Feel old?

Now, this isn't a thread about my birthday (which I will probably forget about until someone reminds me). It's something I was thinking about when looking back at some of my older (no pun intended) ZU friends and acquaintences, here.

Do you FEEL OLD?

I will be 29... I joined ZU at the ripe old age of 19... Pretty soon I will celebrating a decade of being a ZU Oldbie. When I joined I was already considered pretty ancient for the average age of members.

But now I look around, and I'm pushing THIRTY. Some days (because of my job and the pressures of life) I really DO feel old. But other days I actually can't remember my age and for a fleeting moment I think I'm early twenties again.

So for my fellow OLD ZUers... do you feel old? Or has age just not hit you, yet?

Oddly enough BBD, I had a very lengthy discussion with my mother today about the fact that I'm going to be 30 next month.
30 is going to hit me pretty hard.

I can't explain why either. I've always felt that I have been wise beyond my years.... but young at heart.

I actually broke down in tears today thinking about it. It's just hard to believe that 30 years have gone by, and what do I have to show for it? I guess the number is just starting to make me think about my life choices, and think about what could have been if things would have been different. What is worse is that I'm VERY happy with my life right now... couldn't be happier... but the whole 30th birthday is fudging it all up.

BAH.

*hugs BBD as she needs a hug right now*

It depends. On this forum, I feel fairly young, what with most people seeming to be in their 20's and whatnot.

At school, as a Senior, I feel pretty old but it's not too noticeable. It's more like old in the "I'm awesome" way rather than "Gah! Wrinkles!"

At work, I feel so young as most of the people their are adults in their 20's and 30's. But unlike ZU, these people aren't that friendly to me when I ever have to talk to them.

*hugs sadi* I really get what you mean -- even though I'm happy with life, it's weird... my last year as a 20-something. And 29 is so darn close to thirty it's like "practically thirty anyway!"

I wonder how it will feel to be a young 30s....

I guess we can look on the bright side -- if we're really fortunate and live to be 90, we're only 1/3 of the way through! (Of course my dietary and exercise choices would probably not allow for that...darn you almost 30 years of pizza, fried chicken, and chinese food!)

Manny: You know what really makes me feel old? When I constantly get the urge to say, "When I was your age" or "I remember being that age and..."

I feel like a 100 years old in my mind, but like a teenager in spirit. Which to me is a nice combination. I really never think about age in that sense, and I never really worry about "what I will have to show for" in the next ten or maybe twenty years.
I try just to live by each day and in the process age and grow wiser or dumber like every other human being.

I'm 23 by the way.

I am slowly approaching age nineteen. I still have over a year of being a teenager and then I've got the 20's to look forward to. If anything, right now I feel like I'm sitting in the launch pad and it's slowly counting down from ten... and soon enough I'll be shot forward into the dark, foreboding abyss of life and begin a long and incredible journey.

I mean, how can I feel old when I can't even legally purchase alcohol in my country? :P

I'm 21.
I feel pretty damn young and inexperienced still.
Then I realize my cousin is going into high school and he was born in 1998, and then I feel old.

I feel like the youngest person in the planet.

I'm 20, I've felt like I've done a lot of ♥♥♥♥ (probably not true, but what the heck, it's what I feel) but even then, it's like my life is just starting, and there's even more ♥♥♥♥ I haven't done but I plan to, like actually finishing one of my stupid games... Some day it will happen... And I'll get my million dollars, just you wait!

It also helps that I'm the youngest guy in my class. Everyone there is like, 23 to 30 years old, I got there when I was 18 and everyone was like "woah you're like a stupid little kid or something" when they asked how old I was.

I'm still pretty young (don't ask), and I feel like my life is already almost over.

So I guess I don't feel old per se, but I feel like my life will soon shortly... come to a close?

Xeno, dont say things like that.


Im 31. I feel pretty old all the time. I got mad grey hair and have seen a lot of things.
EDIT: I should elaborate. I remember a time without the interwebz and handheld phone devices that allowed you to go on the interwebz. I remember brick cell phones were things only the rich had. I remember the Loma Prieta earthquake in 1989. I remember when Mark McGuire was still playing baseball. I remember when Magic Johnson was the biggest thing next to Larry Bird. Michael Jordan being the other biggest thing. I remember Wayne Gretsky. I remember Spuds McKenzie and Joe Camel.

I remember seeing the very first Bevis and Butthead episode. Yeah. Ive seen many bands play, many things come and go. Many many things. Jobs, pets, homes....yeah...i feel a bit old. Especially when i see my signs of aging. Im getting the dreaded dark circles under my eyes.

My uncle made me feel kinda young. But then again, he made me feel old too. One because hes half senile and didnt realize i was actually as old as i am. He thought i was still like....19 or something. lol! So i was like "David, im 31 years old." He was like "WHAAAAHhhh----" so yeah. It was kinda cool he thought i was younger. It means i still look kinda young despite all the signs.

I don't feel old, just past my prime. Which is sad, I'm only 14.

I also think I am going to go deaf by age 30, because I have heavy exposure to loud noises in school as well as using public transportation and the like.

Originally Posted by Xeno

I'm still pretty young (don't ask), and I feel like my life is already almost over.

So I guess I don't feel old per se, but I feel like my life will soon shortly... come to a close?

I actually feel very similarly myself.

I'm 'only' 23. However, the truth is I was not planning for still being around this long. (No, I'm not suicidal and this has nothing to do with ever being suicidal, it's something else) So I'm just really confused.

I'm eighteen, a pretty young age, but I feel that I've grown a lot throughout these years. I'm sure this is how it is for a lot of people.
But I feel old in a sense that my body is already aging, like how I'm beginning to experience the after-affects of eating foods that don't fare well in my body. :[

Nope. I graduate college in 3 days, which I guess makes a lot of people feel old. Not me, though.

I really don't mean to add to the psychological baggage of those above approaching 30, but I've sorta figured that's when I'd start to feel old. Which is weird, because I don't view people in their 30s to be old at all; I have many friends who are in their 30s and I never think of them as too much older than me unless their age comes up for some reason. But there is something about that age... I dunno, I think at that point you feel like you should know what you're doing for the rest of your life, and that sense of finality is an end to youth.

Which is totally arbitrary, there's nothing about being 30 that says any of that is true. You can do whatever you want whenever you want, until you die. But that's the sense I get from that number regardless.

In a few months I'll be officially 9 ZU-years old, and next year with be my 10th. Not that I've really posted much at all in the last few years or so, but I have kept tabs. And to be honest it feels pretty damn good to feel old around here, and to have watched and experienced the growth and evolution of this place, and to be able to tell people what it was like at the (almost) very beginning, should they ask.

However, when it comes to "real life" and all that entails, it's another story. I don't strictly feel old in terms of my age; I'm 23, my body feels young, and should I want to work out for great looks or play a sport or whatever, I feel it's not too late to do so. But when it comes to my mental age and the things I've accomplised, I feel old in the sense that I've lived more than I've done. I've learned a LOT and I've developed many skills, but in terms of achieving something worthwhile or difficult I feel I've missed many opportunities. I'm still working on my independent drivers' licence; I haven't really progressed into higher education because until recently I hadn't figured out what direction I wanted to take; I have little work experience because having a disability has afforded me the luxury of a pension, and with it the requirement that I don't work much; and I feel phenominally inexperienced in the world of love.

While I felt ahead of my years when I was younger, now I feel like I'm constantly playing catch-up. So I guess I feel old in that sense. Fortunately I'm not old in the literal sense, so I have plenty of time to fix this and feel young again. I suppose it's worth noting that I do really like the part of my personality that makes me think of age in terms of a ratio of elapsed time vs (expected) accomplishment, because it means there's always hope, and it also means it's easier to improve the ratio once your body is old.

Originally Posted by e_alert

While I felt ahead of my years when I was younger, now I feel like I'm constantly playing catch-up. So I guess I feel old in that sense. Fortunately I'm not old in the literal sense, so I have plenty of time to fix this and feel young again.

"Not accomplishing much yet" is an interesting, counter-intuitive reason to feel old.

It may be counterintuitive, but I do like that I see age that way. I edited the previous post with an explanation before I saw you post this, so checkit. ;D

You know, despite feeling old, i do feel like my life is just beginning.

I'm 21 and feel like an infant.

I'm 20 and I feel okay. I'll be 21 this year, which isn't so much "bah I'm old" as "hey I could purchase alcohol anywhere!"

I don't think I'd want to go back and be 16 again or anything. On the whole, 16-year-olds are kind of uh, annoying, sorry to any 16-year-old ZUers! I know I was an annoying 16-year-old. I feel like since then, even though I haven't accomplished a huge amount and on the whole I'm not very 'grown up', I'm still better than I was at 16.

When it comes to thinking about what I've accomplished I'd rather not. I graduated high school with zero extras, dropped out of a TAFE course halfway (I earned the cert IV, at least!), then moved away from home to live with my boyfriend and housemates. Also I run a YouTube channel, and that is fun.

Sometimes I kinda get disappointed that I haven't "accomplished" much for 20, when other people my age are nearing the end of uni and going to start their actual careers and I just work in retail and play video games, but I'm working on it. Besides, I was completely dependent on my parents about two years ago, and now I've lived out of home for over a year, so that's a pretty big accomplishment for me at 20 (considering most of the other people my age live at home still).

I think I rambled. Sorry.

tl;dr I am 20 and that is okay. Sometimes it feels old if I'm hanging around younger people, or realising that my cousin who was born in 2000 will be in high school next year, but man, my grandpa is turning 90 tomorrow and still kicking it (albeit from a chair, most of the time), so if that's anything to go by I think I have some time left.