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On growing old

Do you think 23 is too young to make the transition from celebrating birthdays to resenting them as yet another precious year elapsed before death?

This entry was posted on Saturday, July 12th, 2008 at 18:27 and is filed under Personal. Keywords: Tags: . You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can skip to the end and leave a response. Pinging is currently not allowed.

10 Responses to “On growing old”

  1. drini Says:
    July 12th, 2008 at 18:54

    Well, unless you don’t believe in free-will and instead predestination and all that…

    Suppose I have a very unhealthy life style, so my expected lifetime is around.. 50 years. If I continue my life as usual, then it seems that another birthday = 1 year less before dying.

    But now, for some reason during the following new year I drastically change my lifestyle so my expected lifetimes is about 70 years. Then you could say that the new birthday would mean death being 20 years further away instead 1 closer.

  2. William (green) Says:
    July 12th, 2008 at 19:05

    Nobody should ever resent them, in my opinion. Ignoring them is understandable, but don’t let them get to you if you don’t like ‘em.

  3. Mac Davis Says:
    July 12th, 2008 at 23:38

    Resenting them? Its just another moment in time and opportunity to pass you by.

  4. Erin Says:
    July 13th, 2008 at 11:29

    Birthdays should always be celebrated with lots of good food and drinks! I hope you had a happy birthday! :)

  5. Jeff V Says:
    July 14th, 2008 at 10:00

    Somewhere someone above the age of 50 is reading this post and cursing you out.

  6. LA Says:
    July 14th, 2008 at 12:33

    I am 47 and my 40s have been the best years of my life. My 20s were mostly a hard time.

    Like a good wine, life gets better w/ age.

  7. heather (errantdreams) Says:
    July 14th, 2008 at 14:08

    Any time I start feeling like that, I just remind myself of the sheer number of people who’ve ended up feeling that their lives only really began after 40, 50, 60, or even 70. I remember reading about one man who made a major career change several times in his life… once when he was about 30, and once when he was about 60. He was a very happy 90-year-old painter when he was interviewed, who felt that those last 30 years were indeed the prime of his life. I look at my older friends, some of whom are 45 or 55, who are having the time of their lives with their careers and/or hobbies.

    We all have a limited time, so what matters is what you do with it. If you feel you’re letting those years slip away, then yeah, you’re letting them slip away. But you can decide not to let them go so easily—to take them for all they’re worth—or even to relax and let them go as they do. Whatever you choose to do, as long as you take control of it and make your own decision, then you must be doing something right.

    Happy Birthday!

  8. Claudia Says:
    July 15th, 2008 at 20:23

    I’m 43. My life was hard when I was 23…so no…the celebrations should get BIGGER and BETTER with each passing year, IMO.

  9. Brushing up against fame at the Good Stuff Eatery | Cyde Weys Musings Says:
    July 15th, 2008 at 20:24

    [...] past weekend on the night of my birthday (Woohoo, another year closer to death!), I joined in on an expedition to a new restaurant in Washington D.C., the Good Stuff Eatery. The [...]

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