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The Dreaded Decade

jefboyardee

jefboyardee

Extreme Android User
Why is it when we are 19, 29, 39, 49, 59 and so on, we, knowing that the first digit of our age is about to increase by one, are encumbered with gloom? And most of us, having been through this before and aware that it really doesn't mean anything, are still filled with dread?

I'll turn sixty in three months, and just like every other approaching decade, I sit here and worry that there's something I have to attend to before a new zero shows up in my age. I try and dismiss it by asking rhetorical questions like this, but tick, tick, tick...
 
Heh, so true. Perhaps its more natural for our minds to think in micro terms than in macro.

Tomorrow = x. Instead of tomorrow is a single, finite point in the (hopefully) large data set that is a full lifespan?

For whatever reason we seem to focus on blocks, in this case decades. So the move into a new decade seems more significant than the single change of day even though they're actually the same event.

IBT, the philosopher over and out. :D
 
jefboyardee said:
Why is it when we are 19, 29, 39, 49, 59 and so on, we, knowing that the first digit of our age is about to increase by one, are encumbered with gloom? And most of us, having been through this before and aware that it really doesn't mean anything, are still filled with dread?

I'll turn sixty in three months, and just like every other approaching decade, I sit here and worry that there's something I have to attend to before a new zero shows up in my age. I try and dismiss it by asking rhetorical questions like this, but tick, tick, tick...
Click to expand...

I look at it slightly differently. It means I have less time to do things:
When I was 2 years old, a year was 50% of my life.
When I was 20 years old, a year was only 5% of my life.
When I turned 50, a year was 2% of my life.
As each year is added on a year passes much quicker. I don't like having less time to do things! :D
 
I remember a similar sensation, turning forty-five and thinking my life is almost certainly half over, at best. Now, at sixty, I have to change half over to two-thirds over.
 
How well I remember how I viewed 60 as ancient and now it seems so young. I still don't know what I want to be when I grow up. And no way do I view 60 as a 2/3 mark. I'm not even convinced it's the half way point. The minute you start thinking you are old.. you are.
 
Both my father and my only brother passed away after turning 40, so that was a 'thing' for me. A hurdle I had to pass. I realized from then on I was older than they would ever be, felt like I had to do everything they didn't had the chance of doing. Like I had to make up their lost time here.
Now I'm 42 I don't think about it anymore, actually. This is my life, and I feel good about it. Each day is a gift, not a burden. I intend to enjoy that gift every day :)
 
I write may age in hex, so I'm only 32. Only starts to get me down when I use binary ;).

Seriously though the decade thing doesn't mean much to me.
 
I can imagine it is a milestone, on which you want to look back and forward :)
 
Even though I'm only 33, I still feel that age is only a number. Because I feel older on some days than others. To me, it's how you feel that's more important.
 
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