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Message: <blockquote data-quote="Jacob Lewis" data-source="post: 9521931" data-attributes="member: 6667921">I just want to take a moment to thank everyone in this thread who shared their personal experiences and challenges with anonymous strangers online. Things like this don't get talked about enough. Many of us go through it alone and unaware how others might deal with, and often struggle against the realities that the activities they loved their whole lives are becoming increasingly harder to enjoy. Reading stories and perspectives from others can help someone feel supported and less isolated, especially during a time when both those commodities are becoming rare and precious.I have been struggling with the fact that I was losing touch with this hobby for years now. I just turned 54, and I can honestly say that I had fought against the prospect that my best gaming days are behind me now. Currently, I am no longer invested or interested in any RPGs other than what products I already own. It is no longer worth the effort to keep up with new ideas, new ways to play the same games, or new approaches to the same formulas that have worked well enough for years. I am tired, and I want to spend my time having fun instead of arguing and debating about things that are not.I've also stopped buying everything because I didn't really need everything. There was a time when more meant better, and complete was an achievement. I looked at my shelves and boxes full of books that were never brought to the table, many never even opened. Was all of this even necessary to have fun at the table? Why did I always fear that I would be left out if I fell behind the current trends? Was I forced to feel relevant only by staying with what is current and most popular?You see, getting older doesn't just slow you down, strain your eyes, or make you weak. It also gives you wisdom, experience, and perspective. You have memories and nostalgia of what games have meant to you, how they shaped your life. You learn to appreciate that was once good can still be good. And someone that sells you the promise of something better, doesn't always understand what "good" really means to someone else. And maybe we all get to a point where eventually we decide that it was good enough. Then we go back to that point where things felt just right for us. Or we leave it all behind with the memories untarnished and unchallenged by the vague promise for a better version.Life has been  good so far. I know it was better for me with gaming. It still is. But now I choose different games. Easier games. Familiar games. Board games. Pinball games. Games I play in my head. And games I remember playing, or would have liked to play... I can still replay those, too.</blockquote>

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