MARY LAMPHERE AUTHOR

I don’t have OCD, Obsessive Compulsion Disorder, a condition of repetitive actions, compulsions, or obsessions. But as of late, I believe I have developed OldCD.

Things that didn’t used to bother me now do.
My attention to detail is suddenly laser focused, or completely opaque.
And I seem to have zero patience.

I was having coffee with a friend recently, one I attended high school with, and we were discussing how old we are. I am older, by the way, but said if it wasn’t for mirrors constantly reminding me of my age, I wouldn’t know because on the inside I feel the same. And when I said it, I believed it.

Then, I spent the next forty minutes of conversation contradicting that statement.
Because, things that didn’t used to bother me now do.
My attention to detail is suddenly laser focused, or completely opaque.
I seem to have zero patience and most every story I tell relates to these factors in one way or another.

Not to mention all the physical stuff like quietly sitting or effortlessly standing.

As a courtesy to myself and others, I’m trying to have fun with this self-diagnosis, to embrace this stage of perieldery. To recognize and explore these new traits. I identify observations and consider comments mentally before verbalizing them.
It’s tough at times. Part of me believes I have earned this judgement, and the filter thins as we age, but most of me believes I don’t want to become that person.
It’s a slippery slope between OldCD and the OCD of Old Cantankerous Distemper.

~ ~ ~

“Perielderly” is not a word, but it should be.
To substitute within Mayo Clinic’s definition of “perimenopausal”:
Perielderly should mean “around elderly” and refer to the time during which your body makes the natural transition to being old, marking the end of the youthful years. Perielderly could also be called the elder transition. Humans start being old at different ages.

Go ahead and tell me this doesn’t make sense?! Let’s make perielderly happen!