People getting grouchy as they age.

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Is it inevitable?

― remy (x Jeremy), Sunday, 1 January 2006 22:34 (eighteen years ago) link

FUCK OFF

(j/k xoxoxox)

― it was jody that killed the beast (Jody Beth Rosen), Sunday, 1 January 2006 22:37 (eighteen years ago) link

probably. i've certainly grown more cynical/disenchanted as i've grown so very old.

― kingfish holiday travesty (kingfish 2.0), Sunday, 1 January 2006 22:38 (eighteen years ago) link

Damn, caught by an xpost - and I'm actually old, so the joke would have been better!

― Martin Skidmore (Martin Skidmore), Sunday, 1 January 2006 22:38 (eighteen years ago) link

i've always been grouchy!

― it was jody that killed the beast (Jody Beth Rosen), Sunday, 1 January 2006 22:38 (eighteen years ago) link

I've heard that decreases in testosterone production can be partly to blame?

― remy (x Jeremy), Sunday, 1 January 2006 22:40 (eighteen years ago) link

Il vaut mieux ne pas trop en parler.

http://perso.wanadoo.fr/napoleonbonaparte/grouchy.jpg

― M. White (Miguelito), Sunday, 1 January 2006 22:42 (eighteen years ago) link

http://www.bbc.co.uk/berkshire/stage/images/statlerwaldorf270.jpg

― remy (x Jeremy), Sunday, 1 January 2006 22:43 (eighteen years ago) link

Dan and I in fifty years at Conor Oberst: the Tribute

― Ned Raggett (Ned), Sunday, 1 January 2006 22:44 (eighteen years ago) link

l-r: me, nicole

http://www.kikman.de/Logos-Signs/SI-Patty_and_Selma.gif

― it was jody that killed the beast (Jody Beth Rosen), Sunday, 1 January 2006 22:48 (eighteen years ago) link

Grrr... I love my old man incredibly, but he's growing increasingly argumentative with age. I got lectured today for:

tearing off (vs. cutting) a piece of masking tape
leaning on the bannister
getting the dog 'riled up'
pretentious taste (diet coke instead of regular coke)
being egotistical (saying "I never get good mail.")

― remy (x Jeremy), Sunday, 1 January 2006 22:48 (eighteen years ago) link

What were you doing to get the dog 'riled up', remy?

― ratty, Sunday, 1 January 2006 23:05 (eighteen years ago) link

Guilty as charged.

― Alex in NYC (vassifer), Sunday, 1 January 2006 23:38 (eighteen years ago) link

With aging I've noticed that it seems harder, & definitely takes longer, to develop effective new coping/defense mechanisms, especially when they're meant to replace old, entrenched, maladaptive ones I've gotten rid of. In other words, quitting cigs = SHORT FUCKING FUSE for over a month now, but I welcome the apparent onset of Complete & Utter Old-Crabhood since I'll be around longer to annoy people with it.

― xero (xero), Sunday, 1 January 2006 23:58 (eighteen years ago) link

how old is your dad remy? i think (dodgy theory alert) there's a male-menopause type thing at a certain age, like 50s or so, and then you mellow out into a husk of your former self.

― DR. O. RLY? (eman), Monday, 2 January 2006 00:43 (eighteen years ago) link

I think the efexor is making me psychotically grouchy. I can't imagine an ungrouchy Alex.

― I Am Sexless and I Am Foul (noodle vague), Monday, 2 January 2006 00:50 (eighteen years ago) link

I'm definitely getting grouchier. For me it's a combination of two things: my years on earth are fewer and fewer, and I'm pissed off about having wasted so much time up to now, and in a impatient about whatever's next so I don't waste too much more time. I'm aware of it, though, and asked my family the other day, "Am I turning into an intolerable grouch?" Bless 'em, they said no. They see the grouchiness, but know that it's not directed at them.

― truck-patch pixel farmer (Rock Hardy), Monday, 2 January 2006 00:56 (eighteen years ago) link

how old is your dad remy? i think (dodgy theory alert) there's a male-menopause type thing at a certain age, like 50s or so, and then you mellow out into a husk of your former self.

He's 62, and he's an incredibly kind and generous person. Just ... increasingly peevish.

― remy (x Jeremy), Monday, 2 January 2006 01:17 (eighteen years ago) link

the good thing about it is if you have a partner who's younger who can accurately observe that you are just bein' grouchy - it seems to me as though the test of one's mettle is how well one can maintain one's humor when this observation is made

― Mr Straight Toxic (ghostface), Monday, 2 January 2006 02:05 (eighteen years ago) link

I'm at that male menopause age. Life's high points don't seem quite as uplifting as in days gone by, and the lows, thankfully - for me at least, don't seem quite as bad. As for grouchiness, little things like a leaky faucet or my wife's odd little spending habits, (which truly are minor) seem to have gotten the better of me lately. I'm not a world class grouch, but I'm getting more and more practice every day.

― jim wentworth (wench), Monday, 2 January 2006 03:25 (eighteen years ago) link

my dad's in his menopausal years right now.

― it was jody that killed the beast (Jody Beth Rosen), Monday, 2 January 2006 03:29 (eighteen years ago) link

Perhaps he and I should get together to compare notes.

― jim wentworth (wench), Monday, 2 January 2006 03:42 (eighteen years ago) link

Remy, have you been in your parents house for more than 3 days? That sounds like grown-offspring-as-visitor crankiness. I get that, as much as I love and miss my kids and step-kids. There are limits to my cheerful hospitality, currently at the 3-5 day mark. I take it out on non-related visitors by forced silent smiling while inwardly chanting "they'll be gone soon", but with the kids it just comes out, and about the oddest things.

― Jaq (Jaq), Monday, 2 January 2006 04:33 (eighteen years ago) link

OMG it's true! I'm much grouchier today than I was yesterday!

― Mitya (mitya), Monday, 2 January 2006 05:18 (eighteen years ago) link

No, it is not inevitable.

There are two major sources for age-related grumpiness. The first is rooted in bad health and nagging aches and pains. These do not invariably lead to grumpiness. Sunnier dispositions and more stoical ones both tend to resist the urge to grumpiness in the face of pain.

The second (and worse) cause of grumpiness is caused by another sort of pain - the self-loathing brought about by a lifetime of disappointments, foregone opportunities, crushed dreams and simple inertia. When people come to accept themselves as worthless losers, forever marked out by their inability to do anything worthwhile, they often take their revenge on life by causing pain for everyone around them.

You avoid this second cause by the simple expedients of persistence and courage. Live your life like you value it and you won't be one bit grumpier in your middle or old age. Chances are you'll be happier than you are today.

― Aimless (Aimless), Monday, 2 January 2006 05:19 (eighteen years ago) link

fourteen years pass...

validation

https://getpocket.com/explore/item/why-it-pays-to-be-grumpy-and-bad-tempered

― brooklyn suicide cult (Dr Morbius), Wednesday, 11 March 2020 15:29 (four years ago) link

Yer gahddamn right.

― Unparalleled Elegance (Old Lunch), Wednesday, 11 March 2020 15:34 (four years ago) link

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