Running. I logged 1600+ miles in 2014. I'll be closer to 2000 in 2015. I'm 48. Started running again (I ran some in high school and a little after college) when I turned 40. I weigh less than I did in high school. It keeps me motivated. Keeps me sharp.
Ask HN: How do you deal with getting older?
91–100 of 137 posts
Re: Ask HN: How do you deal with getting older?
#92Earlier quoted context omitted.
This... I have the same observation and coincidentially we have the same age :)
I'm just a tiny bit older, and I thought I noticed some age discrimination last year. Do you both still have all your scalp hair?
For the time being! Just started to notice a bit more grey though.
Re: Ask HN: How do you deal with getting older?
#93My body decays faster than the rate at which I change my unhealthy habits.
I have too much experience now to know that many ideas & projects will be expensive or impossible ... kids don't have that limitation.
Re: Ask HN: How do you deal with getting older?
#94I'm 40 and I think I might be the only person who really just doesn't give a shit?
I mean, I feel a bit different, sure - but do I really feel much different to when I was 20? Not really. You do some things, then you do some other things, life continues. Maybe if you stop thinking so much about it you'll feel better.
Re: Ask HN: How do you deal with getting older?
#95As someone about to turn 40, it's creepy reading comment after comment here and seeing A LOT to agree with. Less lines of code per hour than when I was young: CHECK More productive than when I was young: CHECK Not reinventing wheels anymore: CHECK Recognizing all the wheels I reinvented when I was young thinking I was so clever: CHECK Keeping up with new languages/tools/frameworks: CHECK Skepticism at the people who…
> Software engineering has not been very financially rewarding
What other lucrative careers do you mean? Law/Medicine? Anyone with their own firm will make more money, including software engineers.
Are you not saving enough?
Re: Ask HN: How do you deal with getting older?
#96Friend of mine just got hired at Apple to work on HealthKit and he's over 40. I don't understand why everyone is so preoccupied with their age.
SV has been funding the Mom 2.0 bubble where 20 yr olds provide Mom services to other wealthy urban 20 yr olds for a generally rather large fee. Look at startups that boil down to "Mom can you drive me to the mall" "Mom can you get me a sandwich" "Mom can you do the laundry" "Mom can you adjust the thermostat" "Mom can I crash in your livingroom overnight when I'm in town" "Mom can you mail me a monthly care package" etc. Not all startups in the current bubble are Mom 2.0 but enough are to make it a cultural thing.
Anyway the point of extreme youth focus in the Mom 2.0 bubble is it makes sense when you're 20 and urban and rich and have never lived away from home (aka mom 1.0), but once you're 40 and you have become the Mom (err, Dad, or whatever), then it's kind of a hard sell and you're just not going to fit in with the biz model.
There is also a mythology that kids will lock on to branding for their entire life, so the most popular group to sell to is kids. It doesn't work, of course, but its a very popular mythology and highly politically incorrect to question it. If it actually worked of course, I'd spend my lunch hour driving my Segway around to play Pog games in between gaming sessions on the Colecovision or something like that.
Re: Ask HN: How do you deal with getting older?
#97How do I deal with it? Very badly. When I first started in the software field, I didn't expect that it would come to resemble a brothel. But now it does, and I don't feel all that young and pretty any more. Everybody is dreaming up the next big thing. The 20-year-old dreamers are just the ones that sell their dreams most cheaply. This whole industry seems like a continuation of the cool kid cliques in high school pre…
"...I didn't expect that it would come to resemble a brothel." Truer words were never spoken.
Re: Ask HN: How do you deal with getting older?
#98I'm 35 and overall am feeling at the top of my game. I don't envy the 20 years olds or feel lost. I've learned so much, not just technically but around user and enterprise needs, inter-personal skills, and about myself since I was 18-20 that I absolutely feel better suited for success. I've started eating right and working out, which has helped both body and mind, and I've developed task and time management technique…
> my mind might not be 100% as quick as it was when i was 20 care to elaborate? I'm 34 and I keep hearing that my mind is supposed to slow down but it hasn't yet. I drink 2 cups of coffee a day, don't smoke cigs, am not overweight, try to go for a walk for 30 minutes minimum each day, go to sleep by 9ish and am up by 3 or 4am. I also watch very little TV, read regularly and push myself to learn new stuff on a near co…
>care to elaborate? I'm 34 and I keep hearing that my mind is supposed to slow down but it hasn't yet.
Well not everyone is the same, here an excellent article that touches the topic: http://www.newyorker.com/magazine/2008/10/20/late-bloomers-2
Re: Ask HN: How do you deal with getting older?
#99Being 55 in Austin can be a real downer if you let it. I missed the last two bubbles thanks to being in the semiconductor business. The good news: I avoided most of the insanity. A nest egg, a paid-off house (no mortgage for 6 years), my wife & dogs, my health, and the ability to occasionally travel for pleasure. We put away ~25% of our earnings every month. I go to the gym 4-5 times per week and sweat my ass off. I'…
Good location, good money management, good life plan. Congrats.
Re: Ask HN: How do you deal with getting older?
#100Your network matters more than you think it does. You can hire smart kids to work for you for relatively cheap (this is how it always has worked). Ignore the celebrification of the industry.