I turn 70 this year.

By John Bellamy

Here I am at around 20 - and more recently in my late 60's... OMG the hair, and all natural curl... it seems like only yesterday....

I turn 70 this year.

Never thought this day would come but here it is - racing up towards me ever faster.

When I was 17 an old gentleman friend one day

said that when he was my age, he closed his eyes and when he opened them again, found himself an old man in a care home, and that - my dear - is how quickly the years had gone, and I remember standing there thinking to myself ' But I'm only 17, what IS he talking about ? ' - and that night when I went to bed, I woke in the morning and it was today - and he was right, the years, when you look back, do fly past at an alarming rate of speed. You know what though - I NEVER FORGOT THAT CONVERSATION and it seems like yesterday - yet it was almost 53 years ago.

I am aware that things will change and deteriorate slowly and that I must make changes. No more climbing on the table to change a light bulb, get the ladder - no more bungie jumping ( as if I ever did such a thing anyway ... ) no more taking risks and now I am conscious of doing things the safe way - as if I fell and broke a hip or something, that really would set me back and for many people this would spell the end...

We adapt as we grow throughout our lives. The level of respect offered to me as a teenager was VERY different to the level of respect offered when in my 30's, 40's and so forth. I grown and changes as we all grow and change.

I recently asked others how it was for them getting old and below are a few answers.

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Dear John -

John: Every day now, since turning 70, I wake and lay there wondering what is going to ache and hurt today, which part of my body is it today. Sometimes it's my hands and another time an ankle, then it's my back and even so much more. Never was like this when young. It is not much fun. James

I turned 70 this past year, and I became aware of how limited my time on this rock is. Fortunately I’m pretty healthy so far. I don’t smoke or drink, I try to eat healthy (but fail sometimes!), and I try to stay active by working a side hustle delivering auto parts to area garages and playing golf. Attitude is critical to maintaining good health. I’ve been very fortunate to never have had any kind of major illness like cancer or heart disease, but I am aware that at 70 my body could begin to break down at any time. I try not to think about it.

David.

I am 85 years old and as far as I am concerned life is behind a person not when he or she is 70 years old, but when he dies, No one knows how long the future allocated to us will be and while the health and strength will start declining, one can make the best of what one has got. There were children who died at birth and there were those who were aborted during pregnancy where their strength was expected to increase than decline.

As to the feeling of an old person who reaches 70 years, there is no generalised answer to this condition as every person has his own unpredicted states to face.

Steven

I’m not 70 yet but at 67 years young I think I am qualified to answer. The simple fact is that most of us don't obsess over our health even people I know that are really struggling with their health actually prefer to talk about something else rather than their infirmities. None of us knows what is around the corner in life and that is true no matter what age you are and none of us lives forever.

So we do what everyone else does we just get on with life. David.

John: When I was young I wondered why old people seem to obsess over their ailments and talk all the time about what meds they are on, the next hospital appointment etc. and now I am old and frail, I find myself doing the same. I think it is because when I was young I was fit as a fiddle and never needed a doctor that often and as age grinds us down, we need maintenance like a car and this being new - attending doctors appointments etc. and how there are days when we are good and days when we are bad, we talk about it more. Richard.

I woke up one day feeling fine, full of energy. Did all my Christmas housekeeping which involved moving furniture and rolling up a heavy carpet.

The next day I could barely move. But I hadn't finished baking or Christmas shopping so I flogged myself through the holidays.

I can't sleep longer than three hours at a time because I can't lay down comfortably. Or sit comfortably for very long.

I’m slowly getting better but the other day I pulled my little grocery cart up the stairs and almost sent myself back to square one. For the first time it came home for me that I would be going downhill and this incident might well be the beginning of the downward slide.

Not my merriest Christmas. Phil.

Life only begins at 70! At last I have time to indulge in my swimming, running and steam railways. Age is only a number, if you keep yourself fit and healthy you can enjoy life.

My health will decline in the next twenty years, that’s invertible, and I will die, but while I can I will continue to enjoy life.

When I am gone I want to go with a bang and fireworks not some morbid wake!

Jack

It is a feeling at 70 as one experiences life at 17. Every age has its priorities, concerns, and things to do. The only main difference is that for persons at 70, life is behind them, and for ones at 17, existence is ahead of them. One must pursue ambitious projects, while the other focusses on balancing their life. One is the rising sun and the other is the setting sun.

Yes, of course, at 70 indications are large enough to feel concerned about one’s health. Still, everything is not lost. It is not how long one lives post-70 but what one does during those years of 10, 20, 30 or more ahead.

It is a time for self-introspection and focus on the higher values of life, connecting oneself with the perennial source of beauty, grace, and joy. It could be a spiritual exploration or following ethical, moral and social principles to make oneself useful.

Martin

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