Dear Young Folk,
Physical aging happens ridiculously fast. Faster than you imagine. The years just tick away like minutes.
Mental aging goes much slower (barring dementia or other malidies, of course).
The crazy thing is that even once older (I’ll turn 60 this year) your view of yourself quite often feels like you’re still much younger.
I internally feel perpetually 30-35. Until I try to (say) run or sprint, or jump off something, then… oh my. I really am 60. Another example: my brain knows how to throw a fast ball (ingrained from when I was a teenager). If I actually try… uhh… no go. My arm revolts.
I’ve even asked my 83 year old mom how her internal self feels. She says the same - still feels like she did in her 30s on the inside. On the outside she has to intentionally walk very carefully so as not to fall and break something.
Moral of the story? Enjoy that young body while you have it. Seriously. It won’t last.
I was around: it was a depressing time (and I even liked Carter):
• The Iran hostage situation was ever-present. It was nightly news, to the point that all the major broadcasts started out with “this is day #X of the hostage situation”.
• Carter tried to rescue the hostages, and failed badly - 8 servicemen died, and this was just a few months before the election.
• Carter pissed off a lot of people by boycotting the 1980 Olympics (boycotting USSR’s invasion of Afghanistan - Ironic in that the US eventually did 20 as well years later). Lots of atheletes spoke out, their only or last time to make it to the Olympics. Turning the Olympics into a political weapon left a bad taste in general.
• Inflation rates were incredibly high, I think 12%-ish.
• Housing interest was through the roof, heading towards 13% (it eventually hit 18% under Reagan, I think)
• We were in the beginnings of a severe recession.
• Carter was never very charismatic - he was smart guy, but gave pretty boring speeches (IMO)
And then you have Reagan show up… optimistic, charismatic, and people just wanted change.