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Ask HN: How do you deal with getting old and feeling lost?

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21–30 of 890 posts

Re: Ask HN: How do you deal with getting old and feeling lost?

#21
I'd buy crypto for half of the money and forget about it. Move somewhere cheap but comfy and play computer games and browse the internet and interact with people there for few years till I figure out if there's anything else in this world I'd rather do than enjoy my early retirement from the world of money and relationship chasing.

I'm 43 and doing something similar for last few years, not exactly the same because I had a different starting point than you.

Also try to excercise a bit because this mortal shell is crap.

It might not be for everybody. But once you accept meaninglessness of it all there are huge benefits of having a 100% of your life just to yourself.

I know mentioning crypto will not sit well with many people here but I see it as a retirement plan at the expense of greedy people of this world.

Re: Ask HN: How do you deal with getting old and feeling lost?

#22

> feeling less excited about everything This may be a symptom of depression. It's called anhedonia, where people feel reduced motivation or an inability to feel pleasure. Many people feel depressed without feeling the typical symptoms of depression, like sadness.

Thanks, I've thought about this. I don't think I have depression, at least not severe, but I definitely am less able to enjoy pleasure as I was many years ago. Even the definition of pleasure, sex, has kind of lost its flavor as I became older.

Re: Ask HN: How do you deal with getting old and feeling lost?

#23
I quit my job and did something different. Almost 60 now and I'm about to do it again. Don't regret the mistakes you made in the past. Go out and make some new ones while there's still time left.

Oh.. and one of my best job changes was becoming a high school teacher. Think about it.

Re: Ask HN: How do you deal with getting old and feeling lost?

#24
I don’t have any real advice for you except to say that you’re not alone and what you’re experiencing is shared by many. I’m turning 34 next week and feel similarly, despite having achieved a lot of “success” in my business life. I too haven’t had a relationship in many, many years and am disillusioned by technology. I miss my 20s and envy the younger generation for many things. My body is getting older and more tired too and my natural optimism is less present these days.

I think there is a natural change that happens around this age as the energy of youth starts to be tempered by the wisdom of age (not meaning to sound lofty, it’s just how it came to my mind). There is an opportunity to start seeking things of more meaning and purpose in life, whether it is through study, career change, creativity/hobbies, mindfulness or spirituality, time in nature, settling down, finding new friends or rekindling old ones, moving on, a different kind of travel, etc - it will be different for everyone. You may also be depressed or burned out, which is a whole other thing (that I could also heavily relate to). But I think it’s not correct for people to offer armchair diagnoses over the internet and you should find out what’s true for you.

People also seem to be recommending travel above all else, but this isn’t always a panacea and is not right for everybody. There can also be real value in staying put and changing on the inside, if that’s what’s true for you.

Good luck out there

Re: Ask HN: How do you deal with getting old and feeling lost?

#25
Come to a rainbow gathering :-) but seriously,try hitching, sleeping outside in your sleeping bag, traveling in "3rd world" countries.... learning spanish while hitching south America or visiting/helping in communities in NZ... maybe a change of direction, more manual, like gardening, helping, might help... on a cynical level , life is pointless , but like a Hollywood film occasionally there are poignant parts that make you glad you were there...

https://festivalsandretreats.com/rainbow-gatherings-in-europ...

Ic.org

Re: Ask HN: How do you deal with getting old and feeling lost?

#26

I'm 38 and feel the EXACT same way! I try explaining to my wife but unable to. I'm all the sudden unimpressed and not interested in most things. Very bizarre and honestly depressing.

Have you checked your vitamin D, vitamin B12 levels ? I am 25 and used to feel the same way. Not interested in things, giving up repeatedly on my gf/relationship, playing video games became a chore. I used to sleep less because of the stress of a very shitty job. Overall I felt like shit all the time.

I read on the net that it might be because of a vitamin D deficiency. I took a medical test and it showed me that I was vitamin D and vitamin B deficient. I have started taking supplements for these two and I can already feel the difference after almost two months of taking the vitamins.

Get your vitamin levels checked.

Re: Ask HN: How do you deal with getting old and feeling lost?

#27

Have you gone traveling? I found that spending a few years on the road dramatically changed the way that I saw myself, my place in the world, and my worldview as a whole. Concepts like "achievement" are not fixed in stone, and are yours to define. Perhaps it is time that you take that challenge on, and define for yourself what success means to you. It doesn't have to be academic, career, or family oriented. It can be…

[deleted]

Re: Ask HN: How do you deal with getting old and feeling lost?

#28
Might be wrong but this sounds more like depression to me than aging. I've had a few bad ~6 month bouts of this and always the strongest symptom was a total lack of interest in things that I know I used to enjoy very much. It seems to happen to me once every 5 years or so (I'm 49).

Personally, drugs and CBT never helped me with these. They might help you. I mostly just put my head down and kept coding for work and did nothing after work but lay down. I just had no interest in reading or watching TV or anything. If I hadn't had kids to support, I would not have been able to force myself to go to work either.

Eventually time would pass and it would go away and I would remember how much I liked coding and how much I liked all of my hobbies.

It's very hard to imagine ever returning to normal when you're in some sort of depressive episode. But statistically speaking, you almost certainly will. That knowledge always helped me to get through them. These is a good chance that in 6-12 months, you might again be quite excited by new technologies and the thought of going to festivals/bars/clubs.

Re: Ask HN: How do you deal with getting old and feeling lost?

#29
Time for everything IS running out. And no, there's no roadmap that shows you how to stop feeling lost. I'm 52 and that feeling becomes ever more intense. I wonder how I got here so quickly. I'm told THAT feeling intensifies at 70. That said, the way I deal with it is to accept. I accept my age; the feeling of time's fleetingness; that I will cease to be (god/Jesus, Viracocha, Mandaeism, Zoroastrianism... are constructs that do little to overcome this feeling).

And so I live trying to being aware of each passing moment, and thinking about how I might better use the next moment. I have a personal web site on which I wrote down every major event in my life, and when I feel low I read that. I've achieved and done a lot. And I want to do a lot more. Mostly much more loving. In the both carnal and (obviously seperately) paternal senses.

I have hobbies I love - I did not pick one randomly because one should have a hobby, but because I truly love building those things. Creating something I recognise as beautiful is rewarding as f•••.

I also keep fit and healthy and take some pride in having lasted so many years without gaining weight other than muscle mass. I've done a variety of drugs, I've broken the law, and I'm ok with all of that because I think I've loved more people than I've hurt.

All these things... there's no meaning or other weird existential shit that comes of it. Other than being at peace with myself, my place in this fleeting existence, and enjoying as much of it as I can, while I can.

In parting, try sitting in a meeting and if there are women in the meeting, watch how men just talk right over them. And then interrupt those men, turn to the marginalised woman, and tell her you found her perspective interesting, and would she mind terribly repeating her thoughts. This is a probably hugely incoherent ramble about how I have learnt to actively try to get past what you describe. Some days are rough, most days amazing.

Re: Ask HN: How do you deal with getting old and feeling lost?

#30
> turning 35 years soon

> Now I feel too old to go to festivals, bars and clubs and make new friends that way.

LOL.

No, you aren't old. You are just tired and forgot how to have fun.

What to do with that is up to you, but you are in a desperate need for a new experiences and feelings.

And with 500k in savings you have a pretty decent opportunity to just drop everything and be whatever you want to be for a day/week/month.

Just make a list of things you did and didn't do for some reason - and if the thing is reasonable try to do it now.

> turning 35 years soon

> Now I feel too old to go to festivals, bars and clubs and make new friends that way.

/me writing this with a light hangover. I befriended a new person yesterday in a bar.

35 is definitely not 'too old'.

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