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When did you first start "feeling old"?


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(Feel free to move this thread if it's in the wrong place)

 

For me, it was right around age 25. Even though I know that that's not really "old" by most people's standards, it's when I first started feeling old. I came to that conclusion after noticing that I just don't move as well as I used to, even though I try to stay in shape. I also started loosing hair around that age (not much, but I can't brush/comb my hair anymore without a few strands coming out). And I'm constantly surprised by just how far back my memory goes. I'm about to turn 27, and I still have such vivid memories of things that happened 15-20 years ago that it shocks me to realize that it's been that long already. And it shocks me whenever I'm reminded that an entire generation has grown up since then! Maybe it's because I was always "the baby" in the family (and in most of my friend groups), but it's just strange to think that I have that kind of seniority over some people now.

 

(And yet, I still have such a baby face that I'm constantly mistaken for someone ten years younger. Weird.)

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I am 40, and still do not feel old. I have never felt old, and I can't see it happening any time soon. I mean, I don't look as old as I am anyway, people are always shocked to hear that I am 40, but even so if I live to be 80, I am only half way through my life, and it has been a hell of a journey to this point, and I plan to exceed 100!

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When I showed my at the time 10 year old cousin a Nitendo 64 controller. To which he responded "Why is it so big and clunky" and than said "You are Old" and I almost cried. That was 7 years ago now so he should be about 17. I am now 29. 

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marieatsplants

Around now-ish for me. Just turned 24, and am a postgraduate surrounded by 20-year-olds. Doesn't help that I don't have tiktok, so I feel disconnected from that culture which is stereotypically "young"

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I think for me it was when I moved to the UK at age 23 for the final year of my undergrad. It was the first time that most people around me were younger than me.

 

Now I'm 28 and mostly hang out with people older than me. Though I feel like the older I've become the less I think about age in that way.

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I mean, I felt my body aging at around 25.

 

My spirit still seems ageless.

 

For real: I always feel like my attitude is way younger than other people my age, and as a college student I'm surrounded by people 20, even 30 years younger than I am, and while we don't share the same cultural attitudes, I don't really "consider" myself as having a different experience than they are, or being more "mature" than they are.

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J. van Deijck
2 hours ago, daveb said:

I haven't started yet. I am 66. :) 

You win :D

 

I'm gonna be 33 this year, and mentally I don't feel old at all. Physically, though... that's a different story :P

 

Spoiler

Some people on here know I suffered a stroke at the age of 31, and it's still believed that it's the "thing of old people", which is not true at all. So, speaking of that, I rather feel older than I am physically. More tired, less functional, all that jazz. But things could be worse, so.

 

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RoseGoesToYale

Age 8. Major depression ages you.

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When I opened tiktok I swear I felt myself going gray...

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50 minutes ago, Ezoodle said:

@AspieAlly613

Do you feel old. 

Only a little.  I joke with my students about being old, but really, the only sense of "time running out" that I have is that while I would like to get married some day, this may mean I need to be willing to entertain the notion of a partially sexually-motivated romance because of a slight sense of desperation.  That being said, any marriage of desperation is probably a bad idea, so...

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I can't really answer this. As a child, I felt like an adult amongst my peers. As an adult now, I often feel like a child in some ways. Maybe it's a neurodiversity thing, maybe it's in part down to some of my life experiences. Probably both. I was raised almost solely around people 40+ and really struggled to connect with and understand other children; adults were familiar and felt safe and predictable. But as a grownup I've missed out on a considerable amount of experiences other people have had by my age (I'll be 38 soon) that seem to have shaped them into 'real adults'. I often joke that I feel about six and 65 at the same time.

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a little annihilation

I've felt old every year since I turned like 8

I'm 18 now

it's not that I think people my age are old, in my opinion "old" doesn't start until late 60s but like emotionally I feel like a child and I've never been able to acclimate to the fact that I have aged

 

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My brain is still 17 - my body  most definitely ISN'T 🤣. I started de-aging when I retired and could finally please myself whatly  I wanted to do (or not). I had to be an adult from 17, so I guess I'm making up for lost time. I do use it as an excuse when I forget something, or I'm slow. The one thing I find difficult to cope with is the loss of physical strength - lifting the dogs' food bags (only 15 kilos) can't be done. Have to decant about a quarter into the food bin, then finish off :D 

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On 1/25/2023 at 8:19 PM, Libellule said:

I think for me it was when I moved to the UK at age 23 for the final year of my undergrad. It was the first time that most people around me were younger than me.

 

Now I'm 28 and mostly hang out with people older than me. Though I feel like the older I've become the less I think about age in that way.

x

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22 hours ago, Ceebs said:

But as a grownup I've missed out on a considerable amount of experiences other people have had by my age (I'll be 38 soon) that seem to have shaped them into 'real adults'. I often joke that I feel about six and 65 at the same time.

Yeah same. I feel like I was always immature when I was younger. People around me were growing up and dating and I just still wanted to play with my toys 😝 I feel like I never fit it in and also missed out on a lot of things "normal" people do. Like I didn't go out to bars/clubs, didn't date, never had sex, not in a commited relationship ... I don't feel like I'm a proper adult eiher 😝 I find it quite hard at work to have to put on my "normal responsible adult" act so that no one realises how truly hopeless I am! Having a skin condition and anxiety and depression really messed up my life 😫

At the same time though I sometimes feel like I'm spiritually somehow more mature than others my age. Like when I see people argueing and complaining and being so petty about things I feel like they are all so ridiculous. Sometimes I feel like a very old lady just watching everyone and everything go by with a sense of sorrow and despondancy. And I can be really bitter about life!

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imnotafreakofnature!
On 1/25/2023 at 11:38 AM, daveb said:

I haven't started yet. I am 66. :) 

Same. (Just turned 59.)

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I think I started feeling old when I was into my 40s.  I was fully responsible for my life by the time I was 18 and had two children, one of them with handicaps, soon afterward, and I think that aged me.  Now I am truly old but feel both like a child and my true age.   

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Old is a state of mind; I really don't feel "old" and I don't really look old. When I tell people my age they look shocked; the only "old" looking thing on my body now is gray hair. Sure, it's harder to get out of bed and you do feel like sleeping earlier. And that's not counting the new medications that pop up here and there. But I don't feel old. I've always thought people had strange ideas of what "old" meant to them.

 

When we were kindergarteners, we thought teenagers were old, afterall. So it's all perspective.

 

That being said, no, I don't feel old. The only thing I don't do is ride rollercoasters because I usually black out on the big ones. My other friends (one who is a few years younger and one a few years older) have season passes to the amusement parks and  they go on trips each summer to find the biggest, baddest rollercoasters and then they ride them 'til the sun don't shine. And sometimes longer than that.

 

And for age: I'm 54.

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I don't feel old in my mind, but I've now started to notice how I'm aging. I was looking at myself in the mirror and noticed a few lines under my chin. It through me off haha! I don't mind aging, I just didn't expect that to happened at 34 years old. Also, my digestive issues have worsen. I eat better than when I was younger, but apparently my body decided that I'm too sensitive to eat certain things. 

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I turn 25 in a few months, have been feeling old since 22.

 

I have LongCovid (a chronic illness after a Covid infection) so physically I've felt old since 22 even if I'm "only" in my 20s and look quite young for my age... I physically FEEL old and then there was also the "no longer considered early 20s" thing that hit me when I turnt 24... Especially after I'd just lost 2 years of my life to illness...

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7 hours ago, avocato said:

rollercoasters

Ha! I never rode rollercoasters, due to things such as fear of heights. :P 

As for getting out of bed, I actually tend to wake up earlier than when I was younger. But in my teens and 20s I was much more of a night owl. These days I'm usually in bed and fast asleep by 10 PM, if not sooner. :lol: 

 

3 hours ago, Lilibulero said:

Not yet. I've a t shirt that says - 

"It's weird, being the same age as old people".

Yeah, I remember when my grandmother was well into her 70s, she would mention how she was going with her church group to help the "old folks". :) 

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It's interesting to see so many people on this thread who went to school a little bit later!

 

I'm 37 and went to university for the first time a few years ago as a career changer after many years in a job that didn't require a degree, I'm just in the final furlong of my undergraduate degree now. I felt old when I first started, and it hasn't really changed - the younger students are lovely people, but there is a big age difference and as the only "mature student" on my course I do feel pretty isolated. Sometimes I feel like the "course mum", and often I feel like the younger people will only talk to me when they want something - "when's that assignment due, indemandgirl? what's the reading this week, indemandgirl? how do I do such-and-such in Excel, indemandgirl?" - and then it's radio silence the rest of the time.

 

I've enjoyed my degree and hopefully it's opening a few doors that were closed to me before in my new career, but I do miss being in the workplace with other adults and people at a similar life stage to me. It's been quite difficult to "regress" from being a professional to unemployment (my previous industry was in terminal decline and I became redundant) and then to being a student who is in some cases older than the person giving the class.

 

Also, I started feeling old when I couldn't stand the music on Radio 1 etc any more - when did my favourite tunes become "old skool" and "classic hits"?! 🤨

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  • 2 weeks later...

I don't feel old but this weird thing happens- When I look in the mirror I look like my grandmother.

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I remember my grandmother once mentioning looking in a mirror in passing and wondering to herself "who is that old woman", in a joking way. :P 

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After my husband died I had a year of feeling superfluous, lost, and yes, old - but nothing like Social Security denying my widow pension because I am not old enough 😅 - now I am back to feeling young. As long as I can get on my horse, hike, be useful in my community, find a purpose, age does not matter 

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My nephew, who was a baby I held in my arms as soon as he was born, is now in primary school and in love. I felt old.

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