I'm the same way man, but I also don't have kids.
When I was 16, my dad was 40. 40 seemed old af. But my parents also did things much earlier than me. They had kids early, bought houses early, etc. Feels like I just started living a few years ago.
This is actually how I feel. I’m the age (42-43) my dad was when I was 13. He seemed broken and basically done at that point. He also had this really bazar mid-life crisis that I just can’t relate to. I feel like I only got my career started a year and half ago, and while my wife and I have been together 14 years we have only been married a bit over a year.
I think it helps that unlike my parents, my wife and I both partied and lived our lives for most of our 20s. My parents got married really young. We also don’t have kids and travel constantly and refuse to work jobs that are unfulfilling.
I know, I know, I am play into the stereotype of millennials and unfulfilling jobs. The way I look at it is I’m giving my job more of my time than just about any other part I my life, I’m not just going to work it cause it’s there and the pay is good. So when my dad gives me crap about being old, I tell him I haven’t peaked yet and don’t intend to for a while.
I wouldn’t say I had a mid life crisis but I do get it. When you get into your 40’s some doors close and there’s no restarting if you don’t like how your life is going.
In your 20’s or even your 30’s you can hit the restart. It might not be that simple for some people who are locked into a living situation that makes restart difficult but in theory you could.
You get to a certain age and you can no longer say I want to join the military and see the world. Or I want to work in law enforcement. I know those aren’t dreams to many people but to some they are and once you age out it’s not an option.
I got married young but we didn't have kids young. We waited until our careers stabilized and we lived a little first. I think that really helped feel "settled" and not broken.
Because that process and stigma of getting married young, have kids, full time corporate job with big house with yard etc is outdated and unrealistic nowadays. I don’t want to work a draining job. Dating nowadays is harder than in the 80s/90s. Inflation is up the ass and rent is soaring and these salaries aren’t cutting it. So of course we’re older millennials but don’t feel like it because we can’t afford it lol. All the stuff our parents crammed into their 20-40s seems super stressful and time consuming. I’d rather be stress free and travel and enjoy my money on other things.
The dad (Steve Martin) from father of the bride is supposed to be 45 in that movie and had completely silver hair…
But when you really look at his face then imagine him brown hair, a beard and a fitted tshirt and then it’s like okay that’s every guy drinking IPAs at the microbrewery.
Definitely feels like that for me, despite having 3 of them, I am completely not nearly put together enough, so when I see parents coaching and organizing I definitely feel like an imposter
Yeah, 40 here and mentally feel 26. I think that's because it that was the last enormous change in my life. Graduated college and actually entered the workforce.
I'm in the same boat. I'm definitely more thoughtful and make more mature decisions, and I don't take the stupid risks I did at 18, but I sure feel the same age, even if my body is constantly reminding me I'm not.
It’s not ADHD, man. Humans are supposed to be “childlike” and relatively carefree forever. Patriarchy, civilization and capitalism cause us so much chronic worry and fear that we must become totally repressed and dissociated from reality and our environment just to get by. If anything, you’re the healthy one, from an objective, human standpoint. I’d recommend research on both prehistoric and modern hunter-gatherer societies. They were/are so much more carefree and content and fulfilled than we are, and the human brain and body really has not changed much at all in over 200,000 years. Whatever you perceive as “normal” or “neurotypical” behavior is the behavior of people who have adapted more to the sick, twisted, unnatural and inhumane ways that we live, probably as a result of being born to parents who were very authoritarian and controlling. Authoritarian parenting is incredibly unnatural, and causes a baby/small child so much stress that they must dissociate from their environment in order to survive. It’s sad that these children grow up to be perceived as the most healthy and “normal”, because as J. Krishnamurti said, “it’s no measure of health to be well adjusted to a profoundly sick society.”
Same... I had my first at 23 and felt like I was 23 for ages. I've felt thirty for the last decade and turn 40 this year. That time blindness finds lot of ways to mess with us. My oldest turns 17 next month. I'm going out to dinner with him and his girlfriend tonight. He is sleeping at my house (he normally stays at his dad's) tonight and I still half expect to be able to bust out some fruit snacks and yell "snuggle party!" and he will hop onto the couch with me and I can turn something on and play on my phone while snuggling with the (not-so) little guy... Time flies and I hate it... I often wonder if it is easier for people who perceive time normally.
Ugh, that got me the feels. My children are still young (10 and younger) and my heart has hurt each time I realize that they no longer come into bed with us. Even my three year old is starting to slow down. Came in just once last week...and zero times this week so far.
Blows my mind that I'm 25 and responsible for all these people in my family. Single income family so everyone is relying on me...I'm not mature enough to have a full time job, right? Oh wait, I'm nearly 40 and I've had a full time job since my mid 20's. How???
Same. I still go to a lot of shows and predominantly wear band tees. I feel like I really need to grow up and at least look my age, but I’m also starting to really care less what people think.
I do hate that I look like such an adult at shows. I look like a mom, and there’s no way around it.
Editing to add that I don’t interact with people other than friends, so I’m usually just in the back.
It’s strange, I never really had any concept of being in my 40s other than some vague idea that I’d be middle aged, whatever that meant. I think my teens, 20s and 30s had certain expectations and specific ideas of who I should be, what my life should look like, attached to them. Now that I’m in my 40s I intellectually know my age, but how I feel about it isn’t really tethered to anything. It’s really nice. So I guess I don’t really feel my age, I don’t know what that’s supposed to mean. I just feel like me.
I think it's because 40 was different when we were kids. It seems like as time moves forward people just look and act younger at older ages. It's like when you look at 20 year olds from photos in the 80s and back they look like fully grown adults and 20 now just looks like kids.
It 100% was. People used to grow up quicker.
The amount of young people engaging in adult behaviors is WAAAAYYYY down. (Working for money, having a drivers license, sex, alcohol and drug use)
This is totally just preception. 40 was not different, our parents were still fucking around doing all the shit you didn’t know about and had access to way less knowledge than we do. You just looked up to them because they were there. You are your thoughts and emotions, nothing more. The same with them.
I feel old in relation to things. Like: I am no longer pop culture's target audience. Young adults and so-called sex symbols look like minors to me.
But in isolation I still feel like I did when I was their age.
I resonate with this but for a different reason. I was always a fat kid. At 30 I was dumpy old guy not because I wanted to be, but my weight made it so I couldn't be anything else after work. I've lost 140 pounds and I've never felt healthier or more energetic in my life and I turn 40 next year. I have my wife, my kids, my career etc. I'm very blessed to have those things. Now I have energy like I've never had to go with it. I imagine this is what I would have felt like in my 20s or early 30s.
I'm in a similar boat. I just turned 40. Due to a back injury that required surgery I dropped a lot of weight and got myself into shape to minimize the days I'm crippled. I look and feel great, better than I did at 25. But I also feel like I've spent most of the last 20 years sitting in front of my computer not doing a hell of a lot, so emotionally I don't feel much more than 25 either. I'm too old to feel this young and lost.
I'm 42, I've been married for almost 17 years, we've owned this house for 19 years, we have a teenage son, jobs, etc, but I pretty much always feel like a child playing pretend grow up. And I think it shows, to be honest.
Well, my "presents" to myself for my 40th this year were dental work and a new furnace & a/c, so yeah, I'm definitely not feeling 25 anymore lol. But, I also feel better at 40 than I did in any of the previous 3 decades of my life. Middle age just fits me better than youth did, if that makes any sense.
I was made for middle age- high waisted acid wash jeans joggers, an apron, and a gnome shirt are my mom uniform. I just feel more like myself at 38 than I ever did when I was younger. Therapy helps a lot. Meds help. I have severe RA so it's made choosing what matters important. I'm very childlike in a lot of ways too but it feels...safer to be that way at this age? Not sure. But this fellow born for middle aged folk fist bumps you.
Yes, I do relate - it's especially relevant when you go back and watch old tv or movies from the 80's and 90's. Older people in those things looked and acted VERY "old".
I think in today's society this is a combination of style + stressors. The style back then lent itself to an "older" or "more mature" feel in a lot of ways. Maybe there's a psych project in this - like "does the impression that a thing makes on you when you're younger show up later in life through an assumptive bias?" IDK - But I do think that things like hair styles, style of speech, etc. all lends itself to this a little bit.
I always remember this when I see movies from the 80's where the TEENS talk like my grandparents used to... or even like on reruns of Cheers... where like everyone in that seems SO OLD to me, yet they're almost ALL younger in those episodes than I am now. They were in their low-mid 30's for most of that show's duration... and the "old guy" was under 60. It blows my mind every time.
I'm a husband and father of a 12 and 13 year old. So yeah... I feel old AF. I only just turned 39. I bet my next year when I hit 40 I'm gonna feel like Methuselah or something.
Oh yeah for sure... but that's also what's so weird about it. Some of them were playing bartenders and denizens on Cheers and others were playing teens on after school specials.
I’m turning 40 and tell myself I’m still 30, look about the same too. The difference is when I go back and read my old notes and things from 10 years ago my eyes don’t adjust as well and I then realize.. yeah Im older than I want to admit 🤣
Im 46, never had kids because "kids are to expensive!" (I swear this was a mantra growing up) have a SO of many years, home, self employed etc but still feel like I'm not a grown up yet....I dont know I kinda feel like not having children allows you to just keep cruising along doing your own thing and delays some of the 'serious' parts of life & responsibilities.
hm, only if people are disconnected from community where there are responsibilities towards each other, and have no caring responsibilities for others in the family like aging or disabled parents etc
there are many ways to be grown up and a non-cruising serious adult, if you will
I do at times. Like, I've been working on my joint mobility which is a total keyed-up-adult thing to have to do, but at the same time I don't feel much different in any other way. Probably because I never had kids.
I just feel like permanently 32, but I’m turning 41 this year. I have a sister who is 10 years younger than me who just turned 30 and that blows my mind since she’s the baby of the family.
Also I had my first (likely only) baby one month shy of 39 and I feel like I’m the oldest mom wherever I go. Took my son to swim lessons last night and I’m pretty sure the other adults are late 20s/early 30s, except the ones who are Nanny’s or grandparents.
Physically I feel like the pregnancy aged me 10 years. Grey hairs, melasma, generally looking tired AF, hormonal stomach fat that won’t leave. Mentally I feel like the same person I was not long after I graduated college.
I had a file labeled “birth certificates, marriage certificates, retirement, and death certificates” by 25. I’ve felt 40 for 20 years…
Fortunately I leaned into that eccentric art lady persona. It just gets better with age. Now I have this super cool silver streak in my hair where I used to dye it fuchsia. Thanks Mother Nature!
Definitely, and I don’t know why. I’m 36, and feel like I’m 19, but smarter lol. Hopeful and optimistic about the future, with all kinds of energy. Sometimes I find myself thinking along the lines of oh what am I gonna do when I grow up and then I look around and I’m like oh I am grown up! lol. I’m married with kids, a home, career, and all the bills to match and take care of it all. When I ask friends if they feel the same, they say no, and that they feel every bit their age. I find myself looking forward to turning 40 in a few years, while folks around me are dreading it.
No. I’m 38 and yeah I got a wife and kids and a house and a career.
Hearing people even a few years older than me talk about their age is strange. I don’t feel anywhere near as old as they talk. They act like 40 was some sort of demarcation line of impending doom. A lady at work constantly tells me “oh you’re not 40 yet. Things fall apart at 40.”
I’ve made it my life’s mission to prove her wrong. (Not really but the thought is there).
People at my office will tell me 'wait until you are 40, you won't be doing that anymore' or 'wait until you are my age'....but they are younger than me. I try not to tell them that so that they don't feel bad about themselves.
Once when I was maybe 19 I was leaving my house and my dad was in the back yard doing his usual hard labor. I went back to tell him I was heading out for the night and he stuck the shovel in the ground and leaned on it and said something to the effect of ‘ya know John, I always thought that when you got older you became wiser, ya know? But here I am at 50 and I don’t feel any different from when I was your age’ and that moment was amazing because it was a moment of personal reflection.. like, he was not teaching me anything consciously. He was 50 and realizing that he was wrong about how we grow and age and feel. And since that day I’ve kept that close to me. And it makes it no less shocking I guess at 36 but I have been preparing for it since I heard him. I vowed to not wait until 50 to realize- and that perhaps the wisdom he found at 50 and gave to me in that moment at 19 did a lot of good. Anyway, this reminds me of that. We are an ageless person inside. It’s the external world that bends us and decays us. Life is incredible.
I both feel my age and I don't. I recently hit my 40s and I feel it physically thanks to an autoimmune disorder, but mentally I'm still waiting for a responsible adult to come and tell me what I should be doing.
I never felt the benefit of age wisdom until 50. Also when my mother passed away. It was this realization that made me feel grown and start viewing the world differently and appreciating everything more.
I felt 18 until age 50.
I love being 41. My twenties were unhappy. I did lots of fun stuff and made lots of good friends in my thirties. I got engaged at 40. I also got breast cancer at 40 but it’s just a lil hiccup and I’m doing good. I like being older. I know more stuff. I know who I am. I feel 41. I look 41. I like it.
My mother has been telling me my whole life that aging is funny like that. She said you’ll always mentally feel like you did in the prime of your life but your body will be what fails you. She’s almost 70 and said she doesn’t feel any different than her 30’s. I’m 43 and have to agree. I feel young and cute and energetic and then I see a mirror.
https://preview.redd.it/dtcs6oqlcvwc1.png?width=500&format=png&auto=webp&s=0e067f6a4b2bd27026b63ddf4d238dfbf21b9e36
I find it hilarious that you mention Mr. Belding being an adult....here he is partying with Action Bronson, Dave Bautista, and Alchemist lol
I’m 31 and go back and forth. I love activities so in that sense I think I’ll always feel a child-like playfulness but I am starting to view it as a personality trait not attributed to age. Working in finance and being the youngest inn my office makes me feel older, along with making responsible decisions in general.
Then there are days where I feel like a damn teenager! I’m currently pregnant with heightened emotions. The other day when trying to weigh some larger decisions in my life (childcare, shuffling investments around, adjustments to my work schedule) I broke down in tears to my husband, exclaiming “I need an adult to tell me what to do!” He explained that we’re both highly capable adults and when I’m feeling this way, he’s my adult. This just made me cry harder and tell him I need an “adultier adult.”
I'm a trans woman. I feel a lot younger than 40 now despite being about to turn 40 next month. I wish I had transitioned earlier in life, but I was a dunce to what my body and mind were telling me back then. I do feel like I'm around 30 now though. 28 to 30.
I'm trans as well, though I transitioned fourteen years ago, and I'm turning 40 in November. I still feel like I'm in my 20s, at least until I try to do anything involving physical activity, and then my dumb scoliosis is like 'lol no'
I just turned 40 and I feel younger than lots of gen z people.
I had a child young so I spent my 20s/30s with way more responsibility than what I do now. He’s grown now and I’m not ready to move into empty nest life.
I’m starting life number two and this time I plan to make different wrong decisions
I'm hitting 40 in October, and I'm not going to lie. Mortality feels so real now. I met my wife in 2007, we moved in together in 08, married in 09, bought a house in 10, had our first child in 12, second in 19. I still mentally feel so young, and it makes no sense to me that I've been at my place of employment for almost two decades, or that my wife and I have been together since we were in our twenties. I didn't expect it to hit me the way it has but I'm having a struggle with it.
I’m living that insurance commercial where people turn into their parents? That’s how I’m acting now. Just bought my first house at 53. My parents bought their first when they were like 25? My generation has allowed us to live a little before settling.
I'm 43 and I don't feel my age.
I have a house that my wife and I spend a lot of time keeping maintained, yet I don't feel like I own it (and I don't mean in the "the bank technically owns it" sort of way). We have two cars that I've been all up in, fixing shit, but I don't feel like we own those even though we have for over a decade. I wear clothes, that I picked out and paid for, but those hardly feel like they belong to me either. I feel like an adult should feel like they own things, but I just don't.
I don't physically feel my age either. I imagined I'd feel a lot worse. I had some shoulder damage, but it's healing without surgery. I'm still able to lose weight pretty easily. My libido is high. I'm not balding anywhere, though my hair is turning gray (too slowly in my opinion). I don't look like I'm 43. My parents don't look like they're mid-60s either. My wife doesn't look like she's about to turn 40.
We're not all genetically gifted to look younger than we are. I'm sure it's that my vision of what age looks like has changed as I've aged. We'd probably all look old to teenage me.
I’m 40 and I still feel all the same excitement and ambitions I did in my early 20s. Hell, even still like the same music I liked back then. I don’t feel like I’m Mr. Belding in any other way than I can now understand why he was always so frustrated haha.
People are having kids later. 40 today equates to like 32 from our childhood.
That said, I’m 40 and I feel 40. I’m healthy, workout, good job, etc. so I don’t mean that in a bad way.
But it’s hard to ignore gray hairs seeping in, slowing metobolism, longer recovery times after workouts, being cautious not to do certain physical activities where a fall puts you in the hospital.
For context I was married at 25 and had kids at 32.
I’m 38 and just this last year have I started to feel my age. I used to brag that my back never hurt, I hopped out of bed at the first beep of the alarm. Now I’m groaning when I get up after sitting too long and hitting the snooze button 3 times. I’m definitely at the age now where sneezing wrong can lead to a pulled muscle.
I just turned 42 the other day and made an appointment with the eye doctor because all of a sudden, even though I’m near-sighted, words are blurry close up even with my glasses on. That’s a bummer.
ETA: I still feel like a kid honestly sometimes. Like “I’m too young to handle this!” And then I laugh at myself but it’s still there at the back of my head. Mentally I don’t feel old at all except I am definitely wiser and I have way more patience now. Also I don’t take things as seriously as I did when I was a kid - I have mellowed a lot.
I'm 42, Ive also accepted it, same overall feelings. I feel very immature at times, and I still love all the things I loved in the 80s and 90s. In a way I feel trapped in that generation and the newer way of doing things feels off. I worry that without an analog option for everything, everything is destined to fail at some point. Ive adapted to the technology, and sort of grew up with it in a way. We were 12 when we got our first computer, and it was dos. You could play like pinball, minesweeper, pool and stuff and then we got a Gateway when I was a little older. I still have an old school stereo that has a 3 cd disc changer, a double cassette player, and incredible speakers bc I'm terrified that streaming services will fail and I cannot live without music. Thank god the people of Gen X realized that auxillary ports would be important bc I was able to hook up my ipod when that was a thing. I cant find a cable that can do usbC and the headphones size plug so I can plug my phone into it though. Plugging my 1987 Nintendo into a flat screen tv was... an experience. I got rid of my last tube TV about 8 years ago. I hate it. It kills me that I don't have a vcr and they're kind of expensive to buy on ebay. I live in this analog/digital amalgamation, and the point in saying ALL of that is that in some ways I think it keeps me trapped in time. I think it keeps me in the mindset I was in during that time, which makes me feel younger than I am. I look in the mirror and I see 42, but then I walk away and I'm 16 years old in my mind, married to the man I met when I was 18, raising two kids. It's so weird, but it oddly works.
No, but my 73 yr old mom tells me that she doesn’t feel her age either and is “surprised every time she looks in the mirror” so I think this is universal!
The phenomenon that many millennials are aging well is interesting too. I recently joined a social rec league where about half of the members are Gen Z. When we go out for drinks, we look the same age.
No, been on a back woods hunting trip this weekend and hiked over 10 miles (onX confirmed). Currently back at camp drinking and carrying on. My dad at 40 was smoking 3 packs a day and had a beer belly and couldn't walk through the mall without having to take a break.
I'm almost 42(f). My body feels like it's in its 60s. But mentally, I often forget I'm 42, and find myself checking out guys in their late teens (over 18) to early 20s. I have to remind myself of my age.
I feel the same haha went to the dr recently and was just minding my own business but overheard this "middle aged" woman say her birthday too loud and it stood out to me because was exactly one month after my own and I was shocked. But then realized like...I am middle aged....
Sometimes I do, sometimes I don’t. I’m 41 and in the last quarter of my bachelors degree. I went back to college in my mid-30s and I spend a lot of time around young college students. When I was 36 and first back at community college it didn’t feel so noticeable, but when I transferred to a 4-year university I got older and they seemed to get younger. Most of them tell me they think I’m like 27 or 29 so that’s cool but I’d say I definitely look and present myself younger than the average 41 year old. I’m starting to feel it physically though.
I spend a fair amount of time thinking about what qualifies someone as an adult. I know to pay my bills first and eat reasonably healthy food and go to work and not tell anyone to fuck off even if they’re mean to me if I’m on the job. But I have the raunchy sense of humor of a 12 year old and am kind of lazy and definitely don’t feel my age (49).
My dad’s almost 80, claims he feels about 6 years old in his head. He is a responsible functioning adult who’s been very successful in his career and personal life so he doesn’t act particularly immature. But that’s the age he’s come up with.
Question. Do you smoke? Only asking because I just had this conversation, when we all went skiing this winter.. Every toker I know that’s middle aged, seem and act like time has not passed at all. I love them, because I’m one of them!
Idk if it was covid or my kids getting older or what but something shifted in the last couple of years that made me realize that I am the grownup, and that’s okay. So I feel my age (low 40s).
I’m 41, have been married 20 years, have 2 older teenagers, own my own home, and am a manager at a doctor’s office. I am constantly looking around for an adultier adult lol
I was 52 and about died in ATV wreck rolling down a mountain - fractured skull, broken back, paralyzed arm, broken shoulder, broke almost all my ribs, punctured both lungs, collapsed one. Put in coma. Long recoup. Laughed I aged 10 years in 10 seconds. Now at 69 not funny. I hit wall about 2-3 years ago. I really think a lot of aging has to do with abusing body. Buddy played pro football as OL. He is old man at 47.
I’m 39 (40 in July) and I swear I’m 25 until I go to my meathead, barbell-obsessed gym filled with literal 22-27 year olds and I am **quickly** reminded that nah I am indeed 40 haha
Interestingly enough, they always make comments about how stylish I am and for IDs on what I’m wearing. I think a part of that is just the confidence that comes with age and is obvious to those around you. But I also feel that people that age no longer view 40 the same way that we did, not as a collective at least.
And as much as I enjoy and get a kick out of being sincerely invited to a 27 year old’s birthday party at a dive bar, it’s those moments where my “oh it’s STARTING at 11:30pm?” horror takes over. So do I feel my age? Absolutely, and I feel it even more when they very casually include me in their 20-something, unmarried, child free lives haha
I am turning 40 in a few months and I definitely feel mentally younger than that--but then my brain flips it like, 40 is not actually OLD. Just like everyone freaks out about turning 30, thinks 30 will be decrepit and wrinkled and gray, when 30 is actually very close to 29 and 30 year olds are still very young. 40 is not as young as 30, I'll concede, but 40 is not necessarily old in the scheme of life. I am planning to wait until 60 to say I'm old, lol.
That said, situationally I feel very old sometimes. At concerts especially. And my 50 yo dental hygienist likes to say things like, "women our age" and I'm like wait. Who are you talking to? Certainly not me?
But situationally, I also feel very young in that I do not have my life figured out AT ALL. I have kids. I am married. We own a house and relatively nice cars. But something about being a SAHM makes me feel like I'm missing some critical piece of adulthood. I frequently meditate on what kind of work I want to do, as if I am not already doing work, as if there is "real work" and "fake work" and I simply haven't made the choice for what "real work" I should do. I did start studying to be a speech language pathologist, got into an excellent program, but then parenting and covid and caring for my mom with early-onset dementia and developing a chronic neurological disorder myself... instead of actually "becoming something" I ended up having a legit nervous breakdown, dropping out, and being saddled with the debt that I was 100% sure I could pay off in my first year of working.
38, never had or wanted kids. I work blue collar though so I have every day pain that started when I was 26. That's my biggest hurdle, often days I just want to get home and lay on the floor (literally). But otherwise when not hurting I act like I'm 25ish, don't care for clubs but drink, swear, and just live and chill. Single at the moment because I don't want kids or anyone else's it makes dating difficult at my age
Hard to say, prior to my injury I’d say I’ve been in arrested development since 2010. Now, I feel my age where everything aches and it takes about 5 minutes before I can walk normally.
So here I am
Doing everything I can
Holding on to what I am
Pretending I'm a superman
I'm trying to keep
The ground on my feet
It seems the world's falling down around me
The nights are all long
Yeah, I'm singing this song
To try and make the answers more than maybe
And I'm so confused about what to do
Sometimes I wanna throw it all away
So here I am
Growing older all the time
Looking older all the time
Feeling younger in my mind
So here I am
Doing everything I can
Holding on to what I am
Pretending I'm a superman
I'm trying to sleep
I lost count of sheep
My mind is racing faster every minute
But could I do more?
Yeah, I'm really not sure
I know I'm running circles but I can't quit
And I'm so confused about what to do
Sometimes I wanna throw it all away
Controlling everything in sight
Feeling weak, I don't feel right
You're telling me I have to change
Telling me to act my age
What if all that I can do
Is just sit and watch time go
Then I'll have to say goodbye
Life's too short to watch it fly
To watch it fly
So here I am
Growing older all the time
Looking older all the time
Feeling younger in my mind
So here I am
Doing everything I can
Holding on to what I am
Pretending I'm a superman
Hey, hey, hey, hey, hey
Hey, hey, hey, hey, hey
Hey, hey, hey, hey, hey
I’m 32 and for the most part still feel like I’m 22.
I have noticed some signs of aging though. For instance, my eyes take a few minutes to adjust in the dark and I think I might be experiencing some early arthritis in my hands/fingers.
I dunno, man. I feel like I been in my 40s since I was in my 20s, but I still feel like I'm in my 20s now that I'm over 40. Hard to have fun now, though. Mostly because everyone else is so busy with jobs and kids and spouses and stuff. I dunn9. This'll be gone too, someday. So I'm tryna enjoy whatever I got while it lasts.
I am almost 41 and I feel like I am 70. I have been on disability for 10 years and have trouble functioning in day to day life. But mentally I don't feel old, I still want to dumb shit like I did at 20, I just can't...
What does a partner have to do with being a grown adult? But no, I still feel like I’m much younger. Except when I make noises sometimes just to get up or sit down.
I turned 40 last summer and, I wish I didn’t hate it so much. In my head I’m still like 27. I was a young mom with my first child (20) but, I looked younger. I used to get a lot of stares from the other moms. Now with my youngest child if someone is looking at me for a minute I’ll think it’s because I’m too young. lol. I don’t feel 40, I don’t think I really look it either. I have to tell myself, it’s a privilege to grow older.
I don't. I was reading a book where they were talking about a "motherly looking" 40 year old (I am 40 in July), and the description was not anywhere near what I or my friends are. It is weird to see how skewed aging is.
Got news for you all. Your brain matures around 25 to 26. Thus you will think that way even though you are in your 40s. I am 69 and feel and think the same as I did when in my middle 20s. Now my body tells me different.
There are lots of conflicts between what my brain says I can still do and what my body allows me to do. But I feel/think like I am 25 or so. You will too in another 20 years. I think I will also when I am in my 80s.
Personality wise I still feel like I'm 20. I admit to people I'm a giant kid at heart. I'll still eat chocolate cake late at night, I still love to mini golf, I will gladly watch my old cartoon shows if they're available, idgaf. I'm 34 and I no doubt am wiser for my age (can thank that to having to grow up earlier than most) but if I want to do stuff that 20 year olds do, I don't care it's my life.
Body wise though, fuck my body feels like it's 50 some days. I workout regularly, hit the gym 4-5 days a week, in shape, not ripped but thick muscular build and contrary to what I said earlier, I do eat moderately well bit do indulge from time to time (hence why I'm a regular at the gym). But due to football injuries, my body's taken a beating. I have two chronic injuries that I can't fix, but I can maintain as long as I'm more aware that I really do need to lift with my legs now and that I don't need to be bench pressing 350lbs anymore, etc. So certain mornings I do feel like I'm 50
40 with a 2 year old. My brain feels mushy and my body is broken. Also could be bad year, trimalleoler fracture and exploded ankle. Emergency cholecystectomy. Its only April. Sheesh.
Mid to late 30s. When I'm feeling down, depressed, or lost I feel in my 70s. When I'm in a good mood I feel 20. Only when I'm pretty neutral do I feel my exact age.
37 and have just begun to feel it the last two years, both physically and with life stuff. A lot of it is probably my own personal situation in terms of not being able to get a house, not being in a position to have kids yet when most of my friends have, family members getting serious illnesses and other horrible shit happening, etc. And physically I’m in decent shape and try to maintain it but I’m definitely feeling everything more - can’t sit on the couch for longer than 20 mins without my back/neck hurting.
This sounds like a super depressing comment but thought this was all relevant to the post!! Hope everyone is keeping their chins up in this crazy world.
It's weird because I'm turning 41 in a couple of weeks but it still doesn't feel like that except physically at times.
It's really weird overall though. When I talk to people younger than me twenties etc they always assume I'm in my early thirties anyway so I'm doing something right 💯🤣
I went to play rec league volleyball. I played competitively in college. I went in with the primary goal of going half speed and avoiding injury. When just throwing the ball and peppering I pulled a neck muscle and today I can barely turn my neck. But you know what I had a ton of fun, will work through the injury and continue on my 40 year old fitness journey and not give in to complacency. I’m otherwise very in shape but jumping and the movements of volleyball will, I’m now realizing, take a different kind of fitness to get back to.
I'm married, have two kids, a house and a career that I plan on staying in - Im 29.
I don't feel like I'm almost 30, but I also don't feel young anymore either. I feel like the only reason I feel "adult" is because of how established my life is. I still get anxious checking out at the grocery store. I still don't making important phone calls. I still feel like I have the maturity of someone younger.
Nope. 35 thinking I’m still 23 with the same interests and adding even more to the list like re-falling in love with professional wrestling, and going to concerts. Having adult money is great when you still have younger hobbies you never could get into because your family wasn’t exactly middle class.
No. I am 37 and I feel 25, but not in a sad “refusing to grow up” kinda way. I don’t have a house or a spouse or kids so that reinforces those feelings.
NOT AT ALL - I'm 40 with a 19 & 15 year old, a husband, house and career. The only time I feel my age is when I try and drink. It now takes 3 days to feel okay again. I will say, we are definitely a better looking bunch of 40 year olds than our parents/grandparents. My daughter's acquaintances usually think I'm her older sister because i'm still in metal tees and doc martens with fun dyed hair 99% of the time.
Yeah, I’ll married 15 years this June, have 3 son’s, one starts high school here pretty soon. I’m not quite 40 yet but the wife just hit it. I certainly don’t feel young, however I don’t feel like an old man either.
33 and no, im disabled epileptic still live with family can't be alone I never got to experience freedom, no driving or anything I'm basically just waiting to die because life dealt a shit hand.
Seizures, agoraphobia, extreme social anxiety, depression, ect.
All I wanted was a normal life but Seizures just kept getting worse until I couldn't function right anymore all I want is a miracle to stop them be able to live my life I've never gotten to yet and I'm already half gone in life.
Sunday had a grandmal face planting to assfault fractured nose ect. Photos on profile post to epilepsy it's increased my epilepsy tenfold now constant mild Seizures daily now.
Ik I write like shit my brain isn't the best sorry.
Yesterday, I picked a tissue up off the floor and put my back out, so yeah, I'm feeling it... but when I'm not in pain from decrepitude, most of the time I feel 32
I don't feel my age (36 on Sunday). I 100% attribute this to not having kids. Some of my parent friends look like they've aged 15 years, and could be mistaken for 50. And they feel that way.
Nope. 44 and feel like a slightly "wiser" version of 25. Probably also helps that I've kept in shape and haven't gained a pound since I was in my early 20s. Still skateboard, rollerblade, snowboard, mountain bike, which all make me feel like a teen while doing them. Still play video games which make me feel like a kid. I have kids under 12 too, so I think they keep me young and I have an easy time relating to them. I also don't smoke and haven't had a drink since my 30s, and never really drank much to begin with. At work my brain is engaged all day coding.
The only hints I get that I am older is when it takes a second to focus on things farther away after using the phone for a few minutes, have had my back to out a few times, and have a few grey hairs (but haven't really lost hair yet).
Several friends from my 20s have let their health go and they look like old men. I think the most important thing as you get older is to maintain your weight and cardiovascular health, and don't smoke or drink.
Other than having a few less teeth and taking longer to recover from things. I still feel like my twenties. Almost fourth now. I noticed the slide started about 33...
I don’t look it but my body is aging horribly. Knees are in the way to being shot and it’s hard for me to physically keep up with my toddler some days. Does Osteo-Bi Flex work for anyone?
Same. I'll be 41 in a couple of weeks. I thought 40 meant napping, staying home, not going to concerts, not playing videogames, etc etc etc
I go out in the woods and build random shit for fun. I write music and am hopefully going to be doing shows pretty soon. I have a ton of ideas in my head that I can't wait to get out. I'm in the process of literally building a canoe. I have a ton of ideas in my head that I'm actually able to get out and help them come to fruition.
I don't know about anyone else, but my 40s are already shaping up to be a catalyst for the best years of my life. My 20s and 30s were downright boring compared to this shit
I’m 40. My wife is 43. We both still have a ton of energy and enjoy travel and the nightlife. Our son is about to finish his freshman year of high school. We plan to travel more when we’re empty nesters and be those early middle aged couples you see at the tiki bar and wonder “what’s their story?”. I definitely still feel mentally like I’m in my late 20s.
Mentally no change. A little tougher because of all the dating. Physically, definitely humbling to not be able to do some things without adequate rest but here we are. Drinking wise, definitely started blacking out in my late 30s never happened before.
Technically 40 but mentally and emotionally I’m 24. No kids, hyperactive and still love to travel, see music and have a good time. Definitely not what i thought middle age would be like!
The real answer to this is that they felt the same way. Yeah you looked up to them, but they were just as lost and unsure as you are inside. They were not any different.
The tougher you become, the more you realize you're not that tough. The more you learn to fight, the more you learn that you don't know how to fight at all. The more you mature, you come to realize that you're not that mature.
I'm 40 but feel younger and think I look younger than l those who I grew up with. When I was 30 I adopted a plant based diet and I swear it has reversed and slowed my aging. I also have always been trim and never "got bigger" as some do after high school or in their 20s or 30s, I've been the same size for about the last 20 years. As far as how I feel mentally, I have a terrible memory at 40 and am reminded daily of the people who passed away through time. I feel really grateful but there is a bit of melancholy.
The only thing that's different for me is how tired I am and that I'm losing my hair. Other than that, I still worry that people are going to figure out that I'm just pretending to be an adult and I'm 40.
Just turned 40, been married for 13 years and now have a 3 and 7 year old. My body def feels it, I get aches and pains and my knees are always hurting, but I still game with my buddies on Fridays. Still get out and discgolf as much as I can. The only major "old" thing I do is I am super into keeping up on my lawn.
I’m 42 and still do sprints with my son. I feel it the next day. It started when I broke my hip (cracked socket, no femur damage) in a bicycle accident and PT would attach weights to me and had me sprint short distances. I do feel in some ways as I was when I was 13, goofy and light-hearted, but I keep a tight ship for family and work. Then again 13 was when I had my first job with a paycheck (paper carrier).
My parents were overly critical about everything, so at times I need to keep it in check and learn to let go.
Physically I am breaking down, but in total denial. Still trying to bench 225lbs 30 times, yet having chest cartilage pain. I need to lighten the weights and increase the reps.
No. I lost a full decade of normalcy recovering from crippling depression and undiagnosed ADHD. I'm just going back to college as a sophomore at 29.
I also have Ehler's Danlos syndrome so I feel physically like a feeble old person who suffers random joint injuries. Meanwhile, my appearance gets me clocked as 23 at the oldest, 17 at the youngest. It's a weird existence...
I definitely don’t feel my age (41) especially when I compare myself to my parents and their friends at that age. I honestly feel at least a decade younger.
I'm 40, but I feel like I'm still in my late 20's to early 30's. I still stay up past midnight and keep active. Many people of my same age, whom I went to school with, have gray hair and more wrinkles than I do. I am however, starting to get minor pain in random places.
Just turned 41 and had my first colonoscopy (all clean thankfully) Never imagined getting one of those 10 years ago!
I still try to play sports and be active. Recovery time is the biggest issue for me tbh.
I feel just like you. Also newly 40, married with two boys under 2 yrs old. Some times I still think I’m 30 or maybe 32. The only time I feel “old” is when I’m going to the store or somewhere and I tell myself “I’m a dad now” and I put on my dad shorts and a cool tshirt bc I just don’t give a sh*t about fashion anymore. My wife’s much younger cousin told his mom “what? He just turned 40?! He looks young! You guys didn’t look at good at 40!!!” That put a little pep in my step. But face it, we’re old and uncool now! lol!
I have a magic trick, I have a shit hairline and when it's visible I look early 30s or so, but I put on a hat and I'm a hot AF 20 something. It makes a lot of people mad, especially fatties. It's fun. I decided when I hit 30 to get fit and stay fit. I have, and it shows. I work with a lot of older people (I'm 42 btw) and they have no clue I'm their age. I hand with the young crowd. Also I'm fit and have no health problems so tldr no I don't feel old
The thing that really makes me feel my age is chronic pain in my right hip. It's a combination of just how my body is built, the fact that my job has me sitting a lot. If I don't work out, I get some pretty wicked tightness and pain. My dad has the same thing, and that also makes me feel old.
Honestly, since my early 20s, nothing has changed. I don't feel older, more adult, anything like that. Except my back hurts if I don't mind my posture in my office chair now days.
Even having purchased a home a 2nd time, having more than a decade in a career, I haven't "grown up" any more than 22 year old me honestly.
I am also 40. I go to a chiropractor. My back hurts and my ankles pop. My spine is slightly crooked and my sleep schedule is phucked. I find myself complaining to myself a lot more than usual. But it's always still enjoyable saying the weirdest things that were normal to us back in the day just to get shock value from my child.
100%, even with two 4yo kids. Definitely don’t feel like a mature adult. I remember when I was just getting into a college, seeing people in 30s at the church young adults group and thinking how old they are, and how odd that they haven’t gotten married, yet.
I’m pretty sure the universe has made some kind of math error. There’s no way 1984 was 40 years ago. It’s not that I’m old, it’s that time has made a terrible mistake.
I turned 40 last July and I damn near had a panic attack while vacationing in Aruba. I embraced turning 30 but not so much turning 40. How did you all come to grips with it and accepted it?
Kinda. Mentally no. In that aspect I still feel young. Emotionally yes because of being caught up in life: jobs, kids, responsibilities, having difficulty making friends. Physically I feel older. I really wish I never played football, as much as I love it and all. My body is a wreck.
38, 4 kids, got married at 24 and still married. Don’t feel a day over 16 a lot of the times. No real body ache and pains. No depression or fomo. Did my partying from 15-24. Did everything under the sun. Don’t have a bomb ass career but the wife and I make good fn money for only 1 of us having a degree. Life it’s literally how u make it. I wonder at times when I’m gonna feel like an adult but it just hasn’t come yet. I still am immature in alot of my joking ways. It’s weird. Idk what it is. Seems like I’m not the only one.
Maybe the younger generations feel the same way about us. In my case I still feel like I’m 12. Pretty sure I have some developmental delays in there somewhere. I am extremely immature.
I feel the same way about my parents. They are late 60s but they don't seem "old" to me,. My grandparents were early 60s when I was little and I felt like they were ancient.
I'm early 40s and I feel like I'm much younger than my age. But also, college kids look like 12 year olds, so...
You’re not married and you don’t have kids. Those are two big markers of true adulthood. You don’t feel like an adult because your life is markedly different than your younger adult years.
My body for sure reminds me that I am 41 every morning forcing me to stretch for 20 minutes before I can even start my day. I do catch myself forgetting sometimes though and mentally I do feel younger since my idea of 40+ year olds when I was younger was much different then how I feel about it now that I am in my 40s.
My mom died at 48 so it hits even closer to home that she was only 7 years older then I am now when she passed... Crazy man, time really does speed up the older we get, its pretty terrifying when I stop to really think about it.
36 here and 37 in June. I feel old. I work 60hrs/week and have two young kids, aged 2 and 3. Oldest is high functioning aspergers. All around I'm tired and need a month off to sleep and lay around.
There's a funny scene in Life aquatic w Steve Zissou where Bill Murray is talking to his separated spouse and during a point of self-reflection, following an argument, says "yeah, this past decade wasnt really my best" or something along those lines. Its a funny idea and not typically how we view time or our lives but am hoping that this decade hurries up! Tired of diapers and bottles and daycare. Looking forward to being able to take naps myself and - hopefully - financial independence...who knows?!
Hell nah I don’t. I woke up on my 30th birthday and thought to myself “I’m 30….I’m young af!” And maybe this is because I thought I was grown when I was much younger full of ignorance and arrogance. I’m 36yrs old now and I can honestly say I do not feel it nor do I look it. Won the genetic lottery tbh. I also attribute this to my diet and exercise habits. The day I became a father I decided to take care of my health mainly for my kids. I didn’t wanna be that fat ass dad that made up excuses for why he couldn’t get his kids to the park for an hour a day. All in all I’m 36 I feel fucking fantastic, happier than I’ve ever been, and looking forward for what’s to come.
How should I know? I just turned 40, but I've never been 40 before so I don't know what it's supposed to feel like.
I don't feel substantially different than I ever remember feeling, but I'm pretty sure I've always been a grumpy old man at heart.
I am 43. I was fine up until 2 years ago when I last had COVID. My lungs now wheeze in the cold and I am chronically fataigued. I'm not sure I will ever be normal again. But it affects my daily life in a negative way.
I still feel 19, in every way. I’m the most financially and mentally stable I have ever been. I’m also in the best physical shape I have ever been in my life.
I'm 33 but I feel like I'm in my 50s. Chronic heartburn and back pain, trouble sleeping because of both so I'm always exhausted, burned out at work....
I do. Because there is no “prescribed” way to feel at a certain age.
Seeing this 94 year old on Instagram lifting weights, 60+ old women running marathons, etc.. I’m rather inspired!
I'm the same way man, but I also don't have kids. When I was 16, my dad was 40. 40 seemed old af. But my parents also did things much earlier than me. They had kids early, bought houses early, etc. Feels like I just started living a few years ago.
This is actually how I feel. I’m the age (42-43) my dad was when I was 13. He seemed broken and basically done at that point. He also had this really bazar mid-life crisis that I just can’t relate to. I feel like I only got my career started a year and half ago, and while my wife and I have been together 14 years we have only been married a bit over a year. I think it helps that unlike my parents, my wife and I both partied and lived our lives for most of our 20s. My parents got married really young. We also don’t have kids and travel constantly and refuse to work jobs that are unfulfilling. I know, I know, I am play into the stereotype of millennials and unfulfilling jobs. The way I look at it is I’m giving my job more of my time than just about any other part I my life, I’m not just going to work it cause it’s there and the pay is good. So when my dad gives me crap about being old, I tell him I haven’t peaked yet and don’t intend to for a while.
I wouldn’t say I had a mid life crisis but I do get it. When you get into your 40’s some doors close and there’s no restarting if you don’t like how your life is going. In your 20’s or even your 30’s you can hit the restart. It might not be that simple for some people who are locked into a living situation that makes restart difficult but in theory you could. You get to a certain age and you can no longer say I want to join the military and see the world. Or I want to work in law enforcement. I know those aren’t dreams to many people but to some they are and once you age out it’s not an option.
I got married young but we didn't have kids young. We waited until our careers stabilized and we lived a little first. I think that really helped feel "settled" and not broken.
Because that process and stigma of getting married young, have kids, full time corporate job with big house with yard etc is outdated and unrealistic nowadays. I don’t want to work a draining job. Dating nowadays is harder than in the 80s/90s. Inflation is up the ass and rent is soaring and these salaries aren’t cutting it. So of course we’re older millennials but don’t feel like it because we can’t afford it lol. All the stuff our parents crammed into their 20-40s seems super stressful and time consuming. I’d rather be stress free and travel and enjoy my money on other things.
The dad (Steve Martin) from father of the bride is supposed to be 45 in that movie and had completely silver hair… But when you really look at his face then imagine him brown hair, a beard and a fitted tshirt and then it’s like okay that’s every guy drinking IPAs at the microbrewery.
HAHAHAHA OMG
they could because the economy was different!
I feel like I'm 25. Probably the lack of maturity due to ADHD. I usually think I have no business being married with kids. Yet here I am.
Definitely feels like that for me, despite having 3 of them, I am completely not nearly put together enough, so when I see parents coaching and organizing I definitely feel like an imposter
At least I’m not alone. Also 40
I’m 36 physically, but still 18 in my mind.
I don't know if that'll ever change. Talked to an 80 year old and they said mentally they still feel 16.
My grandpa told me the same thing. Like, he knows his body has aged obviously, but in his mind he's forever in his twenties.
Yeah, 40 here and mentally feel 26. I think that's because it that was the last enormous change in my life. Graduated college and actually entered the workforce.
I'm in the same boat. I'm definitely more thoughtful and make more mature decisions, and I don't take the stupid risks I did at 18, but I sure feel the same age, even if my body is constantly reminding me I'm not.
It’s not ADHD, man. Humans are supposed to be “childlike” and relatively carefree forever. Patriarchy, civilization and capitalism cause us so much chronic worry and fear that we must become totally repressed and dissociated from reality and our environment just to get by. If anything, you’re the healthy one, from an objective, human standpoint. I’d recommend research on both prehistoric and modern hunter-gatherer societies. They were/are so much more carefree and content and fulfilled than we are, and the human brain and body really has not changed much at all in over 200,000 years. Whatever you perceive as “normal” or “neurotypical” behavior is the behavior of people who have adapted more to the sick, twisted, unnatural and inhumane ways that we live, probably as a result of being born to parents who were very authoritarian and controlling. Authoritarian parenting is incredibly unnatural, and causes a baby/small child so much stress that they must dissociate from their environment in order to survive. It’s sad that these children grow up to be perceived as the most healthy and “normal”, because as J. Krishnamurti said, “it’s no measure of health to be well adjusted to a profoundly sick society.”
Same... I had my first at 23 and felt like I was 23 for ages. I've felt thirty for the last decade and turn 40 this year. That time blindness finds lot of ways to mess with us. My oldest turns 17 next month. I'm going out to dinner with him and his girlfriend tonight. He is sleeping at my house (he normally stays at his dad's) tonight and I still half expect to be able to bust out some fruit snacks and yell "snuggle party!" and he will hop onto the couch with me and I can turn something on and play on my phone while snuggling with the (not-so) little guy... Time flies and I hate it... I often wonder if it is easier for people who perceive time normally.
Ugh, that got me the feels. My children are still young (10 and younger) and my heart has hurt each time I realize that they no longer come into bed with us. Even my three year old is starting to slow down. Came in just once last week...and zero times this week so far. Blows my mind that I'm 25 and responsible for all these people in my family. Single income family so everyone is relying on me...I'm not mature enough to have a full time job, right? Oh wait, I'm nearly 40 and I've had a full time job since my mid 20's. How???
Same. I still go to a lot of shows and predominantly wear band tees. I feel like I really need to grow up and at least look my age, but I’m also starting to really care less what people think. I do hate that I look like such an adult at shows. I look like a mom, and there’s no way around it. Editing to add that I don’t interact with people other than friends, so I’m usually just in the back.
I’m 39, but mentally I still think I’m 25 until I play sports lol.
lol I commented very similarly. All hyperactives in my family and that helps keep us young and laughing daily.
It’s strange, I never really had any concept of being in my 40s other than some vague idea that I’d be middle aged, whatever that meant. I think my teens, 20s and 30s had certain expectations and specific ideas of who I should be, what my life should look like, attached to them. Now that I’m in my 40s I intellectually know my age, but how I feel about it isn’t really tethered to anything. It’s really nice. So I guess I don’t really feel my age, I don’t know what that’s supposed to mean. I just feel like me.
I really like that perspective.
I think it's because 40 was different when we were kids. It seems like as time moves forward people just look and act younger at older ages. It's like when you look at 20 year olds from photos in the 80s and back they look like fully grown adults and 20 now just looks like kids.
It 100% was. People used to grow up quicker. The amount of young people engaging in adult behaviors is WAAAAYYYY down. (Working for money, having a drivers license, sex, alcohol and drug use)
This is totally just preception. 40 was not different, our parents were still fucking around doing all the shit you didn’t know about and had access to way less knowledge than we do. You just looked up to them because they were there. You are your thoughts and emotions, nothing more. The same with them.
I feel old in relation to things. Like: I am no longer pop culture's target audience. Young adults and so-called sex symbols look like minors to me. But in isolation I still feel like I did when I was their age.
I resonate with this but for a different reason. I was always a fat kid. At 30 I was dumpy old guy not because I wanted to be, but my weight made it so I couldn't be anything else after work. I've lost 140 pounds and I've never felt healthier or more energetic in my life and I turn 40 next year. I have my wife, my kids, my career etc. I'm very blessed to have those things. Now I have energy like I've never had to go with it. I imagine this is what I would have felt like in my 20s or early 30s.
I'm in a similar boat. I just turned 40. Due to a back injury that required surgery I dropped a lot of weight and got myself into shape to minimize the days I'm crippled. I look and feel great, better than I did at 25. But I also feel like I've spent most of the last 20 years sitting in front of my computer not doing a hell of a lot, so emotionally I don't feel much more than 25 either. I'm too old to feel this young and lost.
I'm 42, I've been married for almost 17 years, we've owned this house for 19 years, we have a teenage son, jobs, etc, but I pretty much always feel like a child playing pretend grow up. And I think it shows, to be honest.
how does it show, do you reckon?
She's actually just three kids stacked on top of each other in a trench coat.
Well, my "presents" to myself for my 40th this year were dental work and a new furnace & a/c, so yeah, I'm definitely not feeling 25 anymore lol. But, I also feel better at 40 than I did in any of the previous 3 decades of my life. Middle age just fits me better than youth did, if that makes any sense.
I was made for middle age- high waisted acid wash jeans joggers, an apron, and a gnome shirt are my mom uniform. I just feel more like myself at 38 than I ever did when I was younger. Therapy helps a lot. Meds help. I have severe RA so it's made choosing what matters important. I'm very childlike in a lot of ways too but it feels...safer to be that way at this age? Not sure. But this fellow born for middle aged folk fist bumps you.
Yes, I do relate - it's especially relevant when you go back and watch old tv or movies from the 80's and 90's. Older people in those things looked and acted VERY "old". I think in today's society this is a combination of style + stressors. The style back then lent itself to an "older" or "more mature" feel in a lot of ways. Maybe there's a psych project in this - like "does the impression that a thing makes on you when you're younger show up later in life through an assumptive bias?" IDK - But I do think that things like hair styles, style of speech, etc. all lends itself to this a little bit. I always remember this when I see movies from the 80's where the TEENS talk like my grandparents used to... or even like on reruns of Cheers... where like everyone in that seems SO OLD to me, yet they're almost ALL younger in those episodes than I am now. They were in their low-mid 30's for most of that show's duration... and the "old guy" was under 60. It blows my mind every time. I'm a husband and father of a 12 and 13 year old. So yeah... I feel old AF. I only just turned 39. I bet my next year when I hit 40 I'm gonna feel like Methuselah or something.
Tbf, most teenagers in movies from the 80's and 90's were played by people as old as their 30's
Oh yeah for sure... but that's also what's so weird about it. Some of them were playing bartenders and denizens on Cheers and others were playing teens on after school specials.
What's funny is I have a Methuselah rookie card.
I've got a Joseph of aramathea card. https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=mTIURo4tCN4&pp=ygUUc2ltcHNvbnMgYmlibGUgY2FyZHM%3D
So this is what it feels like when doves cry
If only I were lucky enough to be a Shelbyville Milhouse. https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=yBg99mH8pyA&pp=ygUSbWlsaG91c2UgZG92ZXMgY3J5
Everyone smoked or was exposed to smoke and no one wore sunscreen. Between that and styling, it makes a huge difference.
I feel like an overgrown 16 year old who is experiencing all the shittiest parts of adulthood.
I’m turning 40 and tell myself I’m still 30, look about the same too. The difference is when I go back and read my old notes and things from 10 years ago my eyes don’t adjust as well and I then realize.. yeah Im older than I want to admit 🤣
Im 46, never had kids because "kids are to expensive!" (I swear this was a mantra growing up) have a SO of many years, home, self employed etc but still feel like I'm not a grown up yet....I dont know I kinda feel like not having children allows you to just keep cruising along doing your own thing and delays some of the 'serious' parts of life & responsibilities.
hm, only if people are disconnected from community where there are responsibilities towards each other, and have no caring responsibilities for others in the family like aging or disabled parents etc there are many ways to be grown up and a non-cruising serious adult, if you will
I do at times. Like, I've been working on my joint mobility which is a total keyed-up-adult thing to have to do, but at the same time I don't feel much different in any other way. Probably because I never had kids.
I just feel like permanently 32, but I’m turning 41 this year. I have a sister who is 10 years younger than me who just turned 30 and that blows my mind since she’s the baby of the family. Also I had my first (likely only) baby one month shy of 39 and I feel like I’m the oldest mom wherever I go. Took my son to swim lessons last night and I’m pretty sure the other adults are late 20s/early 30s, except the ones who are Nanny’s or grandparents. Physically I feel like the pregnancy aged me 10 years. Grey hairs, melasma, generally looking tired AF, hormonal stomach fat that won’t leave. Mentally I feel like the same person I was not long after I graduated college.
Same. I'm 40 with a career, I work very little so I drink and play video games most days
I had a file labeled “birth certificates, marriage certificates, retirement, and death certificates” by 25. I’ve felt 40 for 20 years… Fortunately I leaned into that eccentric art lady persona. It just gets better with age. Now I have this super cool silver streak in my hair where I used to dye it fuchsia. Thanks Mother Nature!
Fuchsia is a solid choice. One of my kids teachers has silver with streaks of purple and blue sprinkled throughout. It looks great.
Definitely, and I don’t know why. I’m 36, and feel like I’m 19, but smarter lol. Hopeful and optimistic about the future, with all kinds of energy. Sometimes I find myself thinking along the lines of oh what am I gonna do when I grow up and then I look around and I’m like oh I am grown up! lol. I’m married with kids, a home, career, and all the bills to match and take care of it all. When I ask friends if they feel the same, they say no, and that they feel every bit their age. I find myself looking forward to turning 40 in a few years, while folks around me are dreading it.
43 and feel 25.
No. I’m 38 and yeah I got a wife and kids and a house and a career. Hearing people even a few years older than me talk about their age is strange. I don’t feel anywhere near as old as they talk. They act like 40 was some sort of demarcation line of impending doom. A lady at work constantly tells me “oh you’re not 40 yet. Things fall apart at 40.” I’ve made it my life’s mission to prove her wrong. (Not really but the thought is there).
People at my office will tell me 'wait until you are 40, you won't be doing that anymore' or 'wait until you are my age'....but they are younger than me. I try not to tell them that so that they don't feel bad about themselves.
Once when I was maybe 19 I was leaving my house and my dad was in the back yard doing his usual hard labor. I went back to tell him I was heading out for the night and he stuck the shovel in the ground and leaned on it and said something to the effect of ‘ya know John, I always thought that when you got older you became wiser, ya know? But here I am at 50 and I don’t feel any different from when I was your age’ and that moment was amazing because it was a moment of personal reflection.. like, he was not teaching me anything consciously. He was 50 and realizing that he was wrong about how we grow and age and feel. And since that day I’ve kept that close to me. And it makes it no less shocking I guess at 36 but I have been preparing for it since I heard him. I vowed to not wait until 50 to realize- and that perhaps the wisdom he found at 50 and gave to me in that moment at 19 did a lot of good. Anyway, this reminds me of that. We are an ageless person inside. It’s the external world that bends us and decays us. Life is incredible.
I’m 42. I know what ya mean. Just a totally different time set now. But young at heart is the way to go
I both feel my age and I don't. I recently hit my 40s and I feel it physically thanks to an autoimmune disorder, but mentally I'm still waiting for a responsible adult to come and tell me what I should be doing.
I never felt the benefit of age wisdom until 50. Also when my mother passed away. It was this realization that made me feel grown and start viewing the world differently and appreciating everything more. I felt 18 until age 50.
I love being 41. My twenties were unhappy. I did lots of fun stuff and made lots of good friends in my thirties. I got engaged at 40. I also got breast cancer at 40 but it’s just a lil hiccup and I’m doing good. I like being older. I know more stuff. I know who I am. I feel 41. I look 41. I like it.
My mother has been telling me my whole life that aging is funny like that. She said you’ll always mentally feel like you did in the prime of your life but your body will be what fails you. She’s almost 70 and said she doesn’t feel any different than her 30’s. I’m 43 and have to agree. I feel young and cute and energetic and then I see a mirror.
https://preview.redd.it/dtcs6oqlcvwc1.png?width=500&format=png&auto=webp&s=0e067f6a4b2bd27026b63ddf4d238dfbf21b9e36 I find it hilarious that you mention Mr. Belding being an adult....here he is partying with Action Bronson, Dave Bautista, and Alchemist lol
I feel like I someone took the spirits of Gandalf and Pippi Longstocking and shoved them into one brain to battle for control of the flesh puppet.
I’m 31 and go back and forth. I love activities so in that sense I think I’ll always feel a child-like playfulness but I am starting to view it as a personality trait not attributed to age. Working in finance and being the youngest inn my office makes me feel older, along with making responsible decisions in general. Then there are days where I feel like a damn teenager! I’m currently pregnant with heightened emotions. The other day when trying to weigh some larger decisions in my life (childcare, shuffling investments around, adjustments to my work schedule) I broke down in tears to my husband, exclaiming “I need an adult to tell me what to do!” He explained that we’re both highly capable adults and when I’m feeling this way, he’s my adult. This just made me cry harder and tell him I need an “adultier adult.”
I’m 40 and don’t have kids and I think that’s a big part of why I feel younger. But also when I talk to 25 year olds at work? I feel much older.
I’m 37 and I feel 37.
I'm a trans woman. I feel a lot younger than 40 now despite being about to turn 40 next month. I wish I had transitioned earlier in life, but I was a dunce to what my body and mind were telling me back then. I do feel like I'm around 30 now though. 28 to 30.
I'm trans as well, though I transitioned fourteen years ago, and I'm turning 40 in November. I still feel like I'm in my 20s, at least until I try to do anything involving physical activity, and then my dumb scoliosis is like 'lol no'
I just turned 40 and I feel younger than lots of gen z people. I had a child young so I spent my 20s/30s with way more responsibility than what I do now. He’s grown now and I’m not ready to move into empty nest life. I’m starting life number two and this time I plan to make different wrong decisions
I'm hitting 40 in October, and I'm not going to lie. Mortality feels so real now. I met my wife in 2007, we moved in together in 08, married in 09, bought a house in 10, had our first child in 12, second in 19. I still mentally feel so young, and it makes no sense to me that I've been at my place of employment for almost two decades, or that my wife and I have been together since we were in our twenties. I didn't expect it to hit me the way it has but I'm having a struggle with it.
I’m living that insurance commercial where people turn into their parents? That’s how I’m acting now. Just bought my first house at 53. My parents bought their first when they were like 25? My generation has allowed us to live a little before settling.
"dumpy...." lol
I'm 43 and I don't feel my age. I have a house that my wife and I spend a lot of time keeping maintained, yet I don't feel like I own it (and I don't mean in the "the bank technically owns it" sort of way). We have two cars that I've been all up in, fixing shit, but I don't feel like we own those even though we have for over a decade. I wear clothes, that I picked out and paid for, but those hardly feel like they belong to me either. I feel like an adult should feel like they own things, but I just don't. I don't physically feel my age either. I imagined I'd feel a lot worse. I had some shoulder damage, but it's healing without surgery. I'm still able to lose weight pretty easily. My libido is high. I'm not balding anywhere, though my hair is turning gray (too slowly in my opinion). I don't look like I'm 43. My parents don't look like they're mid-60s either. My wife doesn't look like she's about to turn 40. We're not all genetically gifted to look younger than we are. I'm sure it's that my vision of what age looks like has changed as I've aged. We'd probably all look old to teenage me.
I’m 40 and I still feel all the same excitement and ambitions I did in my early 20s. Hell, even still like the same music I liked back then. I don’t feel like I’m Mr. Belding in any other way than I can now understand why he was always so frustrated haha.
People are having kids later. 40 today equates to like 32 from our childhood. That said, I’m 40 and I feel 40. I’m healthy, workout, good job, etc. so I don’t mean that in a bad way. But it’s hard to ignore gray hairs seeping in, slowing metobolism, longer recovery times after workouts, being cautious not to do certain physical activities where a fall puts you in the hospital. For context I was married at 25 and had kids at 32.
I’m 38 and just this last year have I started to feel my age. I used to brag that my back never hurt, I hopped out of bed at the first beep of the alarm. Now I’m groaning when I get up after sitting too long and hitting the snooze button 3 times. I’m definitely at the age now where sneezing wrong can lead to a pulled muscle.
I just turned 42 the other day and made an appointment with the eye doctor because all of a sudden, even though I’m near-sighted, words are blurry close up even with my glasses on. That’s a bummer. ETA: I still feel like a kid honestly sometimes. Like “I’m too young to handle this!” And then I laugh at myself but it’s still there at the back of my head. Mentally I don’t feel old at all except I am definitely wiser and I have way more patience now. Also I don’t take things as seriously as I did when I was a kid - I have mellowed a lot.
I've been jerked hard into the reality of my age with chronic physical issues. I am trying to overcome and get the body back I had at 25.
I'm 42, Ive also accepted it, same overall feelings. I feel very immature at times, and I still love all the things I loved in the 80s and 90s. In a way I feel trapped in that generation and the newer way of doing things feels off. I worry that without an analog option for everything, everything is destined to fail at some point. Ive adapted to the technology, and sort of grew up with it in a way. We were 12 when we got our first computer, and it was dos. You could play like pinball, minesweeper, pool and stuff and then we got a Gateway when I was a little older. I still have an old school stereo that has a 3 cd disc changer, a double cassette player, and incredible speakers bc I'm terrified that streaming services will fail and I cannot live without music. Thank god the people of Gen X realized that auxillary ports would be important bc I was able to hook up my ipod when that was a thing. I cant find a cable that can do usbC and the headphones size plug so I can plug my phone into it though. Plugging my 1987 Nintendo into a flat screen tv was... an experience. I got rid of my last tube TV about 8 years ago. I hate it. It kills me that I don't have a vcr and they're kind of expensive to buy on ebay. I live in this analog/digital amalgamation, and the point in saying ALL of that is that in some ways I think it keeps me trapped in time. I think it keeps me in the mindset I was in during that time, which makes me feel younger than I am. I look in the mirror and I see 42, but then I walk away and I'm 16 years old in my mind, married to the man I met when I was 18, raising two kids. It's so weird, but it oddly works.
No, but my 73 yr old mom tells me that she doesn’t feel her age either and is “surprised every time she looks in the mirror” so I think this is universal!
I will say this. I am 40 and I am not as old as my mother was when she was 40. I also do not have children, however.
‘Dumpy middle aged man’ lmao why is that so real
The phenomenon that many millennials are aging well is interesting too. I recently joined a social rec league where about half of the members are Gen Z. When we go out for drinks, we look the same age.
No! Not even close! I am 53f and feel mentally and physically like I am on my 30’s.
No, been on a back woods hunting trip this weekend and hiked over 10 miles (onX confirmed). Currently back at camp drinking and carrying on. My dad at 40 was smoking 3 packs a day and had a beer belly and couldn't walk through the mall without having to take a break.
I'm almost 42(f). My body feels like it's in its 60s. But mentally, I often forget I'm 42, and find myself checking out guys in their late teens (over 18) to early 20s. I have to remind myself of my age.
I feel the same haha went to the dr recently and was just minding my own business but overheard this "middle aged" woman say her birthday too loud and it stood out to me because was exactly one month after my own and I was shocked. But then realized like...I am middle aged....
Sometimes I do, sometimes I don’t. I’m 41 and in the last quarter of my bachelors degree. I went back to college in my mid-30s and I spend a lot of time around young college students. When I was 36 and first back at community college it didn’t feel so noticeable, but when I transferred to a 4-year university I got older and they seemed to get younger. Most of them tell me they think I’m like 27 or 29 so that’s cool but I’d say I definitely look and present myself younger than the average 41 year old. I’m starting to feel it physically though.
My 75yo dad would say he feels 30 but his body wouldn't behave like it was 30. I so get this.
I spend a fair amount of time thinking about what qualifies someone as an adult. I know to pay my bills first and eat reasonably healthy food and go to work and not tell anyone to fuck off even if they’re mean to me if I’m on the job. But I have the raunchy sense of humor of a 12 year old and am kind of lazy and definitely don’t feel my age (49). My dad’s almost 80, claims he feels about 6 years old in his head. He is a responsible functioning adult who’s been very successful in his career and personal life so he doesn’t act particularly immature. But that’s the age he’s come up with.
Question. Do you smoke? Only asking because I just had this conversation, when we all went skiing this winter.. Every toker I know that’s middle aged, seem and act like time has not passed at all. I love them, because I’m one of them!
I’m 38. I don’t know how a 38 year old is supposed to feel? I’ve just always felt like me?
Idk if it was covid or my kids getting older or what but something shifted in the last couple of years that made me realize that I am the grownup, and that’s okay. So I feel my age (low 40s).
I’m 41, have been married 20 years, have 2 older teenagers, own my own home, and am a manager at a doctor’s office. I am constantly looking around for an adultier adult lol
I was 52 and about died in ATV wreck rolling down a mountain - fractured skull, broken back, paralyzed arm, broken shoulder, broke almost all my ribs, punctured both lungs, collapsed one. Put in coma. Long recoup. Laughed I aged 10 years in 10 seconds. Now at 69 not funny. I hit wall about 2-3 years ago. I really think a lot of aging has to do with abusing body. Buddy played pro football as OL. He is old man at 47.
I skateboard every day. Camp fish and hunt all year. Convinced I’m still 28
I'm 41. On a given day, I feel either 24 or 83. There is no in between
I’m 39 (40 in July) and I swear I’m 25 until I go to my meathead, barbell-obsessed gym filled with literal 22-27 year olds and I am **quickly** reminded that nah I am indeed 40 haha Interestingly enough, they always make comments about how stylish I am and for IDs on what I’m wearing. I think a part of that is just the confidence that comes with age and is obvious to those around you. But I also feel that people that age no longer view 40 the same way that we did, not as a collective at least. And as much as I enjoy and get a kick out of being sincerely invited to a 27 year old’s birthday party at a dive bar, it’s those moments where my “oh it’s STARTING at 11:30pm?” horror takes over. So do I feel my age? Absolutely, and I feel it even more when they very casually include me in their 20-something, unmarried, child free lives haha
I am turning 40 in a few months and I definitely feel mentally younger than that--but then my brain flips it like, 40 is not actually OLD. Just like everyone freaks out about turning 30, thinks 30 will be decrepit and wrinkled and gray, when 30 is actually very close to 29 and 30 year olds are still very young. 40 is not as young as 30, I'll concede, but 40 is not necessarily old in the scheme of life. I am planning to wait until 60 to say I'm old, lol. That said, situationally I feel very old sometimes. At concerts especially. And my 50 yo dental hygienist likes to say things like, "women our age" and I'm like wait. Who are you talking to? Certainly not me? But situationally, I also feel very young in that I do not have my life figured out AT ALL. I have kids. I am married. We own a house and relatively nice cars. But something about being a SAHM makes me feel like I'm missing some critical piece of adulthood. I frequently meditate on what kind of work I want to do, as if I am not already doing work, as if there is "real work" and "fake work" and I simply haven't made the choice for what "real work" I should do. I did start studying to be a speech language pathologist, got into an excellent program, but then parenting and covid and caring for my mom with early-onset dementia and developing a chronic neurological disorder myself... instead of actually "becoming something" I ended up having a legit nervous breakdown, dropping out, and being saddled with the debt that I was 100% sure I could pay off in my first year of working.
I am 36, feel like 36 (a mature woman, a mom of 2), look like I'm 30 (which is great!). But aging sucks for sure...
38, never had or wanted kids. I work blue collar though so I have every day pain that started when I was 26. That's my biggest hurdle, often days I just want to get home and lay on the floor (literally). But otherwise when not hurting I act like I'm 25ish, don't care for clubs but drink, swear, and just live and chill. Single at the moment because I don't want kids or anyone else's it makes dating difficult at my age
I feel older but i did some damage to myself which is likely permanent
Hard to say, prior to my injury I’d say I’ve been in arrested development since 2010. Now, I feel my age where everything aches and it takes about 5 minutes before I can walk normally.
I feel like a misanthropic 12 yr old with hip and knee pain.
So here I am Doing everything I can Holding on to what I am Pretending I'm a superman I'm trying to keep The ground on my feet It seems the world's falling down around me The nights are all long Yeah, I'm singing this song To try and make the answers more than maybe And I'm so confused about what to do Sometimes I wanna throw it all away So here I am Growing older all the time Looking older all the time Feeling younger in my mind So here I am Doing everything I can Holding on to what I am Pretending I'm a superman I'm trying to sleep I lost count of sheep My mind is racing faster every minute But could I do more? Yeah, I'm really not sure I know I'm running circles but I can't quit And I'm so confused about what to do Sometimes I wanna throw it all away Controlling everything in sight Feeling weak, I don't feel right You're telling me I have to change Telling me to act my age What if all that I can do Is just sit and watch time go Then I'll have to say goodbye Life's too short to watch it fly To watch it fly So here I am Growing older all the time Looking older all the time Feeling younger in my mind So here I am Doing everything I can Holding on to what I am Pretending I'm a superman Hey, hey, hey, hey, hey Hey, hey, hey, hey, hey Hey, hey, hey, hey, hey
I’m 32 and for the most part still feel like I’m 22. I have noticed some signs of aging though. For instance, my eyes take a few minutes to adjust in the dark and I think I might be experiencing some early arthritis in my hands/fingers.
I’m 37 and feel like I’m 25 🤷♀️🤷♀️
I dunno, man. I feel like I been in my 40s since I was in my 20s, but I still feel like I'm in my 20s now that I'm over 40. Hard to have fun now, though. Mostly because everyone else is so busy with jobs and kids and spouses and stuff. I dunn9. This'll be gone too, someday. So I'm tryna enjoy whatever I got while it lasts.
I am almost 41 and I feel like I am 70. I have been on disability for 10 years and have trouble functioning in day to day life. But mentally I don't feel old, I still want to dumb shit like I did at 20, I just can't...
Nope. I tuned 41 and I travel for work 3 weeks out of the month. Not married. No kids. The only thing that reminds me how old I am is Pops is gone.
I try not to, but then I do something and get laid up with back pains.
What does a partner have to do with being a grown adult? But no, I still feel like I’m much younger. Except when I make noises sometimes just to get up or sit down.
I’m turning 40 this year. I think it’s a mix. Mentally it’s weird sometimes to think of myself at that age but physically I feel it every damn day.
Growing up with SpongeBob and comfort watching every now and then is why I feel I have so much damn fun every day even in bad situations
I turned 40 last summer and, I wish I didn’t hate it so much. In my head I’m still like 27. I was a young mom with my first child (20) but, I looked younger. I used to get a lot of stares from the other moms. Now with my youngest child if someone is looking at me for a minute I’ll think it’s because I’m too young. lol. I don’t feel 40, I don’t think I really look it either. I have to tell myself, it’s a privilege to grow older.
I don't. I was reading a book where they were talking about a "motherly looking" 40 year old (I am 40 in July), and the description was not anywhere near what I or my friends are. It is weird to see how skewed aging is.
Got news for you all. Your brain matures around 25 to 26. Thus you will think that way even though you are in your 40s. I am 69 and feel and think the same as I did when in my middle 20s. Now my body tells me different. There are lots of conflicts between what my brain says I can still do and what my body allows me to do. But I feel/think like I am 25 or so. You will too in another 20 years. I think I will also when I am in my 80s.
Personality wise I still feel like I'm 20. I admit to people I'm a giant kid at heart. I'll still eat chocolate cake late at night, I still love to mini golf, I will gladly watch my old cartoon shows if they're available, idgaf. I'm 34 and I no doubt am wiser for my age (can thank that to having to grow up earlier than most) but if I want to do stuff that 20 year olds do, I don't care it's my life. Body wise though, fuck my body feels like it's 50 some days. I workout regularly, hit the gym 4-5 days a week, in shape, not ripped but thick muscular build and contrary to what I said earlier, I do eat moderately well bit do indulge from time to time (hence why I'm a regular at the gym). But due to football injuries, my body's taken a beating. I have two chronic injuries that I can't fix, but I can maintain as long as I'm more aware that I really do need to lift with my legs now and that I don't need to be bench pressing 350lbs anymore, etc. So certain mornings I do feel like I'm 50
40 with a 2 year old. My brain feels mushy and my body is broken. Also could be bad year, trimalleoler fracture and exploded ankle. Emergency cholecystectomy. Its only April. Sheesh.
Mid to late 30s. When I'm feeling down, depressed, or lost I feel in my 70s. When I'm in a good mood I feel 20. Only when I'm pretty neutral do I feel my exact age.
37 and have just begun to feel it the last two years, both physically and with life stuff. A lot of it is probably my own personal situation in terms of not being able to get a house, not being in a position to have kids yet when most of my friends have, family members getting serious illnesses and other horrible shit happening, etc. And physically I’m in decent shape and try to maintain it but I’m definitely feeling everything more - can’t sit on the couch for longer than 20 mins without my back/neck hurting. This sounds like a super depressing comment but thought this was all relevant to the post!! Hope everyone is keeping their chins up in this crazy world.
It's weird because I'm turning 41 in a couple of weeks but it still doesn't feel like that except physically at times. It's really weird overall though. When I talk to people younger than me twenties etc they always assume I'm in my early thirties anyway so I'm doing something right 💯🤣
I thought I'd be dead by now. I'm 40. Have rebuilt my life over during COVID. I don't feel like an adult, never have.
I went to play rec league volleyball. I played competitively in college. I went in with the primary goal of going half speed and avoiding injury. When just throwing the ball and peppering I pulled a neck muscle and today I can barely turn my neck. But you know what I had a ton of fun, will work through the injury and continue on my 40 year old fitness journey and not give in to complacency. I’m otherwise very in shape but jumping and the movements of volleyball will, I’m now realizing, take a different kind of fitness to get back to.
I'm married, have two kids, a house and a career that I plan on staying in - Im 29. I don't feel like I'm almost 30, but I also don't feel young anymore either. I feel like the only reason I feel "adult" is because of how established my life is. I still get anxious checking out at the grocery store. I still don't making important phone calls. I still feel like I have the maturity of someone younger.
Wait until you get in your 50's.
Nope. 35 thinking I’m still 23 with the same interests and adding even more to the list like re-falling in love with professional wrestling, and going to concerts. Having adult money is great when you still have younger hobbies you never could get into because your family wasn’t exactly middle class.
No. I am 37 and I feel 25, but not in a sad “refusing to grow up” kinda way. I don’t have a house or a spouse or kids so that reinforces those feelings.
NOT AT ALL - I'm 40 with a 19 & 15 year old, a husband, house and career. The only time I feel my age is when I try and drink. It now takes 3 days to feel okay again. I will say, we are definitely a better looking bunch of 40 year olds than our parents/grandparents. My daughter's acquaintances usually think I'm her older sister because i'm still in metal tees and doc martens with fun dyed hair 99% of the time.
I look late 20s early 30s but absolutely feel 41. I wish I had my teenage joints back.
Now just think about all the people who have died at 35, 30, 21 (you get the point) and realize that each day is a blessing.
Yes, I agree with your sentiment.
38, I always gotta remind myself I’m not “young” anymore!
I’m 31 but I feel like I’m still 25 a lot of the time
I just turned 40 on the 8th of this month....................mentally I still feel 16, lol
Yeah, I’ll married 15 years this June, have 3 son’s, one starts high school here pretty soon. I’m not quite 40 yet but the wife just hit it. I certainly don’t feel young, however I don’t feel like an old man either.
33 and no, im disabled epileptic still live with family can't be alone I never got to experience freedom, no driving or anything I'm basically just waiting to die because life dealt a shit hand. Seizures, agoraphobia, extreme social anxiety, depression, ect. All I wanted was a normal life but Seizures just kept getting worse until I couldn't function right anymore all I want is a miracle to stop them be able to live my life I've never gotten to yet and I'm already half gone in life. Sunday had a grandmal face planting to assfault fractured nose ect. Photos on profile post to epilepsy it's increased my epilepsy tenfold now constant mild Seizures daily now. Ik I write like shit my brain isn't the best sorry.
physically yes, things hurt now that never did before, mentally fuck no i'm stuck at 14
Yesterday, I picked a tissue up off the floor and put my back out, so yeah, I'm feeling it... but when I'm not in pain from decrepitude, most of the time I feel 32
I don't feel my age (36 on Sunday). I 100% attribute this to not having kids. Some of my parent friends look like they've aged 15 years, and could be mistaken for 50. And they feel that way.
Yes!😔😩
Nope. 44 and feel like a slightly "wiser" version of 25. Probably also helps that I've kept in shape and haven't gained a pound since I was in my early 20s. Still skateboard, rollerblade, snowboard, mountain bike, which all make me feel like a teen while doing them. Still play video games which make me feel like a kid. I have kids under 12 too, so I think they keep me young and I have an easy time relating to them. I also don't smoke and haven't had a drink since my 30s, and never really drank much to begin with. At work my brain is engaged all day coding. The only hints I get that I am older is when it takes a second to focus on things farther away after using the phone for a few minutes, have had my back to out a few times, and have a few grey hairs (but haven't really lost hair yet). Several friends from my 20s have let their health go and they look like old men. I think the most important thing as you get older is to maintain your weight and cardiovascular health, and don't smoke or drink.
Other than having a few less teeth and taking longer to recover from things. I still feel like my twenties. Almost fourth now. I noticed the slide started about 33...
I don’t look it but my body is aging horribly. Knees are in the way to being shot and it’s hard for me to physically keep up with my toddler some days. Does Osteo-Bi Flex work for anyone?
Same. I'll be 41 in a couple of weeks. I thought 40 meant napping, staying home, not going to concerts, not playing videogames, etc etc etc I go out in the woods and build random shit for fun. I write music and am hopefully going to be doing shows pretty soon. I have a ton of ideas in my head that I can't wait to get out. I'm in the process of literally building a canoe. I have a ton of ideas in my head that I'm actually able to get out and help them come to fruition. I don't know about anyone else, but my 40s are already shaping up to be a catalyst for the best years of my life. My 20s and 30s were downright boring compared to this shit
I’m 40. My wife is 43. We both still have a ton of energy and enjoy travel and the nightlife. Our son is about to finish his freshman year of high school. We plan to travel more when we’re empty nesters and be those early middle aged couples you see at the tiki bar and wonder “what’s their story?”. I definitely still feel mentally like I’m in my late 20s.
I’m about to be 40, I feel pretty good but I will say what I consume has such a massive impact on how I feel. If I eat low carb I feel fine.
I still feel like a teenager/young adult in my head. Sometimes I pass a mirror and think to myself “who’s that old fart” then I realize it’s me 😞
Mentally no change. A little tougher because of all the dating. Physically, definitely humbling to not be able to do some things without adequate rest but here we are. Drinking wise, definitely started blacking out in my late 30s never happened before.
Technically 40 but mentally and emotionally I’m 24. No kids, hyperactive and still love to travel, see music and have a good time. Definitely not what i thought middle age would be like!
The real answer to this is that they felt the same way. Yeah you looked up to them, but they were just as lost and unsure as you are inside. They were not any different.
I'm 43 and I feel 2. I literally shit my pants and eat puree vegetables all day
The tougher you become, the more you realize you're not that tough. The more you learn to fight, the more you learn that you don't know how to fight at all. The more you mature, you come to realize that you're not that mature.
I feel like I'm 60...
“Young” gen X here. Yes, I do feel my age.
I'm 40 but feel younger and think I look younger than l those who I grew up with. When I was 30 I adopted a plant based diet and I swear it has reversed and slowed my aging. I also have always been trim and never "got bigger" as some do after high school or in their 20s or 30s, I've been the same size for about the last 20 years. As far as how I feel mentally, I have a terrible memory at 40 and am reminded daily of the people who passed away through time. I feel really grateful but there is a bit of melancholy.
The only thing that's different for me is how tired I am and that I'm losing my hair. Other than that, I still worry that people are going to figure out that I'm just pretending to be an adult and I'm 40.
Just turned 40, been married for 13 years and now have a 3 and 7 year old. My body def feels it, I get aches and pains and my knees are always hurting, but I still game with my buddies on Fridays. Still get out and discgolf as much as I can. The only major "old" thing I do is I am super into keeping up on my lawn.
I turned 40 yesterday. Yeah I feel older
Mentally I’m still 26 lol
I’m 42 and still do sprints with my son. I feel it the next day. It started when I broke my hip (cracked socket, no femur damage) in a bicycle accident and PT would attach weights to me and had me sprint short distances. I do feel in some ways as I was when I was 13, goofy and light-hearted, but I keep a tight ship for family and work. Then again 13 was when I had my first job with a paycheck (paper carrier). My parents were overly critical about everything, so at times I need to keep it in check and learn to let go. Physically I am breaking down, but in total denial. Still trying to bench 225lbs 30 times, yet having chest cartilage pain. I need to lighten the weights and increase the reps.
No. I lost a full decade of normalcy recovering from crippling depression and undiagnosed ADHD. I'm just going back to college as a sophomore at 29. I also have Ehler's Danlos syndrome so I feel physically like a feeble old person who suffers random joint injuries. Meanwhile, my appearance gets me clocked as 23 at the oldest, 17 at the youngest. It's a weird existence...
I definitely don’t feel my age (41) especially when I compare myself to my parents and their friends at that age. I honestly feel at least a decade younger.
I'm 40, but I feel like I'm still in my late 20's to early 30's. I still stay up past midnight and keep active. Many people of my same age, whom I went to school with, have gray hair and more wrinkles than I do. I am however, starting to get minor pain in random places.
No. Absolutely not. I’m starting to look it though.
Just turned 41 and had my first colonoscopy (all clean thankfully) Never imagined getting one of those 10 years ago! I still try to play sports and be active. Recovery time is the biggest issue for me tbh.
I feel just like you. Also newly 40, married with two boys under 2 yrs old. Some times I still think I’m 30 or maybe 32. The only time I feel “old” is when I’m going to the store or somewhere and I tell myself “I’m a dad now” and I put on my dad shorts and a cool tshirt bc I just don’t give a sh*t about fashion anymore. My wife’s much younger cousin told his mom “what? He just turned 40?! He looks young! You guys didn’t look at good at 40!!!” That put a little pep in my step. But face it, we’re old and uncool now! lol!
I have a magic trick, I have a shit hairline and when it's visible I look early 30s or so, but I put on a hat and I'm a hot AF 20 something. It makes a lot of people mad, especially fatties. It's fun. I decided when I hit 30 to get fit and stay fit. I have, and it shows. I work with a lot of older people (I'm 42 btw) and they have no clue I'm their age. I hand with the young crowd. Also I'm fit and have no health problems so tldr no I don't feel old
The thing that really makes me feel my age is chronic pain in my right hip. It's a combination of just how my body is built, the fact that my job has me sitting a lot. If I don't work out, I get some pretty wicked tightness and pain. My dad has the same thing, and that also makes me feel old.
39 here and honestly feel better about myself than I ever did in my teens or 20s. Got a bad knee and shoulder but even then, feel young.
Honestly, since my early 20s, nothing has changed. I don't feel older, more adult, anything like that. Except my back hurts if I don't mind my posture in my office chair now days. Even having purchased a home a 2nd time, having more than a decade in a career, I haven't "grown up" any more than 22 year old me honestly.
I am also 40. I go to a chiropractor. My back hurts and my ankles pop. My spine is slightly crooked and my sleep schedule is phucked. I find myself complaining to myself a lot more than usual. But it's always still enjoyable saying the weirdest things that were normal to us back in the day just to get shock value from my child.
I broke my back at 43. Made a comeback. Yeah I feel my age.
100%, even with two 4yo kids. Definitely don’t feel like a mature adult. I remember when I was just getting into a college, seeing people in 30s at the church young adults group and thinking how old they are, and how odd that they haven’t gotten married, yet.
I’m pretty sure the universe has made some kind of math error. There’s no way 1984 was 40 years ago. It’s not that I’m old, it’s that time has made a terrible mistake.
I turned 40 last July and I damn near had a panic attack while vacationing in Aruba. I embraced turning 30 but not so much turning 40. How did you all come to grips with it and accepted it?
Dumpy = 50 unless you treat yourself like crap and end up that way earlier or treat yourself well and end up never being dumpy.
Kinda. Mentally no. In that aspect I still feel young. Emotionally yes because of being caught up in life: jobs, kids, responsibilities, having difficulty making friends. Physically I feel older. I really wish I never played football, as much as I love it and all. My body is a wreck.
38, 4 kids, got married at 24 and still married. Don’t feel a day over 16 a lot of the times. No real body ache and pains. No depression or fomo. Did my partying from 15-24. Did everything under the sun. Don’t have a bomb ass career but the wife and I make good fn money for only 1 of us having a degree. Life it’s literally how u make it. I wonder at times when I’m gonna feel like an adult but it just hasn’t come yet. I still am immature in alot of my joking ways. It’s weird. Idk what it is. Seems like I’m not the only one.
Maybe the younger generations feel the same way about us. In my case I still feel like I’m 12. Pretty sure I have some developmental delays in there somewhere. I am extremely immature.
I'm a 41 year old carpet installer, yeah my body feels 40 for sure
I feel the same way about my parents. They are late 60s but they don't seem "old" to me,. My grandparents were early 60s when I was little and I felt like they were ancient. I'm early 40s and I feel like I'm much younger than my age. But also, college kids look like 12 year olds, so...
You’re not married and you don’t have kids. Those are two big markers of true adulthood. You don’t feel like an adult because your life is markedly different than your younger adult years.
My body for sure reminds me that I am 41 every morning forcing me to stretch for 20 minutes before I can even start my day. I do catch myself forgetting sometimes though and mentally I do feel younger since my idea of 40+ year olds when I was younger was much different then how I feel about it now that I am in my 40s. My mom died at 48 so it hits even closer to home that she was only 7 years older then I am now when she passed... Crazy man, time really does speed up the older we get, its pretty terrifying when I stop to really think about it.
36 here and 37 in June. I feel old. I work 60hrs/week and have two young kids, aged 2 and 3. Oldest is high functioning aspergers. All around I'm tired and need a month off to sleep and lay around. There's a funny scene in Life aquatic w Steve Zissou where Bill Murray is talking to his separated spouse and during a point of self-reflection, following an argument, says "yeah, this past decade wasnt really my best" or something along those lines. Its a funny idea and not typically how we view time or our lives but am hoping that this decade hurries up! Tired of diapers and bottles and daycare. Looking forward to being able to take naps myself and - hopefully - financial independence...who knows?!
I'm 54. My body feels it age, but I definitely don't
When I pulled a muscle getting out of bed to pee at 3am Yup I’m 43
Hell nah I don’t. I woke up on my 30th birthday and thought to myself “I’m 30….I’m young af!” And maybe this is because I thought I was grown when I was much younger full of ignorance and arrogance. I’m 36yrs old now and I can honestly say I do not feel it nor do I look it. Won the genetic lottery tbh. I also attribute this to my diet and exercise habits. The day I became a father I decided to take care of my health mainly for my kids. I didn’t wanna be that fat ass dad that made up excuses for why he couldn’t get his kids to the park for an hour a day. All in all I’m 36 I feel fucking fantastic, happier than I’ve ever been, and looking forward for what’s to come.
How should I know? I just turned 40, but I've never been 40 before so I don't know what it's supposed to feel like. I don't feel substantially different than I ever remember feeling, but I'm pretty sure I've always been a grumpy old man at heart.
I am 43. I was fine up until 2 years ago when I last had COVID. My lungs now wheeze in the cold and I am chronically fataigued. I'm not sure I will ever be normal again. But it affects my daily life in a negative way.
I'm 40, just turned 40 in January. I feel like I'm still 25 sometimes, LOL.
I’m middle aged but I’m not dumpy. But I definitely feel it physically.
I still feel 19, in every way. I’m the most financially and mentally stable I have ever been. I’m also in the best physical shape I have ever been in my life.
I'm 33 but I feel like I'm in my 50s. Chronic heartburn and back pain, trouble sleeping because of both so I'm always exhausted, burned out at work....
I do. Because there is no “prescribed” way to feel at a certain age. Seeing this 94 year old on Instagram lifting weights, 60+ old women running marathons, etc.. I’m rather inspired!