While I would likely describe a person as "old" if they have grey hair and lots of wrinkles and are clearly retired, I don't think I have a specific age in mind in regards to what is "old."
I think so much of what constitutes old vs. young is about context, or one's relationship to others in that context. For example, at 24 I feel "too old" to dress like I did as a teenager or live the really inconsistent schedule I did in college, but also simultaneously "too young" to get married and have kids. (Though it seems like half the people around me already are). I think I'd rather think of age in these terms, rather than having a birthday one year where I wake up and am officially "old." Until my dying day, I will probably consider myself "too young to die" :-P
Some days I feel terribly old (despite only just tipping scale into 40-ish), and others I feel like the twentysomething person that still lives in my head - the former being a bit more frequent than the latter these days. But most days my head says I'm still twentysomething and I get an awful shock when I look in the mirror, or have trouble getting up off the floor or doing something that was easy twenty years ago but isn't now - like I would never go roller skating or ice skating or attempt to climb a tree these days.
But I digress. I also think old isn't what you are but what you do. I know plenty of young people who think and act old ("when I was your age" sort of thing), and plenty of people who by all rights are old by the numbers, but who are still ultra young at heart.
So old is definitely a state of mind, IMO.
As has been attributed to at least two people (Bob Monkhouse, Chilli Davis) in recent history, "Growing up is mandatory, growing old is optional"I'm going to be
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I'm going to be twentysomething in my head until the day I die ;) My great-grandmother, who lived to be 99, used to always say, "In my head, I'm still 16 years old. Sometimes I look in the mirror and get quite a shock!"
the one i am right now. had a bad day. woke up dizzy and ill and coldn write properly. had to go to the doctor to be told it was stress but still have a blood test (just in case). Got home on the buses and my legs ache and my feet hurt and I feel ancient.
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I think so much of what constitutes old vs. young is about context, or one's relationship to others in that context. For example, at 24 I feel "too old" to dress like I did as a teenager or live the really inconsistent schedule I did in college, but also simultaneously "too young" to get married and have kids. (Though it seems like half the people around me already are). I think I'd rather think of age in these terms, rather than having a birthday one year where I wake up and am officially "old." Until my dying day, I will probably consider myself "too young to die" :-P
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Cheers!
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Some days I feel terribly old (despite only just tipping scale into 40-ish), and others I feel like the twentysomething person that still lives in my head - the former being a bit more frequent than the latter these days. But most days my head says I'm still twentysomething and I get an awful shock when I look in the mirror, or have trouble getting up off the floor or doing something that was easy twenty years ago but isn't now - like I would never go roller skating or ice skating or attempt to climb a tree these days.
But I digress. I also think old isn't what you are but what you do. I know plenty of young people who think and act old ("when I was your age" sort of thing), and plenty of people who by all rights are old by the numbers, but who are still ultra young at heart.
So old is definitely a state of mind, IMO.
As has been attributed to at least two people (Bob Monkhouse, Chilli Davis) in recent history, "Growing up is mandatory, growing old is optional"I'm going to be ( ... )
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My great-grandmother, who lived to be 99, used to always say, "In my head, I'm still 16 years old. Sometimes I look in the mirror and get quite a shock!"
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