All Going South...

[allenlondon]

“Old age is an adventure in uselessness, loss of control, being nobody and giving up everything.” The challenge is to see which new experiences of decay and decline you’re able to welcome – since they will, in any case, be showing up at your door.

A paragraph from Oliver Burkeman’s Guardian column today, in which he writes that true freedom means embracing all of life, not just the good bits.

[Jackdaw33]

I don't take the Guardian, I prefer Andrex quilted.

[Mamyalynne]

I haven't come across Oliver but he's spot on, bemoan your woes at your peril - enjoy the good you still have.

I know not everyone has that luxury before I am pulled up.

[Buenchico]

That quote could almost have come from the pen of the late (and great) Alan Coren.

Noel Coward's 1956 diary entry has similar echoes:
"How foolish to think that one can ever slam the door in the face of age. Much wiser to be polite and gracious and ask him to lunch in advance"

[Mamyalynne]

Excellent!

[Jackdaw33]

I agree about Alan Coren. His weekly column in Punch - "From our Ugandan correspondent" - taking the mickey out of Idi Amin was a hoot.

[Buenchico]

I've got a copy of this on my bookshelf, JD33 ;-)
https://i.gr-assets.com/images/S/compressed.photo.goodreads.com/books/1394310585i/359893._UY630_SR1200,630_.jpg

[david small]

I used to love Alan Coren’s writing. So witty and very funny. I think I’ve read most of his works. Gone but not forgotten. He also was on Call My Bluff.

[allenlondon]

I should have included a link:

https://www.theguardian.com/lifeandstyle/2020/aug/14/live-in-the-present-embrace-life-nasty-bits

I suppose it’s on the lines of another aphorism that often comes to my mind: “Pain is inevitable; suffering is optional.”

My leg hurts like **** today, and will probably hurt like **** tomorrow. I will try and welcome the pain, rather than engage in futile denial.

A

[DTCwordfan]

"Enjoy your life today because yesterday had gone and tomorrow may never come."

[waterboatman]

You need the bad bits to appreciate the good bits.

[waterboatman]

Very true DT.

[Tilly2]

I like Oliver Burkeman. His column always gives food for thought.

[Cloverjo]

I love that. Got to buy the book.

I’ve been moaning about my short fat legs recently but try to remind myself that lots of people would love to have working legs. So then I feel a bit better (and grateful) about them.

[Tilly2]

It's not a book, CJ. It's a column in the Guardian Weekend magazine.

[Cloverjo]

I meant the book he mentions in the column.
https://www.joantollifson.com/book-death-the-end-of-self-improvement.html

[Tilly2]

Sorry, CJ. I misunderstood.

[Old_Geezer]

I think I'd rather be out when they call.

[douglas9401]

I prefer to go for a stroll with the aches, pains and hair loss rather than have them jump out of the bushes unexpected.

[vulcan42]

I think it was Mae West who said "Old age is no place for sissies". She was right.

[allenlondon]

True, DTC, waterboat, but it’s even more than that.

I’m no expert, but to me it means saying “I feel this pain, there’s no denying it. I am,however, the totality of ‘me’, and that is not 100% pain, it is all the other ‘good’ things as well. Yes, my leg hurts, but I am more than my leg! (I used to meditate on this when I lost my leg - ‘My leg is not me; I am not my leg.’ It helped.)

It seems that the attempt to DENY the pain, the cancer, the stoma, the incontinence, whatever, does more harm.

PS I too loved Alan Coren, who lived down the road from me.