Adulting: I Would if I Could, but I Can't and I Won’t.

Over a year ago, I wrote a blog post about becoming 70 and entering my official era of ‘Old.’ I am 71 now and yesterday I hiked over ten and a half kilometres on my favourite trials in Wurdi Youang (the You Yangs Regional Park). It was the first 'real' hike I had done since 30 July and that my friends, was fucked up. But I now I am back to Hiking!

The rock I named "Old Grumpy" when I first hiked up there several years ago. I almost aways take a selfie with him.   

  

Another spot that I almost always take a selfie, where the trail passes through a boulder. So cool

Time goes by so much more quickly as we age. It is math that even I can understand. A year is now less than one seventieth of my life’s existence. Time passes by me over 69 times faster than it does for my 2 year old granddaughter. It flies. 

So, when you think... Well, I went for a hike just ‘the other week’ it turns out that it was almost two months ago. And just as quickly, over-eating can add up calories before I notice. Gaining a kilo a month is nothing. It’s nothing until, in what seems like the blink of an eye, six or seven months have flown-by and I’m up fifteen pounds or so. Why don’t these jeans fit anymore? They fit last month, no wait, maybe that was six months ago. Damn.

There is no nice way to say it, time will eventually kill us all. And many of us are getting to the age where we can sort of ‘see’ that coming. Not in a “I am dying” kind of way, but in a realistic “time is running out” way. Because it is. Literally.& I know that I do not behave like a seventy-one year old (except for the naps, and I have taken those for years). In general I don’t even act like what some consider to be a ‘responsible’ adult. I would if I could, but I can't and I won’t. 

But to mention a few things that I am: I am a hippie, leftwing, compassionate, obsessive, right-brained, creative, smart (143 IQ so they told me), tattooed, birding, insecure, over-sensitive, recovering alcoholic, recovering smoker, depressed, anxious, nature loving, approval seeking, old guy. That's me.& And I am massively ADHD with the accompanying Autism traits. It is now known that ADHD and autism frequently co-occur. Many people with one of the two diagnoses show elevated traits of both. I was diagnosed ADHD twenty-some years ago. 

Common experiences for ADHD and autism include sensory differences, intense focus on specific interests, rejection sensitivity, executive dysfunction, sleep issues and emotional dysregulation. Those are me 100%. Yes I cope. But it would be nice if people understood that there’s a reason for my behaviour other than being lazy. I have learned many coping mechanisms and will continue to do my best. Like most of us, I have always done my best. At seventy-one there are not going to be a lot of changes in my basic personality. 

Getting a shingles jab the other week. I do believe in science.

But I am genuine. I am real. I create and some of what I created is ‘Velveteen Rabbit’ real. My books and my songs will carry on beyond me and that, my friends is valuable to me. It is far more valuable than money. I loathe with all my heart placing monetary value on life. Despise it (so of course I don’t have it).

     

And once again, I have written. I do write. I like to write and I will continue. Please follow me if you enjoy my words. I may go to Substack or something. I suck at technology I do continue to pay for My Website so there is info on there about what I have created.

Stay Gonzo my dear friends and in the USA vote blue down-ballot because lives literally depend upon it. Sending love as I do 💙