the good things about getting older

I’ve read a middle article (written by Natalie Haynes) in last
Saturday’s Times about things that get better when you get older
(when you’re approaching my age group).

I mentioned last time that I’d been through my mid-life crisis
when I was around 40 years of age. Recently published government
statistics suggest that blokes are the most miserable between 35
and 44 years of age, and that they start to feel happy again in
the 55-64 age group.

Natalie suggests that I now buy good wine, rather than cider,
and don’t go out to get drunk. Well that’s true, but I like a
pint of good quality beer as well. There’s little point in
getting drunk, especially as my snoring at night is loads worse
after too much alcohol. I would just become more intolerable to
live with.

Do I find more women attractive? Well I suppose that’s true,
as I’ve now got a wider age span of women that I find
attractive, including Mrs C of course.

Do I now look better in a suit? I don’t think so … I think I
looked great in a good quality suit when I was younger. I
don’t wear suits any more, apart a family wedding or funeral.

I’m now supposed to “understand” my hair according to Natalie,
and not go in for ridiculous hair styles as when younger. No,
that doesn’t apply to me at all, but I’d say instead that I’m
now more accepting of my baldness. I try and keep my hair
reasonably short, rather than look like a mad professor with
hair sticking up all over the place and waving around in the
wind.

What made a huge difference in my life and level of happiness,
was taking early retirement, as the job I was in was too
stressful. I’d got severe burn-out, and there was no way I
could have continued working without first of all taking a
long time off work on sick leave, and later finding a quieter
GP job somewhere else. I can now enjoy all the things I like
doing and spend more time with my family – I feel very
privileged to be able to do so. Future generations won’t be
able to take early retirement, except for the very wealthy,
so I’m very lucky indeed.

What do you enjoy about getting older?