Scared of Ageing

[Shirokuma]

Does anyone else feel as if they fear ageing?
I don't want to age. I don't want to lose my youth. It feels like I'm dying, like I'm losing the best parts and the best moments of myself. That I am and will grow tired, weary, weak and more and more hideous. Like I'm slowly rotting and decaying.
The biological process doesn't align with who I am and how I want to live. I will become outdated. My life will matter less and less.
I don't want to live forever, but I want to live life in my best biological condition. Not to feel like I'm quite literally losing life the longer I live.

Ageing is my greatest fear, and on a greater sense is time itself. Every moment will pass, nothing will last forever. We as individuals constantly morph and change to the evolving environment around us.

 

[FuneralCry]

Ageing certainly is something repulsive to me, it's completely irrational to wish to age just to deteriorate and be tortured by very old age. And that is all we are destined for, all that is inevitable for us is even more suffering, loss and decay, existing leads to nothing and nowhere other than that and it's just the reality. This is why to me I certainly believe that wanting suicide is the most rational thing to wish for as existence is just a futile process of suffering unnecessarily all for the sake of it, where everything we have will eventually be lost, the eternity of nonexistence certainly emphasises how impermanent and insignifcant our existences truly are.

But yes, existing terrifies me, I fear experiencing even worse suffering and pain, and we will inevitably suffer more as the flesh prison we are trapped in will decay, we are all just slowly dying. The fact that existence truly is so nightmarish is why the only comfort lies in the thought of not existing forever, as to die means freedom from this replusive world, as long as one exists there is unlimited potential to be harmed but nobody can be harmed by death.

 

[Message In A Bottle]

Aging is one of main reason why I'm on this site…especially with how western society puts so much value on youth, that once you lose it, you feel like your reduced to nothing.

I'm going to prevent myself from ever having to deal with the hardships that comes with aging - if I am unsatisfactory now, I can't imagine what I'll look like 20 years from now - and that is not including any acquired health issues.

 

[AerialBoundaries]

Internally, yes. I don't want to end up frail and brittle.

I've fortunately aged decently, so far. I look younger than my age when clean shaven.

The men in my family typically age well, but my Dad looks significantly older than his age. I'm hoping that's not the case with me.

 

[Shirokuma]

especially with how western society puts so much value on youth,

I wonder if this great emphasis on youth in our society is a relatively recent phenomenon. The advancements in digital technology, and the societal changes that have come with this.
The youth have a far greater presence then they used to (in fact we all do) due to digital technologies. They are the ones that have come to be the best adapted to it, and can influence our modern culture with it far greater than they ever have before.

Another thing I think of, is the extreme speed of information in our current times. There's always a new thing, a new trend that as quickly as it comes, goes. We are constantly obsessed with the new next thing, as well as usually the false, sterile, manufactured, plastic perfect image that accompanies it. Subconsciously, I wonder does that tie in with our current emphasis on youth; everything is always brand new.
Also, with how much we live our lives digitally, virtually now, time seems to stand still. Things that are digital are static. Images and videos on a screen do not age. Content that is captured digitally does not deteriorate, unlike what we examine in the experiences of our own lives.
This kind of technology was never so unbelievably accessible (or available). Think of how absurd it would seem to someone fifty years ago that we would all have personal devices that could take an abundant amount of clear and accurate photos or videos instantly at any moment. You can so easily capture so many moments of time, and equally you can just as easily look back and reflect on all of them. The current digital world is probably is deeply affecting our perception of time, and therefore, how much value we choose to place on youth and the exact moment.

Though also, weirdly, we're living longer than we ever have before. I wonder how important youth was to us back before our current prosperous and modern times. Back when it was all just a competition for survival. Back when it was a miracle if you survived past puberty or even childhood. If you were only expected and supposed to live till maybe 30 , what would it have ever meant "to be young", and further "to be old".

 

[Message In A Bottle]

I wonder if this great emphasis on youth in our society is a relatively recent phenomenon. The advancements in digital technology,

I don't think it was to this extent, but with the fluctuation of outlets that are at our disposal, we have more ways than one to criticize the things that we lack. First it was Tell-Lie-Vision, and then they came upon the idea of taking pictures and posting them for the whole world to see. ( phone) Various media are designed this way on purpose. If they weren't, they'd strive to use more average-looking people, yet they are all the same carbon copies of one another.

Another thing I think of, is the extreme speed of information in our current times.

Memes are also a form of communication that are used and recycled every week or so - we are also constantly waiting for that next new post to come rolling around…or that new YouTube, or tick tockvideo to upload - you make a good point.

There are people who are fans of antiques, retro gaming, and other old memorabilia… be nice if people can be looked at as the same. I certainly would feel like I've retained my value in society in some way… heh.

-But It's defiantly the downside when it comes to the advancement of technology…is that it opens us to a whole new world of hurt.

Though also, weirdly, we're living longer than we ever have before. I wonder how important youth was to us back before our current prosperous and modern times. Back when it was all just a competition for survival. Back when it was a miracle if you survived past puberty or even childhood. If you were only expected and supposed to live till maybe 30 , what would it have ever meant "to be young", and further "to be old".

I personally wish we would live a lot less than we do, it certainly save us from having to experience upcoming pain in the future. I think them extending our life spans was partially so they have a way to keep us around long enough to get some physical labor out of us - though with AI coming around I have to wonder how much longer we will be truly needed.