My birthday is coming and I have to think about how to deal with the appearing symptoms of ageing. At almost 43 I am consciously facing the age perhaps for the first time. For now, it’s more funny than serious, but I assume later it would be the other way around.
The first sign of ageing was obvious. Grey hair. I got lucky that with my family history, I noticed my first grey hair at the age of 30. Not a big deal. My dad was grey and almost bald in his early 20s, so I was happy. Hair colouring has been part of my life long enough. Maybe it’s a dictate of the beauty, but I don’t care. I feel the best in my dark brown. Nowadays the grey bastards are coming in crowds and maintenance must be more frequent. But so far, so good. I still have hair on my skulk in comparison with my dad at the same age 🙂
Another funny thing – eyes are getting older. I stood in the bathroom with a new shampoo in my hand trying to read the little letters on the bottle. No success at all! My arms were simply too short! I remember days when I read documents in the 75% size. Now I prefer 125%, sometimes even 150% if I am too tired. I realised it gets worse in the evening, but still, I can read regular-sized texts without glasses, so I am still good.
Recovery from the illness takes longer. After the last flu, I didn’t have any symptoms anymore, but I was soooo tired all the time. I saw weirdly like I couldn’t focus properly. I was dizzy. Then I realised I didn’t drink coffee for a few days! My blood pressure is perhaps low! Well, learning this I asked my husband to buy me a blood pressure monitor as a birthday present 🙂 You should see him laughing and asking if I am serious. Yes, I am! We need to be prepared!
Musculoskeletal system issues: the back hurts regularly. It gets better with regular massage and physical exercise, but as our kids run during the night to our bed almost daily, I literally have 30 cm of space there. I am every morning amazed at how could I fit there! I started to feel all my injuries from volleyball, the knees particularly. It’s not painful yet, I just feel them.
General lack of interest in being out later than 21:00. It’s time to sleep right?! No other explanations are needed 😀
But as this part of the blog was more funny than serious, I am seriously thinking about ageing in Finland… I am not sure whether I will live here 30 years later, but I feel sorry for old people living in northern Europe. Most of the year they probably can’t get out, because it’s freakishly cold and slippery. Social distance probably causes isolation and feeling of loneliness. Yes, there are services, but somehow you don’t have people just humanly interested in you…
Ageing will become tough. Perhaps I can still make a little bit of fun out of my symptoms before the seriousness of it all hits me hard…
