Ten Signs You Have Reached the Age of Comfort

If you find yourself becoming more and more demanding, adamant, and unrelenting about what is necessary to make you comfortable, content, and down-right happy, then you my friend, have reached one of life’s milestones. Call it middle-age, call it a revelation that comes with age, or call it reaching the age of entitlement, but when it does happen, check your driver’s license – that section that says: DOB – because you are getting -  older. 

What I’m referring to, of course, are those fundamentals of life that you insist upon. The things that matter the most. The items you will purchase without looking at the price tag because your comfort is more important than money. If you have reached the age when you say,” Damn the cost!” or you find that your way of thinking has become opinionated, then you’ve reached a pinnacle, (and have started down the other side.)

1.     Toliet Paper. When only “that brand” will do, then it’s happening. Somewhere around age 30, you start to notice that toilet papers are different, and not long after that, it begins to matter! Really matter.

2.     Underwear that’s NOT Fun to wear. Ladies, when you bypass the lacey panties and push-up bra for the cotton granny panties and stretched-out sport’s bra, and for that matter, gentlemen who hang on to those old underthings that are stretched to the max and full of holes, then you’ve reached the age when comfort matters most.  

3.     That morning beverage.

Yes, we know how much money we can save by making our own coffee or tea and taking it to work in our trusty, thermo-nuclear insulated adult sippy-cup. But if you’ve reached that point in your life when you gladly plop down your money for coffee at that specialty place, or you love driving up to the window and retrieving a lovely steaming cup someone else has already loaded with cream and sugar for you, then admit it – you’ve reached the summit of middle age.

4.     Shoes. If you’ve abandoned shoes with high heels and toes that pinch, for clogs with memory foam, then you’ve turned the corner. It’s okay to keep those lovely, stylish heels in your closet. You can even tell yourself you’re going to wear them again, and maybe you’ll slip them on for an evening out, but it’s those comfort-clogs you will search high and low for. It’s those cute flip flops you’ll shop for. It’s those comfortable shoes you will buy, even when they’re NOT on sale.

5.     It’s too hot! It’s too cold! Extreme temperatures never used to bother you, right? As kids, we played outside in the scorching sun and freezing cold. When we were twenty-somethings we sunbathed, slathered in oil, until the last scorching ray disappeared from the sky. In winter, we braved the freezing temperatures, building snowmen, having snowball fights and sledding. Now, we seek that lovely temperature controlled room! Can’t stand the heat; turn on the air conditioner! Can’t stand the cold; build a fire and turn up the thermostat.

6.     Where’s my glasses? If you have numerous pairs of reading glasses placed strategically around your house or wherever you might need to read something, then you my friend, are one of us.

7.     A smaller laptop, please. When that nice big laptop with the big screen gets heavier and heavier, and carrying it around causes pain in your back and shoulder, it’s time to buy one of those new lightweight ones. Bigger is NOT always better, especially when you have to carry it.

8.     Food. Used to have a stomach of steel? Used to be able to eat 

      anything, at any time, and not suffer for it? Fried foods never bothered you? How about spices? Now, if you eat certain foods past ten o’clock at night, you can’t sleep from stomach distress. Do you keep Tums or Rolaids handy? Thought so.

9.     A Schedule. Routine. Routine. Routine. How important is your schedule to you? As we get older, we become more fixed on a daily schedule – wake up time, bed time, meal times, even things like when we get a haircut, or go to the grocery store become scheduled. No more – fly by the seat of your pants.

10.    Tolerance. Or Lack of Tolerance. One sure sign you’re getting older is your lack of tolerance for bullshit. The stupid, trivial, issues that consume others are not worth your time. The same goes for petty small-minded people. Out of the picture. As you get older, you lose tolerance for the petty-minded, mean-spirited people who want to gossip and cause uproar. Save your patience for those who deserve it.