How to deal with aging anxiety?

Posted by grahmilou @grahmilou, Dec 30, 2025

The last few years have been hard with multiple surgeries, now recovered, but ongoing pain. The loss of friends recently as they passed and the worrying about how the road feels like it’s getting so much shorter. constantly worrying about the process of dying. trying to stay grateful for today but sometimes the anxiety feels overwhelming especially as I see our country chance for worse and worry about the world for my grandchildren.

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Profile picture for Mariette R. @marietter

@karinweiss I understand . I do push myself to stay social a bit. I volunteer at our small rural hospital three hours twice a week scanning documents. It keeps my mind active and the staff are wonderful and very loving, good for my mental health .

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@marietter I agree.
I used to love volunteering at the local Palliative care home, until they closed.
I continue to keep my eyes and heart open .
My Best wishes to you

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Profile picture for grahmilou @grahmilou

Don’t judge how someone struggles. Each journey is different. Telling someone they are wrong isn’t helpful. Pain can make the day hard. But yes. Walk, notice what is good, pray, etc.

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@grahmilou each to their own, but even with pain, we can make more space inside us for nourishing and healing thoughts and feelings…for me, cancer taught me a lot…especially when you know your time is less, you seek every drop of goodness ! It’s there, if you seek it you might be wonderfully surprised that you are able to find it.

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I agree with you my comment was not to you but to somebody who was judging others for their struggle. I am trying to make the best of each day.

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karenweiss wrote: " As I age, my sense of loss is immense. The state of the world is very confusing, therefore I have withdrawn from news, social media etc. ....
These days, I let myself feel what I feel, I accept my daily bag of feelings and move through them.
Yes, I have withdrawn from society in order to finally be fully present and accepting towards my own experiences. Aging on its own is very intense. I am no longer able to carry everyone's burden. ...."

Yes, we have each been assigned the burden of just one lifetime. It's not our burden to establish the future of all life on earth. Every day I get one vote, just one, and I try to be aware of how I'm voting, and that's all. It's a relief to realize how small and unimportant I am, and that one day I won't be voting anymore.

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Worrying is nonproductive and causes problems as well. Couple of summers ago, I was walking on a path through my woods. I had recently got a cell phone and had it with me. I starting worrying, thinking about falling down even though the path was clear. I tripped over my own feet and couldn't get back up. The cell phone worked and I called my daughter. She answered and I told her that I fell down and couldn't get up. She came out on our ranger and helped get me up. Even today, if I don't focus on what I am doing, I find myself starting to worry about things happening to me: falling down the stairs, falling up the stairs -- you can fall going up and well as down -- and other accidents. I stop and tell myself to focus on what I am supposed to be doing. Ask yourself, what are you worrying about? Does anything you can do solve the problem? If you decide you can't do anything about the issue bothering you, then drop it. If you can fix the problem, then sit down and write down the problem and your solution. Best if you do this before the problem occurs, because worrying about a problem can often make it happen--self fulfilling prophesy!

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Profile picture for rollingf @rollingf

Worrying is nonproductive and causes problems as well. Couple of summers ago, I was walking on a path through my woods. I had recently got a cell phone and had it with me. I starting worrying, thinking about falling down even though the path was clear. I tripped over my own feet and couldn't get back up. The cell phone worked and I called my daughter. She answered and I told her that I fell down and couldn't get up. She came out on our ranger and helped get me up. Even today, if I don't focus on what I am doing, I find myself starting to worry about things happening to me: falling down the stairs, falling up the stairs -- you can fall going up and well as down -- and other accidents. I stop and tell myself to focus on what I am supposed to be doing. Ask yourself, what are you worrying about? Does anything you can do solve the problem? If you decide you can't do anything about the issue bothering you, then drop it. If you can fix the problem, then sit down and write down the problem and your solution. Best if you do this before the problem occurs, because worrying about a problem can often make it happen--self fulfilling prophesy!

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@ true, worrying crowds out attention/focus on what we are doing…keep the focus , don’t multitask in any way …that’s something we ourselves are in control of !

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Profile picture for nycmusic @nycmusic

@ true, worrying crowds out attention/focus on what we are doing…keep the focus , don’t multitask in any way …that’s something we ourselves are in control of !

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@nycmusic

I just watched a Robert Greene you tube video on accepting aging and death. I like him. He has had a stroke and he speaks from his experience.

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Profile picture for nycmusic @nycmusic

@grahmilou each to their own, but even with pain, we can make more space inside us for nourishing and healing thoughts and feelings…for me, cancer taught me a lot…especially when you know your time is less, you seek every drop of goodness ! It’s there, if you seek it you might be wonderfully surprised that you are able to find it.

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@nycmusic Thank you.
I appreciate your comment and agree.
Beautiful words

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Profile picture for grahmilou @grahmilou

@edsutton I am heartsick over the abuse of power and the lies and the loss of our democracy. No leader is perfect but never in my lifetime as inhumane as now. Lord help us.

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Profile picture for rollingf @rollingf

Worrying is nonproductive and causes problems as well. Couple of summers ago, I was walking on a path through my woods. I had recently got a cell phone and had it with me. I starting worrying, thinking about falling down even though the path was clear. I tripped over my own feet and couldn't get back up. The cell phone worked and I called my daughter. She answered and I told her that I fell down and couldn't get up. She came out on our ranger and helped get me up. Even today, if I don't focus on what I am doing, I find myself starting to worry about things happening to me: falling down the stairs, falling up the stairs -- you can fall going up and well as down -- and other accidents. I stop and tell myself to focus on what I am supposed to be doing. Ask yourself, what are you worrying about? Does anything you can do solve the problem? If you decide you can't do anything about the issue bothering you, then drop it. If you can fix the problem, then sit down and write down the problem and your solution. Best if you do this before the problem occurs, because worrying about a problem can often make it happen--self fulfilling prophesy!

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@rollingf Yes, but it's hard to keep from worrying about worrying. About three decades ago, Warren Zevon wrote a song called "Worrier King"... worried about everything...
I've also read that 99% of the things that we worry about never occur - so, statistically speaking, worrying can be pretty helpful!

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