| T O P I C R E V I E W |
| art |
Posted - 03/03/2011 : 08:09:05
Three weeks and counting to the big 6.0. A birthday's never bothered me before, but this one really has. Sixty. Old. And since time has begun to gallop by at an ever more alarming rate, I know how fast 70 will get here, if I'm lucky enough to make it. By most measures, I'm in good health, but lets face it, we're all ticking time bombs, and the older we get the louder and faster we tick,,,
As a consequence of all this, I'm an absolute mass of psychosomatic symptoms. I'm not even going to list them all because it's really irrelevant it seems to me...
The good news is I've the tools now, and the understanding, to deal with this stuff. |
| 15 L A T E S T R E P L I E S (Newest First) |
| art |
Posted - 03/08/2011 : 09:37:28
Hah! I'd say it's pretty much a tie :>)
I've really never had a problem with any birthday. But 60 is different for me. If I can get to 60, I can get old. If I can get old, I can die..
Of course I knew these things before, but there are levels of knowing. On top of all this, I haven't run in a month with a hamstring issue. How do I know it's real? I just know, if that makes any sense.
Fortunately, I've started to swim this week, so at least I'm getting to work out a bit now. I plan on running on my 60th birthday, as a present to myself. 13 days to go... Woohoo!
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| wrldtrv |
Posted - 03/06/2011 : 14:03:19
Art, I'll match your "tinnitus" and raise you butt pain, mild return of hip pain from real (I think) running injury several mo ago, occasional foot pain, mild and moving elbow and shoulder pain. How's that? |
| art |
Posted - 03/06/2011 : 05:08:09
Susie,
I like your style. No "age is just a number," or "you're only as young as you feel." In fact nobody here did any of that, and it's appreciated. Glad to know you survived the mini-crisis of turning 60. I suppose I will too as what choice is there? I also rather enjoy the tiny bit of wisdom I have now. I accept myself much more than I used to as a younger guy.
Back-to-it...I think the longevity genes are the important ones.Sounds like your parents just got unlucky. I'm betting you'll live to a ripe old age...
Wrld...Heartburn, gas, a dull intermittent ache in my foot that makes no sense, and tinnitus. How's that for a full plate? |
| Forfeet |
Posted - 03/05/2011 : 15:30:00
I'm 53 and I've been feeling very similar to all who've posted here. I think it is a positive thing that I am feeling this now and will have time to process getting older as I deal with TMS emotions, etc. I'm fairly certain if I had not gotten this awareness now I would have had a much harder time coming to terms with it 10 years from now as opposed to the more well adjusted level of acceptance I see here with those of you a bit older than I.
I have no doubt much of the very high level of anxiety and resulting symptoms I have had over the past 2 years are a result of my dealing with the acceptance of getting older. And although the overt feelings have subsided substantially, my unconscious mind is still in need of more work around this I believe. From time to time the feelings still leak into my conscious for a few days and then subside again. |
| Susie |
Posted - 03/04/2011 : 19:43:50
Art, I'm 2 years older then you and went thru exactly the same feelings at 60 that you are having but it sure beats the alternative. 60 really freaked me. Life is moving at the speed of sound. When we were kids, WWII seemed like a century ago when it was actually in the previous decade. The 60's seem like last year and they began 50 years ago. I also miss my youth. I don't really feel any older but when I look in the mirror, I have to face facts. If the next 20 go as fast as the last and we are incredibly lucky, we will be in our 80s. How can that be? On a more positive note, I do enjoy the small amount of wisdom I have gained and am no longer financially starving to death. I have gained a stark realization that these are the jokes and that it is really important to enjoy each day, event, sunset, and all the mundane daily things that make up our lives. I just really try hard each day to have fun. Sarno has given me the tools to deal with all these goofy symptoms that would have otherwise left me screaming in the night. Have a happy, healthy birthday and enjoy the day. |
| Back2-It |
Posted - 03/04/2011 : 17:24:06
Many more healthy ones, Art.
My parents died relatively young. I'm very close to the age my father died. I don' t usually think about it. My father died from lung cancer and my mother from complications of sarcoidosis.
Oddly, their parents lived into the 80s and 90s.
I'm trying to unlearn the bad habits of a lifetime, by trying to be present in the moment and not worry about the future. It helps. |
| wrldtrv |
Posted - 03/04/2011 : 16:01:03
Looks like Charlie Sheen is having his last hurrah (at 46), though maybe not; the natural order is somewhat skewed when you are rich and famous.
Art, I wouldn't assume your running days will be over anytime soon. Depending on how you do it, it could go on indefinitely. By the way, I'm curious what the "mass of psychosomatic symptoms" looks like in your case. Do you mind listing them? Just curious. |
| susan828 |
Posted - 03/04/2011 : 13:31:02
Art, I don't know what you look like but personally, I find older men just as attractive as younger ones. I miss the attention in a way...but when I am with people my age, at a party or gathering, I still get a lot of attention. You might be surprised who is really eyeing you and you just don't know it because people aren't blatantly flirting like they did when we were younger. I look at my body without clothes and also mourn what used to be but I had my day. The 23 year olds I look at will someday be my age. It's all OK.
Art, if you were to make a list of 50 people you know and write their medical problems next to their name, you would probably see much the same as I do. Bypass surgery, stents, diabetes type 2, hip and knee replacements. If we haven't had any real bad medical problems, we're pretty lucky. Would I rather have a real problem that can be fixed and go on living like other people minus the TMS? Sometimes I think yes but I still count my blessings that I haven't had anything serious. Having that on top of TMS would be a real drag and I think the reason I am so careful with my food and exercise is that it would be really hard to handle if something real came along.
I do tend to go on and on but I want to say that I have had a few operations and handled them very well, maybe because I am used to operating on such a high anxiety level that the news of an imminent operation wasn't so scary, as it would be to someone who never experiences anything. |
| art |
Posted - 03/04/2011 : 10:49:04
I think this is a very difficult adjustment for some people. I really miss that attention from the opposite sex. Nature has its own wisdom of course, and there's no sense mourning the inevitable, but that doesn't make it easy.
I always knew it would be hard. Getting older really hasn't had too many surprises for me. The only exception is the speed with which time now passes. It's really quite amazing, how quickly a year gallops by now. My whole perspective has changed. Even historical events that used to seem so ancient, the Civil War, the Revolutionary War, now seem much nearer in time...
3 long lifetimes brings us back to the 1700's. 3 old ladies (or men) and we're back to colonial times.. Seems impossible to me, but there you have it. |
| susan828 |
Posted - 03/04/2011 : 09:05:46
I know how you feel about not getting the looks anymore. I feel invisible sometimes. I used to wear big t shirts so when I passed a construction site, I didn't have to hear wolf whistles. Now I want them |
| art |
Posted - 03/04/2011 : 08:00:17
Hey guys and gals,
Many sincere thanks for the good wishes. Everything you folks say is true concerning age, and I can remember Golden Girl, thinking that I was over the hill at 24!. My wife's son just had a birthday. I said, so Tom, you're what, 35? He looked kind of pained and said, "it's even worse than that. I'm 36." So of course, perspective has a lot to do with it.
On the other hand (why oh why is there always an "on the other hand" with me?)...I've had some very real losses in the last few years, as we all do when we hit a certain age. I can't run nearly as far or as fast, and I can see a day when I'll have to hang up my running shoes forever. Hopefully not for some years, but it's coming. Then there's the vanity stuff. I used to get a nice smile from the pretty girls behind cash registers etc., now they take my money as it if were something I've just sneezed into. I miss the privileges and prerogatives of youth. I miss that sense of unlimited possibilities.
There things I think are pretty easily dismissed by younger people. After all, "you old folks have had your chance." And of course they're right.
But my subconscious doesn't care about what's fair, or even what's real. It only knows what it can know, that something has been taken away and it wants it back..
All that said, I feel grateful all the time for the many blessings in my life. By just about any measure I'm a lucky guy. And I especially appreciate the fellowship and good wishes of the forum. There are real people with real hearts and minds behind every message. And I never want to forget that... |
| susan828 |
Posted - 03/03/2011 : 19:52:24
Happy almost birthday, Art. I hit 60 and I don't see any decline in my health, in fact, my blood counts are better because I learned to eat better, got my cholesterol down by diet alone and exercise much more than when I was forty or fifty, which you also seem to do.
Sixty is not old, Art. Actually 61 got to me more than 60 because I felt I'm on my way to 70. From what you say, you keep yourself in such good shape that I'd venture to say that psychosomatic symptoms aside, you may be in better health than people 10 years your junior.
My Mom always talked about the aches and pains that will start at 40. I didn't have them much then but do now and attribute it to just getting older. We all have some arthritis. Maybe you can just look at t this way and accept some aches and pains as normal. I read your posts and as you said you have the tools. I haven't experienced the 60 thing, getting old thing so I can't totally understand what you're feeling but please don't look at it as old...you don't want a self-fulfilling prophecy thing happening. My Dad played tennis into his 80s, my Mom continued to swim until her late 90s. This is why I say sixty is not old! Keep on truckin', really...I look in the mirror and feel 40 something, keep my weight it 115 and work out all the time. I do have a question for you though...when you're having a day when TMS isn't kicking in, are you energetic, in body and mind? |
| wrldtrv |
Posted - 03/03/2011 : 19:50:26
Happy upcoming Bday, Art. Golden is right; if I didn't know your real age, your post would have had you much younger.
Re: the "mass of psychosomatic symptoms" it's great that we have the tools to deal with them somewhat, but don't you wish they would disappear as cleanly as they do in the TMS books? |
| golden_girl |
Posted - 03/03/2011 : 19:28:26
If it helps any(!) I've read many of your posts and responses and had you at about 40! :) In fact, I'm often surprised when people mention their age on here, or even their gender (there's been a couple of posters who I had the gender wrong of!!) Happy Birthday for three weeks time - I'm honestly feeling TMS-related age stuff too - and I'm exactly half your age!
"F.E.A.R.
Forgive Everyone And Remember
For Everything A Reason"
Ian Brown |
| matty |
Posted - 03/03/2011 : 18:02:04
Relax my friend Ill be 64 in July and its all good.Still dating and thanks to the internet lovely friends all over the world.In the gym 4 days per week but like you I had lots of tms.Read Bradys book Pain free For Life and followed his 6 week plan and now my TMS in all areas is gone.I also recommend reading and trying out The alexander technique after your TMS goes away.A great way to deal with moving your body and changing old bad habits.Its not a replacement for your TMS work but after you get over it its just a new way of looking at the physical side of life.
matt |
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