how do you know when you have hit middle age?

[jefhatfield]

first or all what is middle age? 30? 35? 40? or are you in denial and say it doesn't start until 50?

is it when you look like your parents did when you grew up?

is it choosing between looking like santa claus or losing the weight and looking like a sharpee?

is it when you remember being in the first generation of beatles, stones, aerosmith, or eagles fans?

is it when you get a lot of spam about viagra, weight loss, firming body parts, or magic weight loss/fat burning while you sleep pills?

is it when the contestants on american idol don't look like adults, but more like some punky teenagers in a high school talent show?

thoughts?;)

[FatTony]

It when you start get hair where you don't want it and start losing where you do!

[Sun Baked]

Originally posted by jefhatfield
fis it when you get a lot of spam about viagra, weight loss, firming body parts, or magic weight loss/fat burning while you sleep pills? No, it's when you start taking an avid interest in this spam for typical old age products because you actually are starting to need the stuff.

[Mr. Anderson]

its all in the mind.....

if you want to be middle age you can easily fall into it. Personally, keeping active and doing 'fun' things will always keep me from the middle age stereotype.

D

[edesignuk]

I'll tell u when I get there, I'm only 19 at the moment, so u may have to wait a while :D ;)

[Foxer]

Originally posted by FatTony
It when you start get hair where you don't want it and start losing where you do!

I hope not, because I really started going bald my freshman year of college in '89.

I've never considered myself "middle age," and I don't know what that would entail. However, I freely admit (and lament) the fact that I don't do the fun things (clubbing, casual dating, binge drinking, smoking, etc) that I did through my mid-20's. I don't blame this on being 32, it all stopped because I got married a few years back and I now do a whole different set of fun things.

I don't understand top 40 music, most movies look stupid, kids dress funny nowadays, I haven't worn my 9-eye Dr. Martens in years (do kids still where them?) and golfing is preferred outdoor activity. However, I still go to general admission concerts for obscure British bands, I drive faster than most cars on the road and have no interest in the local TV news (a sure sign of being aged).

I never wanted to be one of those aging hipsters I saw at the clubs, anyway.

[jefhatfield]

Originally posted by FatTony
It when you start get hair where you don't want it and start losing where you do!

i am lucky about the hair loss thing...relatively speaking compared to my peers

but when i grow facial hair, it comes out more gray so i don't do facial hair anymore

and suddenly, i have started growing hair profusely on my eyebrows and i have to cut the extra long hairs

when that first started happening, i was shocked...i thought i had some sort of strange disease

my buddy, just a couple years ahead of me, has started getting major hair growing out of his ears...it started in his late 30s and is now endemic in him now

he looks like an owl:p

[jefhatfield]

Originally posted by Foxer

I never wanted to be one of those aging hipsters I saw at the clubs, anyway.

lmao

i was a club musician who retired in late 1998...and at nearly 35 at the time, i was looking like a relic up there on stage with my band who were just a little younger than me

i would see 21 year olds rush in to see the music, which sounded cool enough to them, only to rush back out when they saw it was being played by old geezers like us:p

[peterjhill]

I'm at the hobbits coming of age, age: 33

I don't feel "middle aged" but I also don't feel like a kid. I think that I am at a good age. Making real money, in a "career", about to have a baby. I think that middle age won't start until at least 40.

[Mr. Anderson]

Originally posted by Foxer
I never wanted to be one of those aging hipsters I saw at the clubs, anyway.

Well, you won't see me there either. I'm married, without kids (so far), which in some cases could be a condition for being middle aged. But like I said before, it really is all about how you feel.

I'm not a golfer, probably won't ever be, the sports too boring (and I've played it half a dozen times before).

D

[jelloshotsrule]

Originally posted by dukestreet
I'm not a golfer, probably won't ever be, the sports too boring (and I've played it half a dozen times before).


it's only boring until you get good.

until then you drive the cart around and act like a fool.

[Mr. Anderson]

Originally posted by jelloshotsrule
it's only boring until you get good.

until then you drive the cart around and act like a fool.

ah, but you see, I have no desire to get 'good'. There are many more things I'd like to do than spend a whole day hitting a ball around.....

D

[jelloshotsrule]

Originally posted by dukestreet
ah, but you see, I have no desire to get 'good'. There are many more things I'd like to do than spend a whole day hitting a ball around.....


right, it's all a matter of preference

i think running for sport is gross. but some like it.

the skill involved with golf interests me greatly and that's what makes me try to get better.

[medea]

Why do you ask, are you having a "mid-life crisis" of sorts?
heh, if your going by age then 50 is more accurately middle aged because people are living to be 100+ now a days, not that I want to live to be a hundred but it could happen. anyways it's all in your mind, if your feeling old go out and do something different and change things up a bit, just don't pull a Kevin Spacey on your wife.

[Mr. Anderson]

Originally posted by jelloshotsrule
right, it's all a matter of preference

i think running for sport is gross. but some like it.

the skill involved with golf interests me greatly and that's what makes me try to get better.

yep. I like playing ultimate, so I run to keep in shape and it makes me feel good. Although injuries have kept me from the game recently...:(

D

[jefhatfield]

Originally posted by medea
Why do you ask, are you having a "mid-life crisis" of sorts?
heh, if your going by age then 50 is more accurately middle aged because people are living to be 100+ now a days, not that I want to live to be a hundred but it could happen. anyways it's all in your mind, if your feeling old go out and do something different and change things up a bit, just don't pull a Kevin Spacey on your wife.

kevin spacey was a great character in american beauty...he won the oscar for that performance...he played a sleaze but one people could feel sorry for

hey, very few people make it to 100 and neither women or men make it to 80 on average

there was this one man who was 121 on a timex ad, so does that make middle age after 60?

then what would constitute a senior citizen

i think 40 is the latest one can say is the start of middle age but maybe one day medicare for senior citizens won't be available to seniors until they are 70 and that may be the retirement/senior citizen age

denny's 55 and over senior citizen special may have to be upped some

and aarp membership at age 50 definitely will have to be pushed up:p

[eyelikeart]

I'm only 25...not quite at middle age yet...I look 19 sometimes though...heh...

but I've always said "u are only as old as u feel"

I keep a pretty active lifestyle and healthy diet. I have for a few years now, and will continue to in the future. I started early, with the idea that good habits started early will benefit me later on in life.

I also make it a habit to always have positive things going on around me and keep that attitude in everything I do. The more active a person is, the better off they are. ;)

[Foxer]

Originally posted by jelloshotsrule
right, it's all a matter of preference

i think running for sport is gross. but some like it.

the skill involved with golf interests me greatly and that's what makes me try to get better.

That's the key to golf, in my opinion. I don't have to be in shape to play it. My father has been jogging since the 70's (ironically, he quit golf and took up jogging), and I just couldn't do it. Too much mental discipline. Golfing with friends has replaced going to the club, in many ways. Special clothes and shoes. Occasional drinking. I do it with, basically, the same people. It's just early in the morning as opposed to, well, a different kind of early in the morning.:) And it is much more enjoyable once you become skilled. And, unlike other sports, it requires no real natural gifts to excell (size, height, quickness, etc), just practice. That being said, it's not for everyone.

Man, do I feel old.

[Stelliform]

You know you are middle aged when your thread turn into a golf thread. :D

I took up golf to relieve stress. For me to hit the ball well I have to clear my mind of all the nagging thoughts that are running through it. I really makes me feel better. (Even if I don't hit it well :) Honest. :)) My Brother-in-law quit golf because it was stressing him out. It isn't for everybody...

[kiwi_the_iwik]

You know that you're old when your conversations with younger people abruptly end when they ask: "Who's David Bowie?!?"

Also - when people you work with tell you they were born in the 80's - back in the days when you started dating!

:rolleyes:

Gadd - I'm getting too old for this crap!

[bryanc]

The problem here is defining 'middle-aged'. If we take it as given that 'middle-aged' is what comes after 'young-adult' and before 'elderly', then it's pretty easy to figure out.

You're a 'young-adult' from the time you become legally responsible for your actions (ie, somewhere around 18-21, depending on where you live) until the time you take on the responsibility for someone else's life (ie, when you have a child, or become a legal gardian). This transformation into midle age can happen even before some people enter adulthood (which, to my mind, is a shame, because they don't get to enjoy the freedom of being responsible only for themselves), and never happens to others, who go directly from 'young-adult' to 'elderly' when their health begins to fail (this also strikes me as somewhat sad, as the process of raising a child is certainly one of life's greatest challenges, and therefore potentially most rewarding experiences, but I do have enormous respect and admiration for those people who forego reproduction...there's too damn many people on this planet).

At any rate, remember: "you're only young once, but you can be immature forever."

Cheers

[cubist]

When teenage girls hold the door for you and call you Sir.

[jefhatfield]

Originally posted by cubist
When teenage girls hold the door for you and call you Sir.

oh, that hurts:mad:

[tcolling]

Take the age you will die, and divide by two. Simple math, really.

[jefhatfield]

Originally posted by tcolling
Take the age you will die, and divide by two. Simple math, really.

no,

what is usually done is they take the age of senior citizenhood and subtract five and get a number

therefore, middle age is a five year span that happens to other people

[MacFan25]

I think that it is all in your mind. You could be 75 years old, but if you still do fun things and try to stay in shape, then age really doesn't matter.

[bousozoku]

It's when you're older than your instructors and have to tell them how to do something because they weren't around the first time that didn't work. :D

[pivo6]

Age is all in the mind. Of course people who say that are all over 35.

As long as you stay active, and have a positive outlook on life, then age really shouldn't really matter.

[bryanc]

As well as the 'becoming a parent' thing I mentioned earlier, another significant factor in most people's self-image is their perception of the average age of others.

If most of the people you deal with are older than you, you feel young, and visa versa.

TV can massively skew your perseption of yourself. Most of the people on TV are young, rich, beautiful and successful. This contributes to a significant and growing problem with self-image in our society.

Our response has been to proscribe anti-depressants to all-and-sundry. God-forbid that people should stop watching TV :-)

Cheers

[wdlove]

I agree that age is a state of mind. Staying active is very important. Being around young people. Also communicating with all our bright young posters on this forum! ;)

[billyboy]

It is amazing to me that posters in their 30's have even contemplated they are middle aged. Must be a new culture thing. Dont know, Im a bit out of touch with what's in.

I just turned 40 which was neat, but I have no sense of age as in relative to where I am in the life cycle. I train with a group of cyclists affectionately known as 'Los Veteranos". With a helmet and shades and squarting around the mountains as quick as the 20 year olds, taking the mick out of each other, there is literally no way you could tell their age. 40. 47, 51, fit as b******s . There is also a group of 65 to 75 year olds out three times a week and they are not pottering or sucking on pipes rueing the day they lost their youth. They are a great inspiration for me and I have no doubt that keeping active and social banishes middle age/ old age.

[pivo6]

Originally posted by billyboy
It is amazing to me that posters in their 30's have even contemplated they are middle aged. Must be a new culture thing. Dont know, Im a bit out of touch with what's in.

I don't know if the 30+ year olds (me included) have thought about middle age yet, but I am planning on my mid-life crisis, like should I get a Harley, or a sports car etc.

[bbarnhart]

I've enjoyed aging over the years. My teenage years were full of shyness. I was depress for most of my college years and even flunked out of my first university because I never did anything. This is probably typical teenage behavior and nothing drastic. After I went to a different university I treaded my school as a job. I went to class and then to the library to study until 5pm. That way, I never had to study for a test in the evenings.

I've felt that I had my mid-life crisis at college for various reasons I won't go into now. After college I got a computer programming job (CS major) and a few years later and a few jobs later I'm at my current job that I've worked for 7 years. I can say that I feel like an adult, but I don't feel old. I don't mind when kids call me sir because I know that I'm much happier now that I was when I was thier age.

I make good money, live in a big house with a wife that doesn't work and takes care of my two kids. I'm no longer shy and I keep myself in shape and busy. It just gets better and better every year. I'm 34.

[evoluzione]

i'd say it's when you're mid 40's perhaps?

although i often wonder if i'll get there sooner rather than later, my memory is shot, and i don't even smoke the smelly stuff. mind you, i did start to go grey when i was 16, just distinguished flecks now, so it's all good ;) and i started shaving when i was 22. i guess i'll be all messed up in 20 years :rolleyes: but who knows, I could be "middle-aged" around 55, in looks anways, I got carded for beer yesterday at a deli, and I'm 27 :D
Ya know, maybe that's a sign of getting old, a couple of years ago it annoyed me when i got carded, now, i love it ;)

[scem0]

Originally posted by dukestreet
its all in the mind.....

if you want to be middle age you can easily fall into it. Personally, keeping active and doing 'fun' things will always keep me from the middle age stereotype.

D

True, true. My dad is a 15 year old who has been alive the
last 46 years. :rolleyes: ;) :D :D.

[Potus]

It's anyone who drives a suv.

[caveman_uk]

I don't feel middle aged just yet (I'm 32) but I can see it marching towards me as I run away. Things that have already happened

1) I don't go to the pub in the evening....I go weekend daytimes when it's quieter.
2) I listen to more indie-rock rather than metal.
3) We have dinner parties occasionally.
4) My wife is starting to enjoy gardening.
5) I think Skoda cars look like a good deal.

I still hate golf so it's not all bad...:rolleyes:

[Roger1]

When you go back to college, and your more interested in the instructors, rather than the students :D

Oh, I already had my midlife crisis. I bought a used sports car, and owned it for two years. Unfortunately, I threw my back out (due to old age :rolleyes: ) and couldn't climb in or out anymore. Of course my wife thought it was her turn to have it, but I told her to get her own :eek: :D

[littlejim]

You start to wonder if you'll still be able to hear when the iPod gets updated :)

[sosumi]

It's when you say "Well, I'm getting older..." and then conclude "... but it doesn't matter". Of course it matters!

[wdlove]

Originally posted by scem0
True, true. My dad is a 15 year old who has been alive the
last 46 years. :rolleyes: ;) :D :D.

That is a very nice compliment that you made about your Dad. I'm sure that he is very proud of you also! ;)