When is someone else "old"?

i've always said when i retire then i'll be old - but can you retire as a christian, lol :)

Does anyone feel the glaring disjunction between your chronological age (body) and your psychological age (your mind and spirit)? I am "old" and I am "young." Julie would say I am old and I am a "kid," according to Scot's reckoning.

When I speak to college students at the University here I usually mention that I started at Michigan in 1978. That draws a laugh. I realized last year that if somebody had said something akin to this when I was a student they would have said "I started school here in 1950". Then I felt old.

When is someone else old? That's an easy one - when they are not willing to try new things or consider new ideas. Old is all in the mind.

Well, one way you could still find yourself 'old' using your criteria is when you can't find anyone else alive to fill the category--if no one is 'older' than you, you must be old!

I am in my late forties and I have met some very old twenty-somethings. I also knew a guy who died in 2004 at 92 who never aged. Because of special work God has done in my life over the past few years I have actually been getting younger. :)

If the issue is chronology, then people who can remember the JFK assassination are old. If you can’t remember Nixon leaving office, then you are young. (Strange how the number of old people keeps declining and there are so many more young people.) :)

Scot, you are right, it's a moving target! And my parents are NO help. They keep getting younger and more active the older they get.

Just the other day we found out that we were old because we knew that the Indianapolis Colts weren't originally from Indianapolis, but from Baltimore. The YOUNG ones didn't know that. And didn't know that is why some people are still Bears fans from that region.

Oh, this wasn't a GO BEARS post, was it?

I think John's comment here is the most interesting when thinking of what is "old". We all know our chronological age, but when you envision yourself, how old are you?

I'm 39 (soon to be 40) but in my mind I still think I'm about 28 (what I can do, how much of life is before me, what part of society I belong in, etc.). It's only when I am surrounded by 28 year olds that my delusion comes to light. I had a friend who is 68 but still perceived himself at 25. He proved it when he fell out of a tree from which he was trimming fallen branches with a chainsaw.

"Oh, to be 87 again."
- Sen. Mike Mansfield

"Age is just a number." - several early morning news magazine hosts/hostesses

Chronology is a reality, but attitude and relevance are most important to me in determining what "old" means.

MetLife did a survey in 2005 asking the question, "How old is old?" Some results:

"As might be expected, as age increases so too does the choice of an age as being 'old.' Thirty percent of those under 30 say 61 to 70 is old, while more than two in three 50 to 64 year olds say over 71 is old. Almost six in ten over age 65 say over 71 is old. No one 65 and older thinks 41 to 50 is old.

"A plurality (32%) of all respondents say an age between 71 and 80 is 'old.' About half as many say either an age between 61 and 70 (19%) or an age between 81 and 90 (18%) is old. Less than one in ten say an age between 41 and 60 is old."

I remember asking my mom this question when I was young. She told me that anyone 15 years older than me was old.

When I was on the cusp of turning 50 I was concerned if I had the maturity part together enough yet to fit in the category. I read all these books to get an idea of what it means to be in the 50's category. I did have some growing up to do, some letting go of blaming, some accepting responsibility of my life being the way it is. One thing I reread was Passages my Gail Sheehy and she puts middle age starting at 35, I think she put it, because she says we begin to realize our mortality. 40 did it for me when I realized it was harder to put some things off since there is only so much I can do in a day or month or year. A real sense of urgency and fear.

I spent a bit over the last year dealing with one health crisis after another, the first being cancer. I tell you, cancer grew me up faster than reading those books about what it's like to be in one's 50's. And it was a major jarring knock-the-socks-off confrontation with mortality. I did not like it.

Old? When we have moments we realize death is coming toward us. A friend the other day said life seems to go by so fast. I said - that's because you realize death is coming and there's nothing you can do about it. We want to slow it down so to have more time to do all the pleasurable things there are to do.

Oh, but bummer, I kinda made this post serious.

Here are the rules:

Young: 0-29

Not Young: 30-39

Middle: 40-49

Not Old: 50-59

Old: 60-69

Ancient: 70+

Feeling is relative; Age empirical :)

My 24 yr old daughter will be telling me something and say "and we saw some old people." I'll say "how old?" She'll say "oh, about you and Dad's age." groan. I don't feel old. Then the other day someone called me old and I told him he blew it, that I prefer being called "mature." He said "no, you're old." The first time I remember feeling old is when the guy who took the groceries to my car, called me "maam." groan.

I first felt old when the bag boy taking groceries to my car, called me "maam." For some it's something you say to women for manners. But that wasn't so in this case. I think I was 35 or so when that happened.

Now, my 24 yr old daughter will be telling me something about what happened and will say "there were some old people," and I ask "how old?" She says "about you and Dad's age." sigh. I don't feel old.

Then last week a young man called me old and I told him he just blew it because I prefer the term "mature." He said "no, you're old." sigh.

When joints creak, I feel old physically, but I don't feel old mentally. I would love to have back the joints I had in my 30's.

I've noticed that *old* is older than I am. In the same vein, if someone lives in *a big house*, than it's a house that's larger than mine. At the end of the day, my reference point is (surprise, drum roll....) ME!

My grandmother always used to make the distinction between "old" and "Old, old." She was in her eighties at the time--and she knew that she was old, but she felt young at heart. Later in life, when she really started to feel old, she would call it "Old, old." She died soon after that.

I hopped over here from Susan Speer's blog and wonder how connected we are-- are the Panthers you speak of from Libertyville? And I taught Boaz and Sarita's kids at Christian Heritage for a while before we moved down south to Florida. The world is small.

And I turned 30 this year and therefore am not young. But that's ok with me.

I don't really like classifying people by age. Some of the people I relate to the best are 20+ years older than me, and some are 10 or more years younger. It bothers me when people start to get so self-conscious about their age, as if they're not allowed to be friends with anyone too far from their own age. I just want to hang out with people I like. I don't care how old they are. I just don't think in terms of age. Most of the time it doesn't even register.

At 59 am I old? Had prostate cancer last year and spinal stenosis (narrowing of the openings for nerves in the lower back). Does my age and recent medical condition make me old?

I teach high school (networking and hitech content) and my kids always want to know how old I am. I tell them "older than dirt".

Just took eight months off from working ou, all I did was walk. Back in the gym. The surgeon and the back specialist limited my some workout (no leg press and limited squats to 450 pounds). I don't think that's old!

The people that I work out with are around my age and use the same sort of weights, are they old.

We dance, do a lot of charity work, travel and generally have a good time. Much more than a few years ago.

Being around teenagers I find that the people I know voer fifty seem to be in better condition and do more the the kids ever thought about.

My mother is 82 has nerve damage in her legs and trouble walking. She has a store dealing in turquoise jewlry and still goes to work. Is she old.

What is old? Is it age or is it a state of mind--or a state of mind and body?

Tom