I listed all the bad habits I wouldn't adopt. I think most of them still apply. Not sure about not believing everything was better in the old days. With the British economy on the skids and world war three in the offing things look pretty grim right now. Anyhow this was the list:
I refuse to moan and groan.
I refuse to become a grumpy old man.
I refuse to let the world's problems get me down.
I refuse to make mountains out of molehills.
I refuse to turn petty irritations into causes célèbres.
I refuse to complain about my bodily deficiencies.
I refuse to denigrate other people's lives.
I refuse to tell other people what to do.*
I refuse to rant and rave.
I refuse to demonise young people.
I refuse to be cynical.
I refuse to be paranoid.
I refuse to see the worst in people.
I refuse to be nostalgic.
I refuse to believe everything was better in the old days.
I refuse to think that I know best.
I refuse to think life's conspiring against me.
I refuse to be offended by bad manners.
I refuse to be offended.
I refuse to over-react.
*except politicians and bankers obviously
You are the better person, nick. I have and generally always have had a few of those traits! The world does feel as if it's going to hell in a handcart.
ReplyDeleteSandra: I sound like a virtuous goody-goody, which maybe is just what I am!
DeletePlenty of younger people these days moan and groan and are fashionably cynical, and they are champions at being performatively offended by things. They seem to think the problems we have now are the worst that have ever been. Not all of them, but a lot of the ones who make the most noise on the internet. These aren't just issues for us cantankerous old codgers.
ReplyDeleteInfidel: Maybe the young are right to think the current problems (the economy, housing, healthcare etc) are the worst they've ever been. All these things were in a much better state when I was growing up.
DeleteIn countries like the US and UK, everyone except the very poorest has a much higher standard of living than all except the very richest had a century or two ago. The quality of most housing today is also far better. I don't know how long health insurance has existed, but I'd be surprised if it goes back much further than the late nineteenth century. Until modern vaccines became widespread in the 1950s, even the richest countries had a far higher infant mortality rate than the poorest countries have now. The political problems posed by Trump barely qualify as inconveniences compared with the catastrophe of the Civil War.
DeleteSome things have gotten worse over the last four decades or so, mostly as by-products of rising inequality (the economy is producing more, but a tiny upper class is hogging most of it), but conditions today are not even remotely the worst they've ever been. A lot of people just don't have any perspective because they haven't learned history.
Infidel: That's an interesting counter-argument to the prevailing "everything's going to the dogs" line. Certainly if you go back beyond my lifetime many people lived in appalling conditions. I guess all the shock-horror media stories give a false impression of life in general.
DeleteI try not to be too negative but it's hard.
ReplyDeleteMary: It's hard when you come across someone who seems to be a complete dimwit.
DeleteOne good thing about being a hermit--I don't have to deal with any of those things.
ReplyDeleteLinda
Linda: But you must encounter the odd individual who stirs up negative opinions?
DeleteNope. I don't see anyone except my husband and medical personnel. Of course, I don't always do what my doctor would prefer I do but that doesn't cause me stress. If a blogger causes me stress I simply stop following that one.
DeleteLinda
Linda: Fair enough. I agree about deserting bloggers who cause stress. I had to do that a few months ago.
DeleteYou've missed off becoming suspicious of everything! Though being a bit suspicious is probably a wise move.
ReplyDeleteSx
Ms Scarlet: I think being a bit suspicious is a healthy attitude, given all the rogues and scammers lurking around. I don't think being suspicious is the same as being grumpy, you're not actually moaning about anything.
DeleteYour list is a very comprehensive one, Nick, and from what I could see you sound like a very fair-minded and tolerant person. And, there is a shortage these days.
ReplyDeleteBeatrice: I like to think I'm a fair-minded and tolerant person, but others are probably a better judge of that than me!
DeleteI knew a man who declared he wouldn't become a slob in retirement and he never did, up to his dying day he was always well presented in collared shirts and nice trousers, even for a quick shopping trip.
ReplyDeleteYou and him have different aims but I like the theme of making a decision about what kind of old person you want to be
Kylie: I admire that man who refused to be a slob! I try to still be neat and tidy myself and not let myself go.
DeleteIs nostalgia a bad thing Nick?
ReplyDeleteI definitely agree about cynicism and paranoia.
My fault is that I lose my patience too easily, and I am prone to feeling a bit depressed and despondent. I would read about something and either go "for gods sake" and roll my eyes and huff to the person next to me, or just feel like withdrawing and saying to myself "i give up...i'm done".
Liam: It's hard not to be depressed and despondent these days, with the world in such a sorry state. I'm quite a patient person, so my reaction to other people's nonsense is usually just to shrug my shoulders and wonder how they can be so dumb.
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