To think 60 is old aged

[Goodtimes80]

And 35 Middle aged?

I work in a rehab team & predominantly "care of the elderly" (hate that phrase) but it's unhealthy to make assumptions about people based on age.

I've seen 50 year olds who think & act old & infirm and 105 year olds who are amazingly vibrant, have a better social life than me & would be insulted if I offered them carers.

I met a woman recently who only gave up horse riding as she approached 90. It's definitely attitude that counts.

My dad is 80, works virtually full time running his own business. He often refers to another man he may speak to as an "old boy". I assume that they are often younger than him but act older. He is tall strong, with a full head of thick grey hair and good looking. I still struggle to see him as old. So on that basis, I would say that perhaps 90 is old!

My poor mil was old at 60 though she seemed to age quickly and died at 61

My mum is 71 this year, and in the home where she is currently convalescing with a broken leg, she feels all the other residents are old.

She feels age is a state of mind. I agree, especially when she's got Planet Rock on the radio all the time, and the others are singing old songs (Tipperary, anyone?)

I'm 46, and still don't feel anywhere near it!

I feel very :( at the stigma around 'Old' implicit in most replies. FFS, "Old" does not mean worn out, tired, slow, weak or anything else necessarily negative. For that matter, "young" does not mean beautiful, energetic or excited or keen or anything else desirable. I'm nearing 50 & of course I'm relatively old, since I have memories of things that happened 45 years ago. 50 years is a huge long time in the living of living people. Sheesh.

In my work for practical reasons we need to define age bands. Otherwise in my mind young is

People seem to be taking the word "old" as an insult-its just a description of someone's age.
Its all relative. When I started work at 21 I thought my 59 year old manager was an old lady. Now I'm over 60 I don't see it like that.
People's health varies, so physically some people can do more at 80 than some can at 60.
Its a bit of a silly thread. Why do you want to put people into age categories?

I am over 60yrs and no way am I 'embracing' it! I shall grow old disgracefully- much more fun. I shall not be elderly or old until I am physically restricted in what I can do. It hasn't come yet.

Something worries me about this-some people become immobile or otherwise ill relatively young-that isn't a character flaw. Old is not an insult.
I'm not sure of the point of the thread.
Did OP mean "old aged" to be an insult?

I have not read the full thread - just the OP & frankly the OP can fuck off to the far side etc.

I am going to be 60 very soon & in no way feel 'old aged'.

Typical agesit shite.

Well since the OP hasn't bothered to come back I suppose we can only guess at what she meant.

I'm guessing the op was just bored and trying to be goady but the way so many people have reacted is very revealing.

Age is not just a state of mind, it's a fact of bloody life! If you're lucky.

OP is clearly only 15 or so.

Moresproutsplease

well sorry but it's pathetic. "Growing old disgracefully" - what does that even mean? cos what it looks like is a bunch of supposedly accomplished and smart women on a website all pooh poohing a natural biological process! Honestly this thread reads like a parody of a women's magazine. Oh, I'm 45 but really I'm 30 inside (tf?). I can run marathons! I'm not an old codger!

People are contributing to the pro-youth culture that they then claim is sexist and damaging to women. They are contributing to the age discrimination which will eventually boot them out of the workplace and replace them with someone younger! It's sad. It's like "I'm a woman but I'm not like all those other women. Er, yes you are!

It's just so disappointing. Is there anyone who has a good career and a life they are proud of who is still ashamed of their age? Maybe non SAHMs (no offense)? Or at a certain point does every woman's self esteem just plummet and inevitably you end up here?

My 60 year old mother is far from "old aged". Are you 14?

Goodtimes80 has only made two posts on MN.

I think you're right Apple-What is wrong with being old?-why is so much negativity attached to the word "old"?
Where I object is when it is clearly used as an insult , "old biddy" "old duffer"-which I have seen on MN and complained about.
Also when generalisations are made e.g. all older women are "interfering old bats".
Being old per se just means having lived longer and says nothing more about you.

Very well said Apple.

PS -something suggests to me that the OP did intend this to be negative in some way.
If not, perhaps she would like to come back and explain why she was asking.

Both women and men are at their physical peak in the early twenties, it's all downhill after that.

Scientists generally do their best work before their 30th birthday. Over 30 is past your intellectual peak if hard thinking is your game.

When I was a teenager, middle-age began at 30. (It's not called "the big 3-O" for nothing.) 50 was past it and 60 was old.

Having said that, different people age differently. I met an 80-year-old man in a ski resort who was 5 years older than my father at the time, but seemed 15 years younger.

I saw a photo of my high-school class 30 year reunion, I thought nearly everyone in it looked 15 years older than me. This wasn't just vanity self-delusion, there were a couple of other people who looked the age I see in the mirror.

I'm not sure that's necessarily true about scientists - may depend on the field - some need the breadth and ability to put things together that only come with age and experience.

It's all relative. When I was 20, 30 was old. When I was 30, 40 was old.
My neighbour who is 86 thinks I am very young. I'm 62. I can't be old, it was only a few years ago I was having babies.

Ageist bollocks !

I'm a 58-year-old scientist. I won 2 science prizes aged 51 for work I did 2 years earlier and I've continued to produce patents.
I know of scientists and mathematicians still productive in their 80s. Heck of a lot of good authors still working too.

I train intensely in the gym 5-6 days per week: boxing, spin, tabata, lifting. I outdo most ofthe others in those classes, men and women, even though they are also fit and 20-35 years younger than I am. I bet I'd beat the crap out of you in boxing, OP.
I know of excellent women lifters and bodybuilders in their 70s, marathon runners in their 90s.

Age does NOT determine physical or mental capabilities (ok, maybe wrinkles)

Well said BigchocI certainly don't consider myself old, I have loads of energy, walk for miles every day, run round after grandkids. I look young, dress young, act young. There's no way I should be described as old. When you live active fulfilled lives you are not old. Age is just a number.

O dear so I am passed middle age with a toddler if 45 is past middle age.