Monday 10 September 2012

In Praise Of Settling Down into Comfortable (late) Middle Age

"Sir, I am too old to learn", so Kent tells Cornwall, just before that bitch Regan, one of King Lear's foul daughters, has the stubborn ancient knave clapped in the stocks.

I haven't had a birthday and I don't feel particularly decrepit at the moment, but I do need a new battery for my watch. Beloved laughed out loud when I asked if he could think of anything funny to do with middle/old age. "There's nothing funny about ageing," he said, "except to young people, who think, like Dogberry in Much Ado About Nothing, "When age is in, the wit is out".  (Beloved is another old person who quotes Shakespeare without feeling in the least embarrassed). "Perhaps you could ask to have a new battery fitted yourself", he suggested, "to keep you going for another year without stopping". Have you noticed how watch batteries seem to last for exactly twelve months? How do they do that?

Believe me or not, there are advantages to getting older!  Old people are practically expected to ramble and ask pointless questions. Children love them for it, it trains them early on to feel superior. It's such a relief when the straitjacket of what is considered mature good sense is slipped over the back of the chair and one can relax into that comfortable old cardigan with saggy pockets and baggy elbows, which comes with experience and the knowledge that nothing is consumed as hot as it is served. It's a very valuable thing indeed to be able to take the long view - BACKWARDS. Wisdom is accepting that our long cherished views and opinions might just be fallible, something we have surely learned by now - I mean, how many times have you been proved wrong about your dearest convictions in the past? Actually, as I get older, I have come to believe less and less, but what I do believe, I believe more and more.

Although, agreeing with  Eleanor Roosevelt 'I could not at any age be content to take my place in a corner by the fireside and simply look on', and taking care of my appearance as well as my brain remaining of some importance, I don't mind not being seen as a sexual being by every stray male. I used to think that becoming invisible was the stuff of science fiction; not so. It's quite comforting and a lot less bother. You can use your energy for the worthwhile stuff, like quoting Shakespeare, blogging and writing bad poetry. True, there are disadvantages too: you can't  throw a tantrum and still be sexy. Clever Eleanor also said 'Beautiful young people are accidents of nature, but beautiful old people are works of art'. A work of art in a strop? No, can't see it, personally.

I don't entirely agree with the Duke of Kent about being too old to learn; I am definitely too old to learn the things you want me to learn but there is lots of stuff which interests me. That wonderful writer Gerald Brenan, whose 'The Face Of Spain' I am reading at the moment, (a book one of my gentlemen friends has lent me for the improvement of my mind ),  said  'Middle age snuffs out more talent than even wars or sudden death does', but I am not at all sure that that is still true today. For those of us who have the time, the leisure, the means, the inclination to learn, the north, south, east and west of the world of knowledge have come close enough to grasp with ease. I don't know that a talent one has in youth can shrink, I do, however, accept, that storage and retrieval systems have lost some of their early elasticity.

I speak to strangers, male or female, and I am greeted with friendliness; I can look at you, full face, not swivel my head sideways to avoid eye contact. I smile at you without being afraid that you might think me odd. If you do, that's your problem.  I even like being who I am, much of the 'searching for myself' has been done. In the sixties and seventies navel-gazing was a team sport of olympic proportions.  Although we think we were the generation that invented sex, I can still remember films where cameras panned to waves pounding the beach and trains rushed into tunnels, shrilly whistling, at the crucial moment. I am glad that kind of humbug has been done away with. I know what I like and have the courage to admit to it. I am not asking for respect because of my grey hairs, like the generation of my parents, but for being a half-decent human being. I am not afraid to grumble about the state of the world or complain about bad service, but otherwise my days on the barricades are over. It's the next generation's turn. Smiling and shrugging my shoulders may not be doing my civic duty, but it's easier. Seeing that I have free prescriptions, equanimity of mind saves the NHS some money: it keeps my consumption of blood pressure medication low.  You do it, you go out and change the world, you are younger and more energetic than me.

'A healthy old fellow, who is not a fool, is the happiest creature living'. said Gerald Brenan.
I hope it goes for old girls too.






51 comments:

  1. Oh! wonderful, brought a smile to my face, im going to copy it out and give it to my Father to read tomorrow, he said much the same this afternoon, he will admire your insight and wit!

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  2. Hello:
    Without a doubt we have no wish to return to the days of our youth when 'angst' was a watchword for everything we did or thought, but as for being 'comfortable' in late middle age, well, we really do not want too much of that.

    We might have said some years earlier that we had definitely 'found' ourselves, but, these days, we are not so sure. Sometimes we even shock ourselves and that is saying something and more often than not we do, say and think things that surprise ourselves. Perhaps we are just growing old disgracefully? Indeed, naughtily, we think that we rather like the idea.

    As for learning something new, we absolutely thirst for knowledge and increasingly wish to travel and experience new cultures at first hand, something which has never been so urgent in our younger days.Will we have the years left to master Hungarian...we doubt it, but we shall try just the same!

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  3. i like that you become less self conscious and comfortable with who you are...or maybe just not care as much...and there is freedom in learning what you want...i def dont want age to snuff that out of me..

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  4. WAT EEN LAND ,WAT EEN RUIMTER HET LIJKT MIJ HEERLIJK DAAR TE LOPEN EN TE WONEN.

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  5. The older I become the more I want to see and to learn.
    Sheer selfish pleasure.

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  6. Oh, how I enjoyed reading this post. "...as I get older, I have come to believe less and less, but what I do believe, I believe more and more" - me too! I might be older but I don't really think I'm ready for the rocker quite yet - well, unless I have a grandchild on my lap. Great post, Friko!

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  7. OR we could become more entrenched in our views. I think I'm becoming more disagreeable with age. I can see it on my face. You can definitely teach an old dog new tricks. I started capoeira at 45 and can now play the drum and berimbau, and sing in Portuguese and kick butt at the same time.

    You forgot the champagne cork popping and bubbly foaming. My personal UGH favourite.

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  8. I'm glad you don't agree with the Duke of Kent about being too old to learn. One should never give up on that.

    Personally I quite like being in my 60's; it is very freeing!

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  9. A lot of wisdom compressed into one blog post, Friko!

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  10. I'm always perplexed when my children oh-so-kindly refuse to partake in my bubbling fountain of wisdom and experience ;)
    I love to use my special mug when they're around - on it says "Wise old owl says: the state of being wise is knowing what to overlook".

    Loved your post Friko!

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  11. Einst gab es eine Zeit, da dachte ich, daß ich nie so alt werden würde, wie ich es heute bin. Manchmal wünsche ich mir, dass ich schon doppelt so alt wäre und das dazwischen hinter mir hätte.

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  12. I hear you. Despite the (reputed) advantages of beauty and the (decided) advantage of flexibility (physical not mental) I would not be a teenager again for any money. I am much more comfortable in my skin right where I am. And, while the opinion of other people matters, it doesn't send me into a tailspin of grief and anxt. Now is fine. Mostly.

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  13. Bravo, Friko! Well said! I find that on reaching my advanced age, I see the road behind me stretching much further than the road in front. I have no time left for wasting. I have learned to cherish every moment and to jealously guard them from being wasted. Thus, I feel no need to suffer fools gladly. If someone wants to waste my time, I have no time for them. If someone wants to be disagreeable, go disagree with someone else. I will work for goals, but only if the whole team really wants to reach those goals. No half-way commitments are tolerated. As a friend was fond of saying, "the older I get, the more I become like myself."

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  14. I first began reading Annie Dillard twenty years ago (or so) and only now am I beginning to obsess a bit over her words: "How we spend our days is, of course, how we spend our lives". I suspect I have more than a day left, and perhaps even hundreds of days. But I'm at the point in life where I can't be sure. At 66, I do the math. Let's assume twenty more years - that would be 7300 days, give or take.

    That's nothing! It leads to a bit of vertigo, and a good bit of impatience. Whiners, boring story-tellers, gossipers and ideologues? No time for them now. The curious, the creative, the ones still able to embrace life and see its beauty? I'll buy them a coffee and listen to them forever.

    I must say - the strangest things have begun to appeal to me. I think I want to finally understand algebra, and make a decent puff pastry.

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    1. I'm writing here because I thought shoreacres comment was such a fitting addendum to your superb, spot-on manifesto. While puff pastry is not on my list, nor algebra, yesterday I went to the performing arts library, and, for the second time in my life, looked at an orchestral score. It was a beautiful day outside, which I enjoyed before and after, including a nice meal out, but I have to say there was something wholly absorbing and thrilling about trying, in my feeble way, to read that score (Qigang Chen's Reflet d'un Temps Disparu, which I heard in Wales). I've taken another score out of the library to try again, for every now and then, out of the mists of trying to follow all those notes on all those staffs(!), there comes a bit of clear sky, and I see, oh, so that's how he got that beautiful, atmospheric sound.

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  15. Having passed the 50 mark - I like the way you think. It's so true!

    Most people at my work are at least 10 years younger - some 20! I do find it important to keep the brain youthful and embrace new ideas.

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  16. Wonderful post. I've loved being retired (so far, it's only been two months), and I love about old age that I can let go of vanity. Not that I look like a bag lady, but I don't feel the need to get my makeup on every time I leave the house or have the latest in clothes. And I totally agree about being invisible. That's a big plus, actually. :)

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  17. I'm still a lifelong learner. Invisible, though. Fortunately, since most days I wear no makeup.

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  18. Mir gefällt was ich hier sehen und auch lesen kann, komme wieder ganz bestimmt schon morgen dann...

    Lieben Gruß und genieße den Tag
    CL

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  19. if watch batteries really do last for 12 months then i'd better keep an eye on mine - it stopped last christmas and it nearly drove me mad that i was unable to get a new one for several days due to the shops being closed

    It is true that the older you get the more difficult it is to learn new things - which is why the best time to learn to read music or a different language is from childhood. But if you keep active then it helps

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    1. For most people learning a different language is easier up to the age of puberty because the brain has more plasticity. After that, generally, a new language will be learned but acquired differently as I was told brain research revealed. Possibly the same may be true for reading music, but I haven't read the specific research on that topic.

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  20. When I was 18 I knew some pretty ancient people who where the same age as me physically ... I met one or two of them recently and they are now really decrepit; I conclude that some people are just born old.
    Someone told me that wisdom comes with learning from your mistakes - if you just keep making the same mistakes over and over then you haven't achieved wisdom.

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  21. Ageing being unavoidable , I'm resigned to accepting it ... the alternative holding less appeal , on the whole .
    I'd like to more bendy , I'd like to have more money and to backpack through South America ..... meanwhile I'm enjoying retirement with all the freedom that brings . Perhaps I'll use the time to grow wise ?

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  22. I agree with you at nearly 100 %, I am only against old cardigans with saggy pockets and baggy elbows, and also grey hairs, for that I am too coquet even if next year I will join the group of 70th ! But for the rest I love how I am now !

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  23. Wonderful, witty post, Friko. How effortlessly you say the realities of life, a quality for which I admire your posts.
    And your poetry is anything but "bad". Trust me!

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  24. Knowledge is knowing what to do. Wisdom is knowing what not to do. Wisdom comes with age. So there, stuff that in your bonnet whippersnappers! We old fogies will always be relevant. Why? Because we vote!

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  25. Tis a blessing to know who you are and what you want. Keep on dear friend!! Keep on!
    Hugs
    SueAnn

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  26. Well Friko, this wise and witty post is perfectly timed for this reader. Tomorrow I will reach the age of 67, and now wonder if I might be now venturing a bit beyond middle age. I continue to enjoy the journey!

    xo

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  27. As another 66 year-old I love this, Friko and agree with almost every word. I too enjoy the relaxation of being invisible, of being comfortable in my own skin and with who and what age and experience have made me. I hope to go on learning as long as I live, but in a more relaxed and serendipitous way.

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  28. I rather enjoy being 68. Or whatever age I might be at any given time. I have too much to do .... to see, to hear, to experience .... to allow myself to get drawn down into the dregs of what others may think about it. I simply enjoy life to much to do otherwise. There are, of course, moment or people or situations that aren't fun, but it is all fleeting. I chose to concentrate on the joys.

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  29. This post is so true. Nice that I do not embarrass easily anymore. Like that I can smile and talk to strangers. Do not like that I tire so much more easily and am still questioning it in my mind. Cannot understand how people think they are old in their 60's. Now closer to 80 then 70, I am just beginning to feel older...

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  30. Wonderful post, Friko with so much truth and wisdom! I especially agree with your comment about not demanding respect on account of grey hair, as our parental generation has done, but respect for being a halfway decent human being. That really sums it up so well. Invisibility is really a blessing these days and brings such freedom.

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  31. I'm going to be the best grumpy old man the world has ever seen - practicing every day.

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  32. Dear Friko, this line--"Actually, as I get older, I have come to believe less and less, but what I do believe, I believe more and more"--says exactly what I think but have never been able to express. You never cease to amaze me with your wisdom and your wit. In fact, I think this essay of yours on aging is a tour de force that needs to be blazoned from the front page of every paper throughout the world--with banner headlines! Peace.

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  33. You know, Friko, I don't just uncritically LIKE everything! You might think me uncritical because I often rave about your posts; they speak to me so often. But THIS, this one could be my guide and manifesto. Oh thank you for guiding me.


    'A healthy old fellow, who is not a fool, is the happiest creature living'. said Gerald Brenan.
    I too hope it goes for old girls as well.


    Aloha from Honolulu
    Comfort Spiral
    =^..^=

    > < } } ( ° >



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  34. Oh, Friko! This post made me laugh out loud on more than one occasion as well as lean in to the screen to take it in with greater zeal! This is SO you. These words jump about on my screen across the world and make me feel like I'm having my coffee with you and I love you for it!

    I think I laughed loudest with the shrill train whistle. Or maybe the part about not needing to be seen as a sexual being by every stray male. Not that the second bit was hilarious, more that it is just so damn true. I was out of town this weekend -- with a new haircut -- and I am alarmed by how much I still appreciate getting a double take. I cut off all my hair and now I'm wearing eye shadow and hair spray -- I haven't done that in twenty years! I bought a fashion magazine -- also hadn't done that in about a decade -- and discovered an A-line skirt is most appropriate for my 'pear shape.' (I have always had a 'blooming arse.' Even when I was a skinny, skinny girl of ten with knobby knees -- my rear gave my silhouette some intimation of a varied topography.)

    In any event, I've been married -- safely and soundly -- for ten years. I spend all of my time tapping away at the kitchen table (my office) or out with the same circle of friends and family who already love me. Nothing to prove. But after cutting off my hair and considering the possibility of a little life shift with publication and some travel or whatnot, I wonder if I need to rally what shreds of youth remain and keep trying to run (nearly every time with injury) and do hot yoga and buy new 'adventurous' clothes and necklaces. I feel as if I am tottering on some precipice.

    Yesterday, I went into a shop to buy a dress for the banquet, this weekend. Many, many looked 'matronly' on me. Some looked 'prom' youthful. One particularly beautiful princess A-line made me think of Audrey and Jackie and I felt the sudden need to add painfully pointed-toe heels in black patent leather to my t-shirt and jeans repertoire.

    I ended up walking out with a collared, belted, sleeveless black silk dress with silver buttons all the way to my neck. It flattered my pixie cut and I felt like I could wear it with confidence. (Plus it was half the price of the Jackie dress.)

    Oh, I've gone on, haven't I? Just look what your impeccably-articulated, inordinately sharp ruminations have inspired. I miss you. I envy Sue her trip to have gone out and visited you in your home.

    xx

    Your Suze

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  35. A long-time friend recently told me that I am(the older version of me)more flawed but more compelling. I'll take that.

    This was a brilliant entry. ~Mary

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  36. I was busy trying to survive in a man's world and never did the barricades, although it always sounded like lark to me. I still might do something, but it won't be for a frivolous cause like war...:~))

    My second oldest granddaughter is fighting the good fight as part of the BGLT movement here in the States pushing for same-sex marriage. I told her not to worry, I think it is a basic civil right and the courts must decide in her favor if they are truly following the Constitution.

    I love the quotes you assembled today from Shakespeare. Most of mine are hackneyed phrases, often quoted. When I was younger, I fell in love with Richard III because I saw Olievier play him on the big screen. Thereafter, I was always saying "A Horse, a horse, my kingdom for a horse." Today, I would not want a horse unless it was for the manure. Is that old age or what?? happy Birthday...Dianne

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  37. Wonderful words of wisdom here Friko.

    The older I get the more I want to know, but agree that 'storage and retrieval systems have lost some of their early elasticity.'

    Anna :o]

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  38. I think when physical appearance is removed (say behind a monitor)there is no way of telling one's age.

    I've never felt more alive and looking forward to a writers' conference that will probably be astonished at my chronological age. At least my daughter has warned me of this.

    Pshaw to preconceptions.

    XO
    WWW

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  39. I'm a fan of middle age as well. It's not easy but it is interesting.

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  40. Ha Ha!! What a classic dossier on aging Friko! :-) Brilliant I thought, and I heartily agree with you. Well done! - Dave

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  41. Well, lots to think about here and enjoy your humorous touch. Yes, I became a lot less self-conscious when that youthful egocentric age passed and I realized everyone was not automatically always looking at me, how I appeared, much less didn't really care what I was doing or not doing. What a relief!

    I, too, have great difficult understanding what the big to do is about aging -- it happens -- it's called life. And...to think of myself as old when I was 50, 60 or 70, even 75 and often now seems a bit premature. But others are surely entitled to designate themselves as old at whatever age they so choose. I do think how someone feels and their physical and/or health status may have great bearing on their proclivity for declaring themselves as old, or not -- just a theory.

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  42. Here here! My goal as I age is to continue to find ways to delight in younger generations--to smile genuinely at their enthusiasm and certainty that they own the world--while appreciating older generations and basking in my very present minute.

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  43. I think you've hit on the secret of age - or at the very least, ageing! It's just a matter of eliminating the (waste of) time spent learning things that are of no interest to you!! While letting everyone believe you didn't bother because you're too old to learn ...

    I'll be implementing this strategy immediately!!!

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  44. Love the Gerald Brenan quote at the end. I'm finding I quite like being my age except for the occasional reminders of it that come in the form of odd twinges and crickety joints. My two year old granddaughter grunts and groans just like her grannie as we move from one position to another on the floor or climb the stairs together. It makes me laugh. I'll be happy to wear this "comfortable old cardigan with saggy pockets and baggy elbows" (what a great metaphor) until I trade it in for my wings ;)

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  45. I have the time now to investigate and learn interesting (to me) facts. I like that. I like myself, most of the time, so long as I don't look in the mirror. I have pleasant young people around me sometimes and a very pleasant husband whose mind is as agile as ever it was. Good health, a roof over my head, clothes to my back, books and music - what more could I wish for?

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  46. I'm with you. Apart from the fact that because I am older means I am on the far-end of the lifeline continuum, I love most bits. No, I'm not so lithe and moving is a little harder and there are more ills. But the thing is, I can take it a little -- no, a lot -- better. I accept my out of control curly hair because it is MY out of control curly hair and I'm not about to spend hours making it tidy. I think I have an iron in the basement, but most of my clothes are soft, wrinkle-less things that require little care. I know that nothing is permanent. This helps me tremendously working in a situation with dragon boss. She'll be gone before I will unless I decide to be gone first. I don't sweat the small stuff anymore, because as life gets shorter, the beautiful things become bigger and more important. And really, shouldn't it be that way all along?

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  47. Hello, Friko and I have come over here to visit and I see that you wrote a post with many of the same themes I wrote of today and I think you are handling the natural and inevitable (if we are lucky) process of aging better than I am. You are doing it with more grace and that's for sure.
    You have given me much to think of and and so I thank you.

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Comments are good, I like to know what you think of my posts. I know you'll keep it civil.