How old? I am rapidly nearing 60 and have considerably less pain than when younger because the migraines have nearly vanished and I do yoga instead of running. No chronic pain yet.
Perhaps having negative expectations helped as well, I was sure by now I’d have osteoporosis from early eating disorder, pain in joints from years of ballet, none of these shoes have dropped yet. I do feel weaker than my 40s which were my peak but not weaker than my 30s. And so, so much less pain with fewer migraines.
It seems like an obvious answer, but pain is it. It’s not like I didn’t know old people experienced body pain when I was younger, it just isn’t something you really have to think more deeply about. Once you actually get to the point where you’ve got one or more chronic injuries and you stop remembering what it’s like to have a “normal” day, then you realize how little you had to take it into account when you were younger and how little you understood what it was really like.
And beyond the physical pain, it’s just a huge bummer. You constantly have to manage medications, you have to constantly be careful not to do something to make it worse, you have to cancel weekend plans if things go south or stop doing certain things altogether.
Being in constant pain literally changes your personality. You get angrier. More depressed. You lash out at those closest to you.
That was what I was going to comment. If you don’t stay JUST AS ACTIVE as you did when you were younger, you just ache. Getting up wrong is a thing. Sitting wrong is a thing. Existing can cause pain.
It’s weird and miserable. Luckily there’s distractions enough.
I’m jumping on this to say that there’s a good amount of this pain that you can preemptively avoid by taking care of yourself while you’re younger.
Not everything. As you get older your body is stepping closer to the end of its lifespan. But if you don’t manage your fat/muscles/tendons/etc, you shouldn’t be as surprised when you suddenly find yourselves with bad knees that hurt if you ever try to get active again (that’s me!).
If you’re young: plan.
If you’re old: don’t give up. Just try your best to get as much quality of life back as you can, so the last few years of your life aren’t spent in a hospital or assistive living facility/nursing home/etc.
Pain.
You no longer don’t feel pain. You just manage it.
How old? I am rapidly nearing 60 and have considerably less pain than when younger because the migraines have nearly vanished and I do yoga instead of running. No chronic pain yet.
Perhaps having negative expectations helped as well, I was sure by now I’d have osteoporosis from early eating disorder, pain in joints from years of ballet, none of these shoes have dropped yet. I do feel weaker than my 40s which were my peak but not weaker than my 30s. And so, so much less pain with fewer migraines.
Yeah.
It seems like an obvious answer, but pain is it. It’s not like I didn’t know old people experienced body pain when I was younger, it just isn’t something you really have to think more deeply about. Once you actually get to the point where you’ve got one or more chronic injuries and you stop remembering what it’s like to have a “normal” day, then you realize how little you had to take it into account when you were younger and how little you understood what it was really like.
And beyond the physical pain, it’s just a huge bummer. You constantly have to manage medications, you have to constantly be careful not to do something to make it worse, you have to cancel weekend plans if things go south or stop doing certain things altogether.
Being in constant pain literally changes your personality. You get angrier. More depressed. You lash out at those closest to you.
That was what I was going to comment. If you don’t stay JUST AS ACTIVE as you did when you were younger, you just ache. Getting up wrong is a thing. Sitting wrong is a thing. Existing can cause pain.
It’s weird and miserable. Luckily there’s distractions enough.
YUP! Oh, you want to do an activity, any activity, you enjoy? Look forward to two-to-six weeks of a random body part being in pain from it.
I’m jumping on this to say that there’s a good amount of this pain that you can preemptively avoid by taking care of yourself while you’re younger.
Not everything. As you get older your body is stepping closer to the end of its lifespan. But if you don’t manage your fat/muscles/tendons/etc, you shouldn’t be as surprised when you suddenly find yourselves with bad knees that hurt if you ever try to get active again (that’s me!).
If you’re young: plan.
If you’re old: don’t give up. Just try your best to get as much quality of life back as you can, so the last few years of your life aren’t spent in a hospital or assistive living facility/nursing home/etc.