Among the over 40 comments there were only two in disagreement. Mostly people were grateful to have someone else recognize the slowing pace of age as normal and healthy, pretty much the same response I got from Silver Fox when I ran this by him, because he tells me daily that retirement has brought him the long-sought wherewithal to be built for comfort and not for speed and I should just slow the heck down too.
The thing is, like the two out-of-sync commenters at Time Goes By, I don't want to slow down. I recognize that I am physically less potent and not only do I need more breaks in my action, as Poster One suggested, I need to put far more time into maintaining the machine than I ever thought possible. Me, semi-regular at a gym. Imagine that!
Just as important, Poster Two advised that she takes much more time to organize her activities than in her previous life. I have always listed and calendared, but things have become more, um, layered as I make sure not only that there is ample time to complete projects, I must schedule smaller chunks of time for getting them done. It is not only the physical that is less potent - so is the intellectual. I get tired of thinking and become muddled, just like my back starts to hurt if I cook for more than two hours at a time. This makes for a whole bunch of NEW activities like finding recipes I can make ahead or that take little time, buying paper dinnerware for parties that once would have displayed my best china, or getting my kids to help move furniture; all those new activities also need to fit in the schedule.
Still, Silver Fox has always been a waltz to my jitterbug, and so this difference is of longstanding discussion. If Time Goes By is any indication, I am by far in the minority, but at 66 I am still not interested in sitting too long or committing any less; I just have to finesse it more.
Speaking for the minority, there is not a reason in the world that we can't continue to dash around all we want until something stops us other than the solicitation of our friends and family. They mean well. They are worried we will break is all, since they think they would. I would counter that how we wind ourselves up is an art with which we are very familiar, and that we will only get better with practice.
So boogie down, belledames, if it is what you choose. We are slowing down more than we want already.
I don't recall now but perhaps in my career days I bragged about how busy I was as much as today's workers do. And perhaps one of the minor bits of wisdom we gain in old age is how much nicer (and, probably, healthier) it is to stop and smell the flowers – as they kept trying to tell us back then in books and song. Have you slowed down – particularly out of choice – as much as I have? - See more at: http://www.timegoesby.net/weblog/2015/09/keeping-up-with-daily-life-while-old.html#sthash.5Px08Exh.dpuf
I
don't recall now but perhaps in my career days I bragged about how busy
I was as much as today's workers do. And perhaps one of the minor bits
of wisdom we gain in old age is how much nicer (and, probably,
healthier) it is to stop and smell the flowers – as they kept trying to
tell us back then in books and song.
Have you slowed down – particularly out of choice – as much as I have? -
See more at:
http://www.timegoesby.net/weblog/2015/09/keeping-up-with-daily-life-while-old.html#sthash.5Px08Exh.dpuf
I
don't recall now but perhaps in my career days I bragged about how busy
I was as much as today's workers do. And perhaps one of the minor bits
of wisdom we gain in old age is how much nicer (and, probably,
healthier) it is to stop and smell the flowers – as they kept trying to
tell us back then in books and song.
Have you slowed down – particularly out of choice – as much as I have? -
See more at:
http://www.timegoesby.net/weblog/2015/09/keeping-up-with-daily-life-while-old.html#sthash.5Px08Exh.dpuf
I
don't recall now but perhaps in my career days I bragged about how busy
I was as much as today's workers do. And perhaps one of the minor bits
of wisdom we gain in old age is how much nicer (and, probably,
healthier) it is to stop and smell the flowers – as they kept trying to
tell us back then in books and song.
Have you slowed down – particularly out of choice – as much as I have? -
See more at:
http://www.timegoesby.net/weblog/2015/09/keeping-up-with-daily-life-while-old.html#sthash.5Px08Exh.dpuf
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