Does anyone else feel terrified of getting old/older?

[dying_kwik2000]

Do you feel like once you hit a certain age, there is no more excitement or freedom in life? Like it's all downhill from here. No more new opportunities. No more dreams. Nothing. Just a zombie floating around.

 

[ScaredCutter]

when i think of getting older, i feel like ur meant to have accomplished so many things in life and have urself be known somewhere, be rich and retire peacefully in a loving life. but i become anxious because im literally nowhere near an accomplishment, and when i think of where id possibly be at, i feel sad because i dont wanna be in the same house, same struggles, same everything and not moved once. it makes me motivated to try to do something but, it goes away so fast because, it feels like its too late for me.

 

[CaptainSunshine!]

When I picture myself as old, I see pain and struggle. Joints, back hurting. Bodily complications like bladder, eyesight, weight issues. Immense loneliness.

Nothing pretty and worth looking forward to, in my opinion. But I don't really have ambitions, so maybe those that do, don't fear the future but rather welcome it.

 

[Macedonian1987]

Yes I'm terrified of reaching old age because my body is deteriorating at a very fast pace. At just 38 years old i already have joints as a 70 year old. When i reach 50 i will probably end up being like those old 90-100 year old people who can barely walk. Because my joints and general health is deteriorating so fast, I plan on ctb in a year or two.

 

[itsgone2]

Do you feel like once you hit a certain age, there is no more excitement or freedom in life? Like it's all downhill from here. No more new opportunities. No more dreams. Nothing. Just a zombie floating around.

This is where I am. It's avoidable. Try surrounding yourself with loved ones. Need a career. It's not easy to do these things. I failed. Yes, zombie is accurate. That's exactly what I am. Not really alive, no guts to ctb.

 

[homeboundcripple]

Do you feel like once you hit a certain age, there is no more excitement or freedom in life? Like it's all downhill from here. No more new opportunities. No more dreams. Nothing. Just a zombie floating around.

What age are we talking about?

 

[unluckysadness]

I don't really fear getting older, because I'm already like a 90yo man with constant pain and no future plans.
Actually, a lot of 90yo+ people have a better life than mine.

 

[Forveleth]

Nope. I am currently in my 40's and have more opportunity and my shit together now than when I was in my 20s. There are people twice my age still getting great enjoyment out if life. You just have to know that you might not be able to do some of the things that you had done previously, which is not necessarily a bad thing. This is life and an inevitable part of it. No need to fret over something you can not control or change.

 

[Marbas]

At 31 I can say the biggest lie I was ever told by therapists growing up is that life gets better once you get older and graduate. It didn't. It got worse. I'm not just terrified of health issues as I age but the cost. Medical care is expensive even with insurance. I've gotten medical bills over the years that made me almost throw up when I saw what I owed.

 

[kopebaldy]

I'm 30, most career doors already closed for me.

I wouldn't say terrified but more like "What's the point?".

I'm not jobless fortunately, but that's ab it. I'll keep doing low level laboring that pays peanuts until the day my body breaks down.

Then I die, poor, sick, alone, mediocre, unremarkable.

What's the point?

 

[monetpompo]

the first words in my suicide note are, "i'm not going to turn 21". overzealously, i thought that i would have the courage to die in the summer, but i didn't because i kept on backing out. the bugs and sweat on my back almost kept making me want to go back home to take a shower. this winter will be different. i plan on not reaching january. i've thought about extending my deadline to my birthday so that i can be old enough to drink alcohol before i hang myself, but i just don't care very much when i could always do it this year. the amount times i've backed out from hanging because i wanted to seek out comfort from other people makes me more willing to go through with it when i have the chance. i don't plan on attempting unless i'm sure now. every night is a night i could commit suicide, but i could still be caught by my family members if they hear me from my room. with a license, i could drive to the woods pretty much immediately.

turning 18, 19, and now 20 hasn't been fun the way people said it would be fun. it's actually very lonely. i dread the future immensely and i can only hope that i'm able to go through with my plan instead of go into the new year feeling like a failure. it makes me wonder how common december suicides are. i was significantly more depressed in the summer months because it was so hot and sunny constantly that i felt like i could never leave my house to do anything. november is when things are finally cold and nice. i honestly think that i should've killed myself at 18, but i know that's hypocritical coming from me when i see 18 as young now that i'm 20. all the life i've lived up to this point doesn't seem worth it at all.

 

[black.over.green]

I'm 30, most career doors already closed for me.

I wouldn't say terrified but more like "What's the point?".

I'm not jobless fortunately, but that's ab it. I'll keep doing low level laboring that pays peanuts until the day my body breaks down.

Then I die, poor, sick, alone, mediocre, unremarkable.

What's the point?

I know that feeling. Especially the part about doing low-skilled work for peanuts. I just can't make peace with it. I'm terrified, but there's nothing I can do. I've tried to change it so many times, but it always ends up the same. I'm just surviving and it feels absurd.

I live as if I had a spare life in my pocket.

Or maybe I just can't accept that my intelligence is below average

 

[Forever Sleep]

I don't tend to think that older people have fewer opportunities. They likely don't work for one- so they have more time on their hands to do stuff. Plus mentally, I think it must be freeing that people don't expect you to be working. I'm 45 and feel guilty when I'm out and about enjoying leisure activities.

But sure- in terms of health and fitness- it's going to depend on how well we looked after ourselves and luck ultimately. It certainly frightens me that I will have neither good health or money in my later years. In which case- will I be able to enjoy anything?

I think it's very nuanced though. I know people in their 70's who are living far more interesting and action packed lives- really than I ever had! Because they likely have a good pension. Because they kept up frienships. Because they make the effort to join clubs, visit places, take up hobbies. Some of it are things beyond our control- random illnesses but, a lot we can have control over.

 

[pthnrdnojvsc]

yes I'm terrified of getting old. i worked in a nursing home imo old age is extreme torture

life is the biggest scam

but I won't get older because I have the ultimate nullifier to skip old age and go into the perfection of Non-existence forever

eternal Non-existence awaits us all

 

[dead dav]

Old age in itself is not scary it's the thought of loosing your faculties and becoming more re.iant on others for your basic needs I very much agree with euthanasia once you have had enough

 

[OnMyLast Legs]

Yeah. At 36 the downhill is starting and my uphill got aborted 15+ years ago. I can't delay gratification and start some kind of work life now. I just want to stop being conscious of my wasted life.

 

[Ashes of a Dreamer]

Yes. It's hard for me to understand people that want to live longer, by the way - why? Ok, there are many ways of getting older, but the majority involves the decrease of everything, like reasoning, locomotion, autonomy, etc. It's certainly downhill, and hopefully I won't be here to see it - didn't even achieved 40's and life is already miserable, can't imagine beyond that.

 

[cemeteryismyhome]

I never had anything to lose in the first place. Now it's too late for me to accomplish anything even if I could. People in my family seem to live well into their 80's. I'm almost 60 and am so very tired of all this. Not terrified or afraid, just bored and uninterested in this torture and pain. I pray every day for God to let me die.

 

[martyrdom]

I'm not going to get older so I have nothing to fear either way, but it concerns me how this kind of thinking starts younger and younger. People now think you're old at 30, when that's still a very young age.

 

[itsgone2]

I was never interested in it, even before suicidal ideation. It's possible though. To be older and happy. Enjoy retirement.
Not possible for me now. So an upside to ctb.
My fear is never being able to go through with ctb, and living in this hell for years.

 

[OnMyLast Legs]

I'm not going to get older so I have nothing to fear either way, but it concerns me how this kind of thinking starts younger and younger. People now think you're old at 30, when that's still a very young age.

I think the sad truth is we're learning more about when people peak. Look at athletes. Fluid intelligence is best around the same age. The tradition of respecting your elders makes sense because you do learn something when the high of youth wears off, and you have experience. But older people really are, as the kids say, "chopped." We're at our best at our sexiest and most athletic. 20ish. Sorry, I don't make the rules.

 

[vig919]

About to be 50...and If the next 20 years are anything close to the last 15....I won't make it to 65

 

[martyrdom]

I think the sad truth is we're learning more about when people peak. Look at athletes. Fluid intelligence is best around the same age. The tradition of respecting your elders makes sense because you do learn something when the high of youth wears off, and you have experience. But older people really are, as the kids say, "chopped." We're at our best at our sexiest and most athletic. 20ish. Sorry, I don't make the rules.

I don't see human beings that way. I don't think in terms of "peaking" at all.

 

[SchizoGymnast]

I have some anxiety about getting older, mostly about my appearance, vain as that is. But I don't fear anything else. I've never let my age stop me from doing anything I wanted to do. Or my health for that matter.

 

[mourningyesterday]

I don't really fear getting older, because I'm already like a 90yo man with constant pain and no future plans.
Actually, a lot of 90yo+ people have a better life than mine.

same
i dread getting older and my health to keep declining only 26 n my body is a mess

 

[itsgone2]

I never had anything to lose in the first place. Now it's too late for me to accomplish anything even if I could. People in my family seem to live well into their 80's. I'm almost 60 and am so very tired of all this. Not terrified or afraid, just bored and uninterested in this torture and pain. I pray every day for God to let me die.

I'm early 50s. The part where you said almost 60 kind of shook me. Like, even at 60 there's still a long way to go. I'm struggling to get through each day now. Yeah I'm uninterested too.

 

[anonymousperson]

Yes. I have nothing to look forward to, just the pain/sadness of my parents dying and getting uglier.

 

[LaVieEnRose]

Careers and especially families help pull people past life past 30.

If you're not equipped to have either of those it will probably be a rough time.

Not interested in even worsening self-esteem and deeper alienation, among other things.

 

[Leyna]

the idea of being physically unable to take care of myself is terrifying. i don't want to grow old

"When I'm 64" by the beatles is a great song but also a trigger for this line of thinking for me

 

[Nrocoop]

I'm there already (65) and it's a pretty beige existence that I wouldn't wish on anyone, although I wouldn't describe it as terrifying. And it is comforting to know I'm on my last lap, so to speak, and that freedom from an endless cycle of mental illness and poverty will come sooner rather than later