Sadly, no one older than me seems to want to offer advice and insight. They'd rather make dismissive comments about how they're farther along in calendar years
I think you're overgeneralizing CJ. If you stop and think, I'll bet you can come up with older people who have tried to offer advice and insight. Me, for instance. :-) Seriously, I'm older than you -- considerably older, I think -- and I don't see what age has to do with anything in this context. There are people far younger than I am who could tell me a thing or two about pain, both physical and emotional. Even though I've had my share of both, both younger people and older people have also.
Besides, one person's problems are not comparable with another's. The man with no shoes may realize he's lucky to have feet, but that doesn't ease his pain when he has to walk on a broken glass- and pebble-strewn city street. I'm very grateful that I don't currently have to use a wheelchair, but that doesn't mean I'm not entitled to my feelings about the pain and disability I do have.
In fact, sometimes being younger makes you feel even worse, because you have more years to worry about, and possibly further to go if you feel you're going downhill. When I was widowed at 37, I couldn't imagine how I'd get through another 40 or 50 years, and felt envious of women who were elderly and therefore didn't have to rebuild an entire life, they could just continue as they were until they died too. (Whether that's realistic or not is beside the point -- that's how I felt at the time.) When I was getting worse and worse physically at 38 and 39, I feared I'd be in a wheelchair by 45, and was scared to death about how I'd manage for all those years after that.
So if you're looking for someone older you can talk to (I'm 57), talk away. :-) You can always e-mail me at my LJ address if you want to.
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I think you're overgeneralizing CJ. If you stop and think, I'll bet you can come up with older people who have tried to offer advice and insight. Me, for instance. :-) Seriously, I'm older than you -- considerably older, I think -- and I don't see what age has to do with anything in this context. There are people far younger than I am who could tell me a thing or two about pain, both physical and emotional. Even though I've had my share of both, both younger people and older people have also.
Besides, one person's problems are not comparable with another's. The man with no shoes may realize he's lucky to have feet, but that doesn't ease his pain when he has to walk on a broken glass- and pebble-strewn city street. I'm very grateful that I don't currently have to use a wheelchair, but that doesn't mean I'm not entitled to my feelings about the pain and disability I do have.
In fact, sometimes being younger makes you feel even worse, because you have more years to worry about, and possibly further to go if you feel you're going downhill. When I was widowed at 37, I couldn't imagine how I'd get through another 40 or 50 years, and felt envious of women who were elderly and therefore didn't have to rebuild an entire life, they could just continue as they were until they died too. (Whether that's realistic or not is beside the point -- that's how I felt at the time.) When I was getting worse and worse physically at 38 and 39, I feared I'd be in a wheelchair by 45, and was scared to death about how I'd manage for all those years after that.
So if you're looking for someone older you can talk to (I'm 57), talk away. :-) You can always e-mail me at my LJ address if you want to.