Questions about aging . .

[KCT]

In my experience, older people seem to worry more. Even people who might not have been worriers in their younger years. Any idea why?

Do you think we have control of this? Or do you think at some point, something in the brain takes over and we can’t help it?

I live w/ it everyday; my mom worries about all sorts of things. My brother and I also experienced it while traveling recently. We met a mother and daughter who might have missed their train. The mom was worried, and the daughter was OK with Plan B if it came to that.

I suspect when my mom was young, she would not have thought she’d be a worrier later in life, yet she is. I wonder if I will be the same way, whether I want to or not.

Thoughts?

 

[JRKH]

There can be many answers to this from things we can control to chemical imbalance that might even lead to a pathology.

Generally the older we get the more things we have to be concerned about, plan for, anticipate and deal with, from education, loans, courtship and marriage, children, retirement, crime, illness and death. This may or may not be classed as “worry”.

The younger person may simply have not run into some of these things, or deals with them differently, or they may simply define “worry” differently.

Peace
James

 

[Scoobyshme]

Your personal experience may not hold true across the board. There was a survey done, I think by St. John’s University, that showed that the happiest people in the U.S. were old, black women. Second were old, Spanish women. Third, were old women in general. Maybe it’s the old men who worry. But, maybe that’s because they’ve seen so much of the world’s evil and they worry for the young folks, that they may fall into the many traps waiting for them.

As I age, I find I worry maybe a little less, but probably because I don’t care about as much as I used to. I’m still about 7 or 8 years from retirement.

Also, it’s one thing to worry, and another to “be concerned.” Maybe there’s not a frog’s hair difference, though.

 

[phoenixrrt62]

In my experience, older people seem to worry more. Even people who might not have been worriers in their younger years. Any idea why?

Do you think we have control of this? Or do you think at some point, something in the brain takes over and we can’t help it?

I live w/ it everyday; my mom worries about all sorts of things. My brother and I also experienced it while traveling recently. We met a mother and daughter who might have missed their train. The mom was worried, and the daughter was OK with Plan B if it came to that.

I suspect when my mom was young, she would not have thought she’d be a worrier later in life, yet she is. I wonder if I will be the same way, whether I want to or not.

Thoughts?

I’d think it would be partly personality driven, and…wondering if it’s partly b/c more and more things in life are out of your control? Make sense?

I do recall that when I was a child/young adult I worried MUCH more than I do at present (I’m 48…or will be in a few days)
As a child, I lived in a very emotionally unpredictable (and sometimes physically unpredictable) environment, and I worried incessantly…about everything. I even had some kind of system set up in my head as to what the foster mother would do from day to day…kind of messes with your head in the long run, trust.

Now that I am in control of my OWN destiny…well, relatively so…I don’t worry QUITE as much. I do worry about my job on occasion…worry if I am not doing something right, missing a symptom that would cause a patient to get worse, etc. That’s the bane of working in health care, though

I’d think as I become older, and realize life is shorter, my health is in decline, and I have to be dependent on others (a MAJOR fear of mine, I see how horrible it is to have to depend on others every time I work) I’m going to worry. Human nature, I’d suppose.

That’s where I’d venture to say faith would sustain you.

However, I really have very little faith…I see the creator as an impersonal force (if a creator exists at all) and it’s not like a god is going to be looking out for little ol’ me anytime soon. That’s why I have a real problem with prayer in a personal sense.

 

[PatriceA]

I think it is more of a personality aspect that becomes more apparent as the person ages. The person may not have been as much of a worrier when they were younger, but they still worried more than their peers. I think some of the personalities traits you had when you were younger just become more dominant with age.

 

[KCT]

“I’d think it would be partly personality driven, and…wondering if it’s partly b/c more and more things in life are out of your control? Make sense?”

It does make sense.

“I think it is more of a personality aspect that becomes more apparent as the person ages. The person may not have been as much of a worrier when they were younger, but they still worried more than their peers. I think some of the personalities traits you had when you were younger just become more dominant with age.”

**Also makes sense. I do think our quirks are magnified as we age.
**

I mostly wonder if, when I am that age, I will worry or be able to talk myself through situations and realize I might not need to worry so much.

 

[CB_Catholic]

I worry less now that I am older (going to be 62). Also, my concerns are different than when I was younger. But I have found that worry doesn’t do a bit of good, all it does is make me sick. So while I may be concerned about some things, that doesn’t usually progress into worry. Besides, my grandmother always told me worry was a sin, so I try to hand my concerns over to God.

I don’t think worrying automatically comes with aging. I think it’s more of a personality thing.

 

[cmscms]

When I was a kid and I would walk down the street and I saw a bunch of teenagers, I would get scared/worried. I always though they would bully me even though they never did. I couldn’t wait to grow up and be strong like them.

I am 40 and when I see a group of teenagers, I worry again (strange). But the difference is, I know I am on the way down physically and I could never build my strenght up to ‘take one of them out’

So my point is, I think with age, we have the wisdom to know the consequences of the bad but not the ability of the young to fix it. So I think the shift in perspective makes one worry

CM