Em

I also turn 34 this year. I think my preoccupation with age ended 16 months ago when I had my daughter and she has distracted my wife (also named Tara) and I from many less important issues, although I know my wife is still concerned about her body as she is due to give birth again in 5 weeks.

The most noticeable body part that I feel getting older is my lower back…probably from lifting my daughter up all the time. I probably have more skin lines, but I’m a guy and don’t think I notice them.

I have recently gone from being a goal-oriented runner to just a runner who runs for fun. What a nice change! I have stopped wearing a stop watch and have just run to be outside. Feels great.

Keep up your aerobic exercise and let’s all get old gracefully.

-Dennis

I do feel I’m getting sharper mind-wise but my lazy fitness tendencies are making me have to work really hard to keep the ass in check.

Like a lot of you, I wish I could tell my 25 year old self to stop drinking so much and don’t get married so early. I also would tell me to have more faith in myself.

These days I’m very happy with my career and kids. I feel I’m right on track for reaching some major goals which is a great feeling. I appreciate everyone’s candor and it’s good to know I’m not alone in my humanness.

I’ve been thinking about this stuff a lot lately. I’ve been at the gym constantly and it’s not a chore – I love it and I feel great. I would have never felt like that when I was in my twenties.

I would tell my 24 year old unemployed recently married and graduated self that she will get a job, she will find or create a community that will allow her to thrive. She will get to a point where people start seeking her out instead of her hunting.

Maybe it comes in stages. First self confidence, then physical confidence. In that respects- maybe there really aren’t that many physical changes- we are just more comfortable in our own skin.

Eat well, you are surrounded by all the right choices. Enjoy them.

Just like you, things started to change quickly at 32/33. Stomach aches, migranes, big, huge tire.

Bought a bicycle, then started to look at eating habits. Nothing radical, there was no magic switch, no major commitment or cold turkey anything. Just kept at it. Simply got on the bike almost everyday. Slowly but surely, things started to change for the better.

Today at 38 I am fitter, stronger, healthier than ever before in my life. I know I’m good. I can feel it. I am so looking forward to 40.

Thanks for the post.

I turned 39 in April and I don’t like it. It is more than some hopes I had at 24 just haven’t come to pass, it is more than the memory and sentence lapses, the body changes, and the way that people perceive me as a single woman. There is something indefinable, like I want to have all the open doors and options that I had at 24, all the hope, all the belief that me and my weird art friends could change the world.

My thirties were about doors closing, hope being a very precious thing that I had to fight hard to protect, friends have married, moved and the community is dispersed. Even though the economy is back up, I am still fighting to retain and rejuvenate not just hope but some of the shine that the world had when I was younger.

This year has been about reconnecting and learning to be content.

So maybe it is amusing when I can’t remember the word for “tree” but I say to my friend, “You know the deciduous plant with leaves and a trunk… what do you call it?” Friend asks, “Are you talking about a TREE????” “Yes, a Tree! A tree! Thanks for the word.”

For me it is single syllable words I forget, but I will remember all the multi-syllable ones.

I just want to always be able to remember, say, and embrace the single syllables of hope and joy.

)

Positive side: I’m 42, run my best 42km at 41. But I’m more focused now in gaining more flexibility than in the miles buildup. I saw many people getting crazy just for running too much (“vigorexia”). I think I’m wiser.

Negative issues: I quit from my job one year ago and still struggling with this little craft style Snark Consulting. It´s great this independence feeling but when you can get to conferences or have vacations… well, you feel rather depressed.

But this is Buenos Aires, Argentina. So you should divide by ten all my impressions…

Physically, I’m stronger than ever thanks to Pilates; on the down side I was until recently 15 pounds heavier than I’d ever been.

If I could talk to my 24-year-old self I would say, start exercising regularly and don’t quit. I’ve always been in fine enough shape but I think if I had exercised through my 30th birthday and up to now (I’ll be 33 on Aug. 13) I would have remained the same weight. It’s true about a slowed metabolism at 30.

I would also tell myself to back off on the late-nights and the high-maintenance friendships. I would have told myself to ask for more money and work for nicer people — I deserve it.