Been pondering this a lot lately. I'm a late 30's Male who lives in a bedroom community full of other late 30's - early 50's men. Starting to really notice how the average middle-aged guy is pretty boring.


Growing up, I had two uncles, one on each side of the family. Both grew up pretty similar and were fairly adventurous as young men. Both hunted and fished and did other cool "guy stuff" when they were younger, but by the time they hit 40, only one of them did much of anything. The older of the two continued to hunt, fish, cut up, go on trips, raise hell with his buddies and never missed much of a beat, only slowing down when he hit his late 70's. He is 81 now and still gets together on Tuesdays with the living members of his friend group to drink beer. The younger of the two became quite docile, his idea of a good time was going to the casino twice a year, either in Louisiana or Las Vegas (usually they would stay at Circus Circus) and play slots and blackjack. When he was at home, he didn't do much other than mow his grass and vacuum and wash their two cars. He was a great guy; smart and had an amazing woodworking talent (his dad owned a custom woodworking shop) but as far as hobbies or passions.....he had none. He would come to the deer lease with us, but was always the last to show up and the first to leave. I can't really remember him ever spending the night, just took day trips.

Looking around, that's the group a lot of guys fall into. I know it wasn't always like that, and many were hell raisers as younger men, but good lord, these guys have really gotten watered down. The most exciting thing they have to look forward to is Sunday nights football game. If you took youth sports away from the guys around here, they might keel over.


Is it a gradual, learned behavior, a chemical/hormonal change that men go thru, a combination of both? What makes guys decide to more or less give up on living and just be ok with an existence?

I’d say it depends on your definition of boring. I’ve been though enough crap and now desire to be left the hell alone for the most part. I’m content to be running my trap line rather than going to some bar or other place similar to that.

Same….backroads and small towns! Avoid crowds like they have the plague…..


EDIT: Oh, and stay the hell off my lawn….

Door Dash mistakenly drove into my ranch after dark a couple of months ago. I met them and they got to see a PS-90 in real life. They haven’t been back.

It comes with age.

FIFY

I think there's a lot to it and there's not a single answer here. First thing is, boring ain't as painful. My body hurts just getting out of bed in the mornings. Second, like ntx and sw mentioned, a lot of fellas have been "busy" for someone else their entire lives and would just like to do their own thing now. A lot of times, that just looks like a little R&R. Third, I think a lot of guys are thinking about being good examples for their kids and grandkids, and maybe be a better husband, etc. We all just transition into different phases of our lives, and it looks different for each person.

I used to love sitting and listening to my grandfather tell his stories about his time in the Navy on the USS Midway, growing up with Chuck Yeager, being part of the Hatfield clan, or all the times he raised hell in his younger days. If he was still that guy as my grandfather, I don't think I would have ever heard those stories, and I'm pretty sure I wouldn't have liked him that much either.

Yessir.

Running a trap line isn’t boring. That’s an activity. I’m not saying being not boring involves being ultra social or drinking at bars. It just means you’re doing something that would qualify as an activity or hobby. Golf, while not really my bag, would qualify as not boring if one considers it as a hobby. Golfing once or twice a year isn’t a hobby though. I golf that amount and would not count golf amongst my hobbies. Same thing goes for woodworking, restoring cars, etc.

People that do things that you find interesting are not boring. People that do nothing usually are boring. Like many of you, I do what I want to do, and don’t really care if folks think I’m boring. And, at my age, I don’t feel the need to impress young pretty girls, like I did when I was young. Didn’t want to be boring back then.

I imagine some of it also has to do with testosterone levels dropping as some get older. That is just one piece of the puzzle and as other have mentioned, general pain, etc

That's why human man is proof positive we were created rather than evolved. It we evolved, at age 50 we would grow a new head of hair, a new set of teeth and our balls would fall off for our own good.

Yep.

LMAO

Some people seek excitement and adrenaline, others let their feminine hormones take over.

Wanting to be left alone is not boring. I believe he’s talking about men that have been neutered. The highlight of their week is eating at Chile’s and not having to do laundry that night.

Boring is something I refuse to be. I’ll ruffle some feathers along the way, but I’m not going to be some housewife, and I’m not going to go out of my way to avoid having fun because someone else doesn’t like it.

I know people that are what I consider boring. They don’t do anything but work 40 hours a week and whatever their wife tells them to do. Buy a gun? Drive over the speed limit? Blow some stuff up? No, no, and hell no. That’s scary.

No thanks.

😂

Exactly.

Sneaky,

You got the point of my post. Thank you for your attention and comprehension.

I don’t know where it was implied that not being boring involved chasing girls and getting smashed in bars, but that wasn’t even in the ballpark of what I was getting at. I know many middle age guys who drink in bars and try to pick up the bar flies, and they are quite boring

Ahh. You should have just asked who all here are henpecked

I do not know about others but at age 70 I feel like I am in the highlight of my life. I stay in excellent health by taking care of my body. My marriage of 47 years is still like we are newlyweds. Have a bunch of great friends and we travel, play golf, enjoy our kids and grandkids. I still hunt deer hard - so I cannot speak for others but IMO it is all a state of mind - I do not want to waste a single day of my life.

Like the post I did a few days ago about Toby Keith singing "Dont let the old man in" - life is all about what you make of it - "ask yourself how old would you be if you didn't know the day you were born?"


https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yxsNGXoGVok&ab_channel=TobyKeithVEVO

I may act dumb, but I’m not, always.

I have no intention to slow down. I've got 30 years of work waiting on me at our place after retirement and cannot wait to get out there and get dirty. Might be boring to some, not so much to others. If a fella is happy, boring or not, that's all that really matters.