I'm 55 and not nostalgic at all. Weirdly, I can hardly stand to listen to music of my teenage years because it puts me in a pretty sour mood -- and I was quite successful and happy as a teenager and in my early 20's.
Just yesterday I competed in the open division of a regional racquetball tournament and in a month in a half I'll compete in the open division in a regional powerlifting meet. The is not a humble-brag as much as to contrast this to the vast majority of the folks my age with whom I hang out.
Moreover, I'm heavily invested in growing intellectually which seems a contrast to many of my peers.
These folks have largely, though not all of them, adopted the "I'm too old" mentality to try to compete or grow in athletics or in intellectual pursuits.
The point is that this article, I believe, tends to comport with reality: many people begin to accept an easing of their personal standards and drive for growth because they're "too old" to not continue to push and compete.
At my first job, my boss, who was in his seventies at the time, told me that once people get to a certain age, societal expectations of sharpness decrease rapidly. According to him, this led to many people eagerly taking up the mindset you describe.
Maybe your peers never really had the personal standards you thought they had in the first place, and simply stopped trying once the peer pressure eased up and they got a good excuse to lay around?
This type of pressure is often met with scorn as something we are too good for. In my case however, it really helped me become a better version of myself over time.
Just yesterday I competed in the open division of a regional racquetball tournament and in a month in a half I'll compete in the open division in a regional powerlifting meet. The is not a humble-brag as much as to contrast this to the vast majority of the folks my age with whom I hang out.
Moreover, I'm heavily invested in growing intellectually which seems a contrast to many of my peers.
These folks have largely, though not all of them, adopted the "I'm too old" mentality to try to compete or grow in athletics or in intellectual pursuits.
The point is that this article, I believe, tends to comport with reality: many people begin to accept an easing of their personal standards and drive for growth because they're "too old" to not continue to push and compete.