25 Of The Biggest Misconceptions About Ageing Exposed By Older Adults

Getting older is part and parcel of life. No one has found a way around it despite many questionable efforts – one billionaire even had a biological son just so he could withdraw blood from the boy to inject into himself in the hopes of accessing eternal youth.

#1 I remember a story of an old man telling his grandson, “Son, you know what’s one secret no one will ever tell ya? It’s that nobody ever grows old. People pretend to be adults, going about their lives. But everybody’s still a child deep inside, scared & alone.. pretending to have got it all sorted.” Not sure how much it suits here, but that stuck!

#2 I thought I’d be able to save money and retire someday. I lost my job, and as a woman in my 50s, I simply can’t find employment. Like, I applied at Whole Foods to be a worker, but they say I’m “too qualified”. Like, I don’t want anything but a standard job. I don’t want to be in leadership anymore.

#3 I’ve been nearsighted forever. When you get older, you lose the ability to focus on close things, which is what farsighted people experience. So I had this idea that at some point, my increasing farsightedness would cancel out my nearsightedness and I would have perfect vision for a time. Nope. Turns out you can be both nearsighted and farsighted at the same time.

#4 I’d wake up one day and want to eat healthy. Nope, I still want junk food.

#5 Being old = fat.

I hit 30, gained some weight, and everyone just joked ‘Yep, that’s what getting old is’. I didn’t think much of it, packed on 50lbs, had high blood pressure.

Then my doctor told me ‘Well, we can put you on these pills, but what you need is a diet. Your only real problem is that you’re fat.’

I lost 90lbs, and have been in model health since. Blood pressure, along with a host of other problems, magically went away as soon as I got back to my highschool weight.

Even better, I started doing stuff again! I could enjoy rock climbing, skateboarding, dirtbikes, hikes, etc .

#6 That wisdom comes with age. It doesn’t, it comes with experience.

#7 Can do everything right and still end up with chronic disease. Most people do far less than this and are shocked when they aren’t healthy.

#8 Dementia aside, that you become unnecessarily stuck in your ways or are unwilling to learn anything new. I find the exact opposite – my thinking has never been clearer, and I eagerly consume vast amounts of new information.

#9 That when you are older you will be ready and able to handle the losses and trials that life throws at you. I’m 38 and have just lost my Dad. I feel completely unable to emotionally handle this loss.

#10 If you have a fat face, you do not get wrinkles. Plastic surgeons hate this one simple trick!

#11 I used to think that growing older meant having it all figured out, l Turns out, it’s more like collecting a bunch of keys without any idea which doors they open! ?.

#12 I thought I’d retire, live maybe 3-4 years at home, then go to a nursing home. I’ve been retired 12 years, have an active social life, drive anywhere I want to go, and am very accustomed to this lifestyle. 76 yo.

#13 That as long as I exercised consistently I could age pain free. Sadly that was false.

#14 That 50 is old.

I always thought 50 was old because my grandpa had several conditions that made him look much older and ‘beaten up’. My grandma on the other side always has had a hunched back and it grew worse and worse.

Turns out i just had a few bad examples of people that worked tougher physical jobs all their life. My dad is 55 or so now and hes still spry.

In my gym theres a 53yo guy deadlifting 300kg+ and still going out for beers with friends on thursdays after work.

30 always sounded like a big number but i’ll be there in like two weeks and im still childish AF, im still just a stupid little moron that doesnt know s**t. I dont know if ill grow up by the time i hit 50.

#15 That I could always continue to do “what I’ve always done.”

Well, I looked at the calendar and I’m 78 — I was just 60.

And I can’t (shouldn’t) lift heavy boxes any more. Tried to and my left shoulder said “boy am I gonna hurt for two weeks”—– and it did hurt for two+ weeks. So, I don’t lift heavy boxes any more. Tired — so go to bed earlier than I used to. Get up later, too — no job to go to.

Need to go out and walk — exercise and move around — -3 degrees below zero. I’ll put that off for awhile.

Always worked on all my cars/trucks — think I’ll have somebody else do some work — I’ll buy the parts — he’ll put them in. Then, I’ll have more/better heat in the truck — I’m always cool/cold lately. Been different — this retiring — adjusting the physical and the financial. Doing what I can do and hiring what I’m learning I can’t do. Interesting/frustrating.

#16 That perimenopause means you have a few hot flushes, and your periods get erratic for a while and then stop. Turns out, it screws up your whole body.

#17 That I was going to turn into a condescending, nagging, miserable, no-fun-allowed person like my parents were. Nope, it was just my parents. Thank god for that.

#18 That you’re as old as you want to be. We think we’re “old” at 40 but you’ll look back on pics of that time and think how young you were. I gather when I’m 90 I’ll look back at pics of when I was in my 60s and think the same thing.

And then there’s being old In your head. My dad was “the old man” all his life. He was never young.

The only thing that really sucks is being surprised when you look in the mirror (who is that old bag?) & how much s**t (knees, shoulders) hurts. Good things include no fear expressing myself & finally somewhat lessened attention from the opposite sex.

#19 I thought I would “grow out of” house music. Still haven’t. House Music All Life Long!

#20 How suddenly you feel less worth as a woman.

#21 That I would be ok with it. Nope, do not like looking older in the face and body, don’t like my vision getting worse, hair thinning and going gray, memory lapsing etc. yes I am grateful to be alive and it beats the alternative, but it is still annoying.

#22 My child brain thought old people didn’t do things I often saw in play (cartwheels, handstands, or even just stuff like sitting cross-legged) because they were old and therefore too dignified. Nope. Eventually that stuff really hurts. I’d kill to be able to do a cartwheel on the beach. Those were the days.

#23 It being linear. My grandparents were fit, like actually fit, their whole life. Going on bike tours for hours, no end in sight, before the bs E-Bike hype. Eating right, doing puzzles and quizzes, sports, gardening and stuff around the house, renovations whenever one of us needed help. They seemed happy and enjoying life.

Then, one super bad bike crash, landed them in the hospital for a month, recovery was good for their age, due to their very good condition. But the scars scared my grandma to get back on a bike, my grandpa staying home in solidarity. It’s been 3 years, and they are shells of their former selfs. Both mentally and physically, especially in the last year, it’s horrible to witness. I love them both, and try to spend as much time with them as possible, but it’s just depressing to see.

#24 That I wouldn’t get cancer until I was 40, found out when I was 15. Also, arthritis. Was at the rheumatologist one day and there was a 4 year old girl with arthritis, we both got diagnosed with JRA that day. Wild af. Genetics are a b***h.

#25 I thought getting older as a woman would mean fewer men creeping on me, especially as a homely-looking woman. Instead, the amount of desperate creeps watching for any single woman seems to skyrocket with age.

I suspect that being single with no kids and not being obese at age 35 makes me seem like the jackpot to a lot of guys in my age range. (I live in the U.S.) Unfortunately for them I am very, very picky.

Shanilou Perera

Shanilou has always loved reading and learning about the world we live in. While she enjoys fictional books and stories just as much, since childhood she was especially fascinated by encyclopaedias and strangely enough, self-help books. As a kid, she spent most of her time consuming as much knowledge as she could get her hands on and could always be found at the library. Now, she still enjoys finding out about all the amazing things that surround us in our day-to-day lives and is blessed to be able to write about them to share with the whole world as a profession.