For me, it was the sudden realisation that most police officers look like teenagers these days.

I think it sneaks up on you. Every now and then I see a picture of myself and I think 'who is that old guy?'
I don't mind it though. It has its disadvantages and its advantages. And, bottom line, it's happening so you've really got to learn to live with it... u ntill it's time to stop

You are not alone.

Good for you... im glad im old. I worked hard to be were i am. Now its time to think im in school but everyday is Saturday and schools out forever.

My mind: "Hey, wow, that looks like fun. Let's go do that."

My body: "What? Are you nuts?"

There was a time when my mind said something like that and my body followed right along without a single complaint. But the change didn't happen suddenly. It came on like a creeping thing in the night. Fortunately, for me, it happened fairly late, but happen it did.

There are things that happen along the way. Grandchildren is a big one. Another one, for me, was when I realized that all of my doctors were younger than I am. Then there's the whole thing about "generation gap." Most kids these days have never heard of things like Gilligan's Island, 8-track tapes, CB radios, or drive-in theaters, and I have no idea whatsoever as to what half the stuff that comes out of young peoples' mouths even means!!

I move my body, and it hurts. I try to move faster, and it hurts more. I make noises that I never thought I was capable of making when I try to roll out of bed in the morning and get vertical. My joints make noises they never used to make. My bones can tell me what the weather is going to be today before I even hear the forecast. None of this stuff is supposed to happen!!

Then I look in the mirror. Who the f*ck is that staring back at me? What did you do with Stephen? No, it is me ... I think. Where did my hair go, and why is what little is left the wrong color? DAD!! I thought you were dead!! When did you decide you wanted facial hair? Oh ... wait .......

Then I look inside my head. Not so much has changed there. The memory banks are more full than they used to be, some of the cognitive pathways have changed, but for the most part it looks and feels not unlike it did 30 years ago.

I have developed a whole new appreciation for the notion of the mind being willing but the body not being so sure!!

There was a middle-aged fat guy wandering around my house today who looked kind of like my Dad. I told him to leave, but the mirror didn't say anything back.

One knows that he or she is aging. At 30, I had to wear glasses for the first time. At 40, I had to get bifocals. In my early 40 I started greying around the temples, and game up teem sports. At 45 I had back surgery and developed diabetes. By 65, my hair was grey and worsening vision forced me to give up driving. And, so it goes. Your are forced to continue to peel back layers to find and maintain the inner core of who you are and want to be.

Definitely a sneak. In the book "Being Mortal" the author talks about all the things that happens to everyone of us as we age and it is not pretty. An article in "the Atlantic" discussed an ideal lifespan and the author said 75 was the best age to die for most. After that everything went downhill fast.

For me personally, I have always been told I look a lot younger than my age. 2016 was the year of misery for me and I probably put on a few years and this site has added an inch to my waistline. However, I am a total believer in changing one's lifestyle to meet health issues head on. Dietary changes and lots of work outs at home/ gym have put me in the best shape than I have been in 10-15 years. I think one's age can be a roller coaster.

Wilde famously said " youth is wasted on the young ". My daughter asked me " when do you grow up?" I jokingly replied "I will tell you when it happens!" Seriously, I then said it was a gradual process, with a few milestones along the way. The first time your parents let you have a key to the house, The 1st time you have sex,1st time you leave home. Learning to drive, having kids etc. As we travel along we add keys to our key ring. Sometimes we shed a few but they attach and grow like barnacles. As for my face? Well I never liked it, I never really thought it was me staring back as I shave. Now if I take a razor and scissors and remove all my unwanted hair from my nose, ears upper cheeks and eyebrows. I can a least effect a look of "salty old dog" or surfing Gandalf. One thing I do like about my self now (and this may sound odd) is a lessening of my sex drive. Don`t get me wrong it is still there, just less loud. I often say "I do not think with my penus but it has voting rights". Nowadays it most certainly a minority party. Looking back in hindsight at all the disastrous decisions he made...One of the great things about being older is you get to hang around with young people of the opposite sex without the tension. I brought the new year in with four ravenously beautiful young women. The $64,000 question is though. Are you still up for a great love affair? I can only say "you betcha".

My gray hairs and wrinkles aren't coming in fast enough.

Looking younger than your age only gets worse the older you get: people hate you more.

I honestly don't know at what age we start calling ourselves old. It's variable, of course, from one person to another. I'm 68 and physically I don't feel much different than I did 15 or 20 years ago. I know I can't lift as much weight, or run, or move as deftly as I could in my younger years; but, I still mountainbike, hike, and occasionally "hit the gym" (mostly for the treadmill). I dare say, I could also still play a reasonably competitive game of racquetball, well, at maybe a "C" level. My reflexes are still pretty good, and I very seldom get sick, maybe a cold every 2 or 3 years. As far as looking in the mirror, yeah, that gets tougher every year, but whattya gonna do? The alternative is much less desireable.

So, even though I call myself an 'old guy' sometimes, I look at other people, stooped, moving very slowly, coughing, wheezing, gray-haired and irascible, and I am grateful that's not me.

Being 63, I've given this a lot of thought over the past 7-8 years and I'm glad to be closer to the end of my life than the beginning. I would not want to be 20-something in today's world as I don't hold much optimism about our future.

I, too, look in the mirror and see a wrinkling-here, sagging-there senior citizen who is now having to deal with a handful of medical issues, almost all of them non-life threatening, but certainly quality of life altering.

but I wear my wrinkles, sags and scars with honor...as if nature gave me a vest on which to permanently pin flair I've received over the years. and I have one reply to anyone who comments or teases me about my age, I simply tell them that I'm not old, I've just been young for quite a while.

@JustLuAnn this weekend I went to an AFL Championship Party and reunited with one of my best male friends-I'm his big sister-and about a dozen other people who hadn't seen me in 5 years since I was diagnosed with AML-acute myloid leukemia. I was worried I didn't look the same. Chemo and radiation have side effects. A bone marrow transplant produces changes in your body. My former colleagues told me I looked the same as last time they saw me and not to worry about it. I had a great time partying with friends for the first time in 5 years. Patriots are going to Super Bowl! Yay!

My mother said it this way: "My new doctor just retired. Where did it all go?"

I don't feel any older, but my baby is pushing 30 so I must be getting old.

I just notice that I don't look like I did when I was 22 or so. I only think about it when I see a pic of me from before. Most of the time I don't really think about it though. I did notice some gray hairs in my beard like a year ago. I would imagine thinking about this only happens in like 20 year intervals. We don't change enough in short periods of times to notice it, unless you're looking in the mirror every single day 24 hours a day lol

My 40s were my best years in many ways, excellent health and fitness, ex out of the way, a few financial struggles and some things not great, but me individually it was ok. 50s really sucked, hmm, 60s start this year and its not looking good.

There's a poster in a health/vitamin store of an older guy and he is holding some barbells and he's in pretty good shape. The caption underneath says; "Getting old isn't for sissies". I'm 74 and it seems like when we get older we feel like we've earned the right to do nothing. The more you do nothing. the less you feel like doing something. Why do older folks color their hair? Women and men both. It can't be good for you, putting chemicals so close to your brain. To me there's something very sexy about a mature woman with silver hair and smooth, beautiful skin.I've read articles about longevity that says the human body is built to last about 125 years........if we take care of it.

Yeah, there are times when I fell a bit older, relative to what I did say five years ago, but I also am lucky that I am pretty fit - mainly because I'm kind of an adrenaline junkie. I also play guitar and drums and these usually mellow me out, keep the stress level down. I have a few more wrinkles and scars than 20 years ago but I'm still told I look young for my age. I guess that's a good thing. I always had excellent eye sight until about 4 years ago and my near sight was getting blurry. Still have great distance vision but...Kind of caught me off guard. I would joke with my good friend when she needed to get glasses and she told me, "Yeah, smart-ass, give it a few years." Damn if she wasn't right. LOL

Ah, youth! Wasted on children.

You always have that "first", like when puberty hits, then those years in your 20's when you feel like an invincible human-animal hybrid, capable of any physical feat you could imagine. Along come the late 30's, and your intellectual development catches up just as your body is slowing down. For me turning 40 was as physical a milestone as turning 20 was for my psyche. You begin to deal with weight, fatigue and adult-onset issues like diabetes or failing joints. By 50, you become nostalgic as Hypertension, vision and other cardio-pulmonary mid-life issues come to the forefront. And having a battle with cancer like mine really defined the transition from mid-life to early oldsterhood...

What a wonderful expression of Aging! I'm loath even to say it but a couple of weeks ago I had my first colonoscopy. I don't feel the same when I get up in the morning some back aches. Sciatica..I love seeing old weathered faces, kind of like the face of a Indian warrior with his head dress on .humans can be so Majestic ! graying, curly hair, Fanning out like a lion. The part of aging I don't like is not being able to physically do the things that I used to do, I still get a little crazy when I ride a bicycle standing up on the seat sometimes. But as far as aging goes I'm still kind of young 58? The pictures are 1997 and now.

Nice writing