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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 8 months 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.
Tom De Paul 7 months ago
The shower thing doesn't make sense. I would think it would give your skin a natural rosy glow and open your pores.
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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 8 months 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.
Tom De Paul 7 months ago
Why? It's a quick low-cost solution (and your arms don't tire).
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Uncle Panda 7 months ago
The lens stiffens with age. Very few people get by without reading glasses in the long run.
Robert T 7 months ago
Still don't need reading glasses, but I found out 25 years ago that I needed distance glasses when I couldn't read the screen in a training session and had to move to the front to see it. And I now have to have different glasses to read the computer screen as my eyes can't adjust far enough with my distance glasses on.
Cybele Spanjaard 6 months ago
Eyesight seems to falter into a blur around the early 40s, as soon as you find yourself holding the page at arm's distance to see if you see it more clearly, the first clue!
Geoffrey Scott 7 months ago
20 years ago I didn't need glasses, switched jobs to one where I had 1/2 screen time, 1/2 floor time. Needed them about 3 years in.
Papa 7 months ago
I started wearing glasses for distance vision when I was about 12, and had to go to bifocals in my 40's.
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Apatheist Account2 8 months ago
The flip side of this is that, if one is short-sighted, one's distance vision improves after a certain age - eyesight gets longer in every case.
#3
Crepey skin on my arms.
Kate Jones 8 months 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.
Jorge Gonzalez 7 months ago
I can relate. Had to lose a lot of wight for health reasons (high blood pressure) and suddenly wrinkles appeared on my face and body.
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Mel in Georgia 8 months ago
I have nice arms except for the crepey skin. I have to tell myself not to worry about what other people think when I go sleeveless. I hate it, though.
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 8 months 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.
Janelle Collard 8 months ago
Right? It's like a giant surprise, all of a sudden!
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Leslie Victor 7 months ago
You are not alone, my friend. I cannot even reme what sleeping through the night is like...
Emilu 7 months ago
I have to get up about every hour to pee, but mine’s more of a medical issue. That said, if I drank something before going to bed it’s more than that. I think my record was going to the loo, going to wash my hands and then thinking “errr, so I may need to go to the loo again…”
Sven Horlemann 7 months ago
Yeah, I hate that. I am in that club for 2 years now. 58 atm. Gee. I can do without that.
Papa 7 months ago
I just turned 64, and have to get up to pee once most nights, but it could be worse. I have friends who have to do it multiple times each night.
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#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 8 months 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 8 months 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! 😆
A girl 8 months ago
I believe it was either Phyllis Diller or Joan Rivers who quipt "if it we're pulled up much more, I'd have a beard"
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Leslie Victor 7 months ago
The entire circumference around the bra line is folding....always hated bras...
Uncle Panda 7 months ago
Gravity pulls us all back to her arms eventually. Except for Gene Roddenberry.
keyboardtek 7 months ago
I am 70. I swim every day and when I get out of the pool I look toned and muscular and in ten minutes it is all gone and I am back to sagging.
Featherytoad 7 months ago
I remember the episode of Golden Girls where Blanche leans back with a mirror and everything falls back into place. Omg, I laid on the couch and held a mirror up and I looked ten years younger. It was kind of sad.
#8
When I shrank 2 inches in height! I hate this - I liked being tall, plus now my middle is even lumpier.
Cybele Spanjaard 6 months ago
It happens.. the spine as it ages degenerates and compresses ..so they say!
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Janelle Collard 8 months ago (edited)
Same! I lost 0.75" + now I have to stand on my tiptoes to reach into the d**ned washer! And my sweatpants pockets snag on all the cupboard doors' knobs ! (Someday, when I'm not so lazy, I'll get them changed to handles. 😁)
Kat Alison 7 months ago
G o d d a m m i t! I was already short to begin with, and I’ve almost always hated being short.
keyboardtek 7 months ago
And that inch in height that I lost because of squashed spinal disks has been frozen in place because the two vertebrae that started touching each other have now had calcium build a fusion between them.
Cybele Spanjaard 6 months ago
My granddaughter measured me last week against a wall. She said I was 4'9" hey...I was 5' & 7/16 of an inch when fully grown. I walk like Quasimodo now at 86!
Tom De Paul 7 months ago
Entering adulthood I was 6'0". A couple decades later and for a long time - 5'10-1/2". Now at 63 5'7-1/2". YIKES!
#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.
SaladSpinnerDeux 8 months ago
My (much) older sister, me and my niece all stood up at the same time and made the same noises!
Anonymouse 7 months ago
glucosamine and chondroitin - also known as osteo bi-flex - they used to give to race horses so they could race for a few more years - who knew it helps people joints as well.
Cybele Spanjaard 6 months ago
That is air around the joints, not bone on bone. Like pulling your finger until it 'pops' something that's not bones ..but air!!!
Leslie Victor 7 months ago
That is the best terminology ever...it is so true, do you spontaneously groan when you get up too??
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 8 months ago
And once you get the lid off, there's a impenetrable paper seal with a helpful pull tab.
Janelle Collard 8 months ago
MY favorite - childproof caps on my arthritis meds - for my HANDS! Good times! /jk
Jumping Jellyfishes 7 months ago
You can flip some caps to make them non-childproof. You can also request non-childproof caps from the pharmacy.
Load More Replies... Tom De Paul 7 months ago
I think the biggest sign of aging isn't lost attractiveness, it's the inability to open consumer packaging.
Kat Alison 7 months ago
OXO products are good for people with weak hands. I have thr jar opener and the can opener.
Load More Replies... #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 8 months 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.
A girl 8 months ago
The alternative to getting older isn't a picnic either
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Zaach 7 months ago
I had to move into senior living b/c I started to fall. The judo and karate I learned helps me to not hurt myself (much) but I used to ballroom dance. It seems to be getting worse, I may have to start using the walker - till then I use trekking poles when I walk any distance
Cybele Spanjaard 6 months ago
But your tenacity still stayed, and you once again faced life upright, if not a little less enthusiastic about what you could do... last year...!!! I hope!
#12
Thinning hair. I went to make a ponytail, and I couldn't get a hair tie to even stay in.
Kate Jones 8 months 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.
ExistentialSoup 7 months ago
Yeah when I started thinning substantially in my early 40s I thought I was sick. Nobody had ever talked to me about the normalcy of it. Also, it sucks and took a long time to accept.
Load More Replies... Leslie Victor 7 months ago
My hair just came out over the course of a few weeks...pumpkin seed oil helps....
Mel in Georgia 8 months ago
Using a good quality collagen powder has really helped my hair loss.
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. .
#15
I have to sit down to put my socks on.
Serena Myers 8 months ago
That's why I have a sock putter-oner. You slide the sock over the gadget then pull the sock over your feet. Saves a lot of bending and strange grunting noises!
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 8 months ago
Think of your body as a giant globe. Everything that used to be above the equator is now below the equator.
Papa 7 months ago
Yep. My doctor asks me "Do you feel safe in your home?"
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#17
Getting tired easily.
Kate Jones 8 months 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.
keyboardtek 7 months ago
When I started swimming laps everyday, my fatigue vanished. At 70 I now know that when I least feel like exercising is when I need to get some. It reduces most of my arthritis pain.
Load More Replies... #18
My a*s deflated.
I used to have glutes like bowling balls!
Featherytoad 7 months ago
I never had an a$$ to begin with. I guess that's a pro and not a con, because I'm not disappointed in old age with where my butt went.
#19
Recovery time.
Uncle Panda 7 months ago
For travel as well as injuries. I usually arrive a little shaken and stirred.
Geoffrey Scott 7 months ago
5 weeks now, don't know what I did to my knee, but went from walking 5k to, at one point barely making it 10 blocks. Getting better, but..
#20
My tummy suddenly began telling me that it couldn’t handle chili dogs. .
Kate Jones 8 months 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!
Geoffrey Scott 7 months ago
Marinara is no longer my friend. Last couple times eating pizza, suffered for 3 hours.
Tom De Paul 7 months ago
My mother was full-blooded Italian and suddenly one day she couldn't eat tomato sauce without her tongue blistering!
Load More Replies... Papa 7 months ago
I started waking up every night with indigestion. Taking a daily Omeprazole changed my life.
Janelle Collard 7 months ago
Be careful you don't take it for too long; prolonged use may lead to dementia per the NIH. Actually with any of the 'prazoles - there's like 4 total.
Load More Replies... keyboardtek 7 months ago
Hard salami now gives me unbearable heartburn like I am having a heart attack.
#21
Losing muscle mass.
Helen Rohrlach 7 months 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 8 months 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!
keyboardtek 7 months ago
Yep! Do not go down unless you have a plan on how to get back up.
Load More Replies... A girl 8 months ago (edited)
The stairs, grr. Morning routine - Dog let's me know I need to get up. Do a couple stretching routines to get the snaps out. Sit up and make sure I'm not dizzy. Stand up and reconfirm dizzy status. Head to the br and remember I really want a taller toilet seat. Wash up. Make sure my hands are really dry and start the descent to the main level of the house. After first coffee, it's better but that first 10 minutes bites largely.
Serena Myers 8 months ago
My sympathies, A girl, we, or I at least, have your back, I know! Get one of those toilet seat boosters, yes, need cleaning, probably more often, well yes, more often, but it helps your back, old age is a real booger!
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#24
Losing elasticity.
Nota Robot 8 months 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 8 months ago (edited)
An interviewer asked Mick Jagger about his wrinkles. "They're laugh lines.", Jagger said. The interviewer replied "Surely nothing's that funny."
HardBoiledBlonde 7 months ago
One does not have to be a smoker to get wrinkles around one's mouth.
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#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 7 months 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 8 months 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 8 months 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?
keyboardtek 7 months ago (edited)
Agreed. Nobody really cares too much what you look like at that age. They care more about your personality.
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#30
63M. Suddenly my eyebrows have started going grey. They were black but there's about 9 grey ones now on either side.
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Sven Horlemann 7 months 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 8 months ago (edited)
Right? I resisted mentioning "I'm 60" for...reasons;)
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Glen Ellyn 7 months ago
When I look at my hands, I see my mother's hands - knuckles swollen by arthritis.
Robert T 7 months ago
I've always had a poor short term memory, but pretty good long term, but I notice that some things don't recall as well as they should - particularly words - I've also noticed that my dad has real trouble with words sometimes - we do a crossword between us to try and stay sharp.
Apatheist Account2 8 months ago
I used to play badminton at local league level. Aged about 40, I noticed in one game with three younger guys that the game was passing me by, and I could no longer keep up. I moved away not long after that, and haven't played since.
Sven Horlemann 7 months 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 8 months ago (edited)
Right? I resisted mentioning "I'm 60" for...reasons;)
Load More Replies... Glen Ellyn 7 months ago
When I look at my hands, I see my mother's hands - knuckles swollen by arthritis.
Robert T 7 months ago
I've always had a poor short term memory, but pretty good long term, but I notice that some things don't recall as well as they should - particularly words - I've also noticed that my dad has real trouble with words sometimes - we do a crossword between us to try and stay sharp.
Apatheist Account2 8 months ago
I used to play badminton at local league level. Aged about 40, I noticed in one game with three younger guys that the game was passing me by, and I could no longer keep up. I moved away not long after that, and haven't played since.
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