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

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371–380 of 890 posts

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

#371

I'm 58. Everything IS an different iteration of the same thing. Generally, if intelligent adults are involved, there are likely to be some useful new things in the new iteration, small improvements. On rare occasion, there are massive changes that only become apparent later. (Like when transistors first appeared, they wore out, like tubes, but slower... germanium was replaced by silicon, and lifetimes tended towards…

I co-founded a makerspace. Maybe 70% of our membership are 30-50 y/o men that work in some form of IT (and other desk jobs).

The opportunity to make something physical brings them life. It's a real bonus if it's something they can carry around and show others. 1-2-3 blocks, welded cubes, wood lathed pen bodies, 3d printed gadgets, etc.

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

#373
post #91

This resonates a lot with me. In my case I think the lack of a relationship for a few years exacerbates everything else. A lot of suggestions from small (go for walks) to big (do some travelling) just make me a little sad that I would be doing those things alone. I always find it particularly funny when someone says "oh, I totally get feeling lonely. Just the other day I was telling my wife that I was..."

Im in that boat too, but I also look at it as a choice Ive made through the years, Ive always valued being independent and having my own space over basically everything else... And Ive grown into this person, for example, Im good professionally, I skateboard, Im a bit of a nights and parties and bars and travelling person, Im heavily tattooed etc. But then with covid and time passing then the "oh shit this being all by myself and all for myself thing, I think Im over it", then its something that starts hitting you with bigger frequency etc.

So anyway, my conclusion is that yeah Im maybe a bit deep into this, but the most important thing is that I now want to chose a different thing and Ive just got to work on realizing this new objetive just as I done before. This 'Im now old and lonely' thing is though, but the hardest part of it I think is just that we end up ruminating that shit and thinking our choices have completely defined us already and we are done. And when we were younger as the thought went over us wed actually think that was the whole fun, having that youthful outlook like "oh I have all this freedom and time to do what I want with my life, how exciting!", we still have so much freedom and time to choose.

Honestly I think as we get into the mid thirties there's probably some stuff that change in our minds, how we perceive time, past, future, etc, and this anxieties start creeping up more, I guess that's part of life. Most definitely, though, being thrown around and being cornered by fear, by your own thoughts, thats not the way to live, I'm sure. To me its no wonder most of all antique philosophy/religion, if you look into it, focus exactly on that, dealing with human existential anxiety.

This got a bit long but I decided to take my social and affective life into my own hands more, and Ill be getting a dog this year too hahah

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

#375

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Plus one in health and physical fitness. Buying a bicycle and using it daily was probably the best investment I ever made in myself. Also, I can't believe that I smoked those filthy cigarretes for so long, but how good is that I stopped this habit. About material realizations please remind that the average successful enterpreneur age is about 45. I only started being able to save serious, retirement-style money when…

Which bike did you buy?

At the risk of sounding like an ass: It doesn't matter, just get one that's the right size.

I understand why you ask, I'm very much the same way (unless you're asking just because you're curious). Some times I decide that it's time to make a change, and I start to look for thing I can buy to facilitate the process, exercise equipment, kitchen aids, clothing, essentially attempting to buy into a lifestyle. The thing that made me notice was when I started getting into minimalism, and I started to look for "minimalist things" I could buy... That sort of highlighted the absurdity of the idea.

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

#376
post #154

Not sure what the answer is, but I feel sort of the same. Having a child and partner helps. It gives me something to hold on to. Though that obviously doesn’t help you right now. But the excitement about a lot of other stuff is just gone. I’m fairly certain it comes from just having seen most things before, and it appears 30+ is the magic age at which you start to feel this. I’m settled in a career, and have no parti…

Not sure where curiosity and motivation comes from, but as others mention, it helps to maintain good health and some social connections/friends.

I hope you regain curiosity and see and wonder about things in new ways.

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

#377
post #168

Earlier quoted context omitted.

You don’t feel the amount of new things you see slows down considerably as you grow older? It’s not that you can’t find novel things any more if you go looking for them, but most everyday things hold no more (or less) excitement. I notice this especially much with my 3 year old son, for whom everything is fascinating. He’ll find out that sticking a bowl upside down in the water and turning it face up will make a lot…

> You don’t feel the amount of new things you see slows down considerably as you grow older? At 44 I have the opposite problem. The more I learn, the more I realize I don't know. When I was younger I had the ego of a young person and thought I was always on the cusp of knowing it all. As I got older I realized I was simply unaware. It's a bit cliché, but I started approaching everything, even things I 'knew' with a b…

It's easy to see familiar patterns even in "new" things, though: especially those things that typically bind social networks (primarily shared recreational experiences). There are only so many story tropes to fill books and movies with, shared exercise experiences all blend, card games, board games, etc.--you name it, and odds are that the chance one has "seen it before" increases with age.

So while something can be new, as one ages even "new" things have elements that are immediately obviously the same as one's past experiences. The older one is, the more of these elements there are. There's a diminishing return, so to speak, in experiencing new things.

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

#378
For most of my life, I've volunteered at one organization or another. It's been a great way to meet people and find some purpose. It doesn't even have to be some epic world-changing nonprofit. Even a one-shot like a fundraiser walk can be good. Or take classes (cultural center, library, community colleges, Meetup, etc.), even if you're not super interested in the topic.

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

#379
post #61

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Image OP being in the same state of mind but with 20K in the bank. Now, that’s miserable.

I know people who are older than that and with less in the bank. They live on a sailing yacht and are more happy than most will ever be. They cross oceans when they want to change scenery. They haven’t seen temps lower than 20C in decades, living between the tropics and SE Asia, sailing along the way.

Besides that, isn't there a figure about the number of people who'd have to borrow money to cover a $1000 emergency? Something like 60% of Americans if I remember correctly.

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

#380
Feeling like you are taking purposeful action towards things you want is a great way to start feeling better almost immediately.

Think about things you want in the future. Who do you want to become? What material things would you like to have? What experiences do you want? Write them down, these are all goals.

Want a partner? This is a goal which you can (and should) approach intentionally.

Pick your top 3 and start working on them immediately. Like NOW. Take at least one action on all of them TODAY.

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