to use a daily men's skin program from Tiege that includes an under-eye cream that has really helped stave them off a bit.
And even though I'm pretty thin, I have that drooping neck skin that's driving me bonkers.
Outpatient plastic surgery, anyone?
#30
63M. Suddenly my eyebrows have started going grey. They were black but there's about 9 grey ones now on either side.
What do you think ?
Sven Horlemann 3 weeks ago
I can relate to all that. I also realized getting old when in my job everyone was so polite, asked my opinion etc. I am 58, and now the oldest. Gee.
A girl 3 weeks ago (edited)
Right? I resisted mentioning "I'm 60" for...reasons;)
Load More Replies...
Glen Ellyn 3 weeks ago
When I look at my hands, I see my mother's hands - knuckles swollen by arthritis.
Sven Horlemann 3 weeks ago
I can relate to all that. I also realized getting old when in my job everyone was so polite, asked my opinion etc. I am 58, and now the oldest. Gee.
A girl 3 weeks ago (edited)
Right? I resisted mentioning "I'm 60" for...reasons;)
Load More Replies... Glen Ellyn 3 weeks ago
When I look at my hands, I see my mother's hands - knuckles swollen by arthritis.
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