Venting I feel like people were never meant to live to such an old age

[d-tea]

Life begins declining the moment you are born.

In early childhood, you discover so many exciting things, you feel so much more, while smaller issues may upset you more than later in life you also feel a kind of excitement you'll never again experience in your adult life. Until you hit puberty, life is bliss.

During puberty, you may have ups and downs and some very heavy downs if you're like me, yet sharing a laugh with your friends and not being able to stop laughing is a frequent occurrence.
When's the last time that happened to you, as an adult?

With every year, quality of life declines. You struggle with picking up new things. Your body begins declining noticeably first, then comes the mind (though the emotional mind suffers the most in teenage years and early adulthood I think, you lose so much of your feelings which you can never recover)

I don't know why people would want to live to a hundred, you know the quality of life is not gonna be any good. I don't even want to see myself turning 40. I don't care about my looks much, though that decline is also an unfortunate aspect of getting older, but I worry more so about loss of function and increasing suffering, mentally and physically(they tend to go hand in hand).

Was there ever a time in your life in which you wanted to live until old age? Why?

I don't know if I'm biased due to personal experience. I dread continuing to live because I am afraid I am going to lose the last bit of enjoyment and focus I occasionally experience.

 

[Ash]

You're doing some heavy generalising in this post. That might be your experience but it's not mine. Yes, I recognise that advances in medicine, nutrition, housing, welfare, hygiene, disease control etc etc etc have all contributed to our significantly longer lifespan but I'd argue that for most people that's a good thing. If my childhood had been as blissful as you romantically describe, if I hadn't been through many traumatic experiences as a child and adult, if I didn't have mental health problems, I'd love to be like the elderly people I know who are full of anecdotes about the things they've done, people they've met, places they've been.

We've all got our own reasons for being on this site. It doesn't mean we took the same path.

 

[iloverachel]

I don't even want to live past 30

 

[FuneralCry]

The thought of suffering until old age is so horrifying and disturbing to me personally, under no circumstances would I ever wish for that. There's no value in being trapped in this meaningless existence for decades on end just to end up with dementia, dying slowly and painfully from horrific diseases. Being tortured by very old age sounds beyond hellish, it truly is so tragic and disgusting how suicide isn't accepted as a valid option to escape from that terrifying and hopeless fate. Existing truly is just pointless suffering, I really wish I never existed more than anything, it's an abomination to exist.

 

[sserafim]

I don't even want to live past 30

I don't want to live past 25

 

[iloverachel]

I don't want to live past 25

I wish I died at 25
Would be 5 years less of suffering in this terrible hellish world
Not being born would of been the best

 

[Abyssal]

Oh absolutely not. I don't think humans evolved to shit their pants past 70 if they were meant to live to that age.

 

[divinemistress36]

Living till old age sounds like a curse but people who have meaningful lives it could be beautiful for them. People are so scared of death we keep people alive for so long no matter how much suffering they go through its ridiculous

 

[cosmic-freedom]

Yes.Back in the day people didn't live too long.They died either from diseases or wars.We have cures to many diseases and as a disease emerges,research is done and a medication rolls out.That's why they used to have atleast 10 kids because,"tradition".Lack of birth control, short life expectancy of parents and high infant mortality rate were the causes.Women weren't allowed to even live as humans and were passed down from father to another man, in a slave-trade practice called "marriage"(Happens even today)

Communal support and clinging to traditions was the norm,if you didn't want to be isolated that would lead to starvation.You had to rely on someone to teach you a skill which would be gatekept if you didn't stick by the rulebook.

These people will never live to see old age,since they would be dead due to an infectious/terminal disease or in a war.The social structure has to change if we need to survive as times have changed.We are evolving in both intelligence and technology.The reason we are here on this site is proof that there is a need for a rehaul.

 

[EvisceratedJester]

Oh absolutely not. I don't think humans evolved to shit their pants past 70 if they were meant to live to that age.

Actually, humans evolved to live long past our prime age for reproduction since having grandparents to help out with things, like looking after children, was generally a huge advantage. I'd imagine that the extreme decline in mobility and health that we see amongst older people may also be partly due to the way parts of our world are structured, rather than it just purely being a result of old age. You can especially see this when you compare older folk from different communities across the world and when you compare older people and their lifestyles. For example, you can find older Mosuo women carrying heavy things on their backs with ease and my grandmother, who lives a fairly healthy lifestyle, was able to touch her toes while keeping her legs straight in her 70s.

My point is that part of why older people are the way they are in some places in the world is due to how mistreated and neglected they are. Cities in North America are made for cars rather than people making it hard for older folk to go out, older people are seen as sexless beings which has led to issues with STDs in nursing homes since they're having sex and have no access to proper protection, we constantly dehumanize and look down on them and mistreat them and proceed to become surprised by how poor their health is. Hell, they can't even have access to good-looking clothing because we decided to make that something for only younger people. Imagine not even being able to do something do basic just because of how ageist people are.

For some reason, we seem to have a love for dehumanizing both children and the elderly which has led to their mistreatment and abuse becoming incredibly normalized/ignored. If we were to put in more work in order to help the elderly be able to be happy and healthy, rather than just sticking them in nursing homes, then we wouldn't have so many people in their 70s shitting their pants.

 

[EvisceratedJester]

Elders of the place I am from, are known for being narcissistic and messing up their children's lives, coz "honor" and all that crap.They end up in old age homes and tossed aside when their time comes and wonder how "bad" their kids are.Most of them where I am from,only have kids to please others.They get put in old age homes and cry about it when they abused their children and crushed their dreams.

Okay, and so? That doesn't excuse the issues that I've brought up. Not even just that, but there are a lot of elderly people who aren't abusive who end up in nursing homes too. Using the excuse of "well some of them are bad" in order to dismiss the issues in how we view and treat the elderly and the discrimination they go through is just disgusting.

 

[cosmic-freedom]

Okay, and so? That doesn't excuse the issues that I've brought up. Not even just that, but there are a lot of elderly people who aren't abusive who end up in nursing homes too. Using the excuse of "well some of them are bad" in order to dismiss the issues in how we view and treat the elderly and the discrimination they go through is just disgusting.

I didn't mean for it to come off the wrong way.What I meant is that there are two sides of any story.The elders where you come from are nice people and I hope they are taken care of and loved.
But the elders I have seen my whole life, are very regressive.Here's what they do:

• Misogyny so much so that dead women are better than "damaged" women
• Moral Policing
• 1600 AD Ethos

My mother is a victim of forced marriage by her own parents.I know how bad it is here.

 

[KuriGohan&Kamehameha]

While I am also terrified of getting older and being subjected to my problems compounding, there is so much variation in people's experiences and I don't think we can generalize how the elderly feel as a whole. It really depends on the person and the tapestry of experiences that has formed their life up to that point how they will feel about this matter and to make a determination about how their quality of life will look moving forward.

For example, I have had health problems since I was very young, I developed chronic pain and fatigue in adolescence and have never really known what it is like to be in good health with lots of energy. My grandmother has been incredibly healthy, active, and energetic her entire life, up until the past couple of years, when she began to really hit her 80s and had a random accident out of nowhere. She wants to live as long as possible and maintain her good health, while I am worn the hell out despite being a quarter of her age simply due to the curse of bad luck.

There are elderly people living in wealthy retirement communities where they party like teenagers without a care in the world, and are blessed to still be in excellent health. On the other hand, there are other elderly people who have seen all their loved ones die, suffer from disabling health conditions that can't be treated, and are being chained to a hospital bed on life support with an abysmal quality of life.

I don't think there would be so many cases of the latter if all the corruption and abuse that has tainted the elder "care" industry was ameliorated, or if people with dehabilitating health conditions of any age (there just happen to be far more infirm elderly people for obvious reasons) were actually allowed to have a say in their fate and treatment plan rather than being subjected to the quantity over quality of life at all cost ethos of the current healthcare system.

 

[Eudaimonic]

IMO, healthspan is far more important than lifespan. As hard as it is for me to understand, many people seem to enjoy living even in old age with mounting health problems. That said, I don't think most people want to live to 100 in a decrepit state. Presumably, the life extension required for most people to reach that age would entail a reversal or, at minimum, cessation of some hallmarks of aging, therefore slowing the decline.

 

[xinino]

After seeing how my grandparents died, it doesn't matter to me if my life is good or bad; I have to commit suicide, especially since I am not willing to have children.

I think people choose to die naturally due to religious reasons; at least that is what they told me when I reminded them of their hideous demise.