Why Old People Are Grumpy
It’s not you, it’s us. (OK, sometimes it’s you)
When I was younger I wondered why old people were often so grumpy. As someone pushing 60, I now understand. It’s a mix of physical and emotional reasons. I’ll detail them for you here so you can understand why, and know what you have to look forward to as you get older.
Physical reasons
I went to visit my sister in L.A., and she picked me up at the airport. She got out of the car and helped me get my suitcase in her car. After we both got in the car, she turned to me and said: “Remember when we could get in and out of cars without grunting?”. Yeah, it was an old person moment.
As we get older the wear and tear on our bodies accumulate. What we could once do easily is now a chore. In addition, Moms Nature doesn’t help. Our bone and muscle density drops, our body chemistry gets out of whack, and we get mystery aches and pains. This makes us grumpy.
Think of some physical goals that you worked towards and achieved, such as completing a 5K run. Remember the sense of achievement you felt? Now imagine realizing that you will never be capable of doing that thing again. The older we get, the lower the bar. First it’s not being able to run 5K, then it’s not being able to walk a mile, then walking around the block, walking down…
