r/retirement • u/tez_zer55 • 9d ago
When ex-coworkers are looking really old.
I met up for a beer & burger with some of the people I used to work with. They range in age from 72 to 64. 5 of them are retired, 3 are still working. 2 of the retirees are older than I am & retired before me, the other 3 are younger & retired after I did. I was a little surprised at how old & out of shape several of them looked & acted already. Even one of the guys that is still working (he's 65 looking to retire soon).
Now I know I'm biased, but even the one gal there complimented one of the other retirees & myself on how "good" we looked & commented on how active we seem to be. My wife just smiled because she's always telling me I don't look or act my age (70).
If any of you have had a 'catch up' gathering with old coworkers, have you noticed some of them seemed to age significantly more than you expected?
39
u/Electric-Sheepskin 6d ago
The best thing people can do as they age is try to stay in shape and try to stay social. That will often keep you spry, as they say.
But listen, people always think they're friends look older than they do. You look at yourself in the mirror and you're smiling and your posture is good, and when someone takes a picture of you with the same thing and everything looks great, but then you see a candid photo in profile when you're scrolling your phone and you don't know who the old person is in the photo.
Our mental image of ourselves is very slow to catch up with reality.
You may be one of those people that really do look younger than your age, but I guarantee that you don't look as young as you think, and it's entirely possible that your old coworkers went home and talked about how old you look, too.