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This article has somewhat of an air of the callowness of youth, or perfect health, about it.

When you're young, your body works perfectly pretty much. The first time you develop an issue with your senses for example, it is quite shocking; going from a state of perfection to imperfection, you focus on that one flaw.

As I age and more stuff is not working optimally, I have just stopped giving a shit about these sort of issues, adopting a 'even the mona lisa's fallin apart' attitude. I dont focus on the flaws, I focus on what I can still do. Even if I'm only physically operating at 80% of my former capacity, say, I'm still capable of accomplishing what I want to if I apply myself.

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> The first time you develop an issue with your senses for example, it is quite shocking; going from a state of perfection to imperfection, you focus on that one flaw

Indeed. I caught an ear infection in my 20's. I woke up and thought I was completely deaf in one ear. I went to an ear clinic and they did a hearing test, and the doctor said the results showed that while one ear was worse than the other, the results were still in the "normal" range!

I think the main focus here is to not hurting yourself rather than "focus on the flaws".

I mean, if something is harm to you, you may need to consider stop doing it before you been damaged permanently. Reduce the volume in this case for example.

It's not saying you should stop listening music or enjoying your life, but you need to protect yourself from been hurt by doing those. After all, how can somebody listening music after became a deaf?

I hope I will be able to adopt this attitude some time, because right now, the imperfections really bum me out.

Im a big science geek, reading pop-sci books from all fields. One thing I came across is some work on human happiness. Apparently humans have a default state of happiness, which is, 'I'm ok but I could be doing a bit better'. All humans, from millionaires to poverty stricken, are almost always in this state, a relative gain or loss will temporarily make you more or less happy but you will quickly return to this default. As an evolutionary trait it makes sense, a successful species wont be totally depressed and suicidal, or be totally blissed out, not bothering to compete for resources and mates. Also on a physiological level your body will produce a certain amount of dopamine and serotonin and other mood chemicals.

The upshot of all this is that unless you are clinically depressed or have some serotonin production deficiency or some-such, then other ailments, hearing and vision impairment wont really affect your overall happiness. They will initially but then you will get used to that state and your happiness will return to its status quo level.

This is incredibly depressing.

What is so depressing? If anything let it be motivation to make use of your body while you're younger. This whole mentality of waiting until retirement to enjoy life is more depressing.

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