How relative is age?

Age is a master at teaching us new perspectives.

 

I already feel a lot older than my peers. My perspectives match those of someone who is in their 30s or late 20s. I connect best with those who are older than me. However, my lifestyle is that of a 20 year old. I am still not as burdened by many responsibilities, and even thought I can imagine what such an experience can be like and definitely empathize, I still lack the physical and personal trial and attempt in order to fully understand it.

Sometimes, I feel that I have an older soul in a very young body. Could be the Ni.

 

I think you need to give a more specific question(s) here Antia. You'll get more replies if you are a little clearer. I'm struggling to see what it is you are asking specifically.

 

i remember thinking when i was 7 that i was way too old to play on the swings with the little kids and when i was 14, anyone over 20 seemed old, and 30 was ancient. my boyfriend's mother is 64 and she says anyone under 40 is a baby. my grandmother before she passed away was 81 and said a similar thing, that we're all children to her, and that until you have children and grandchildren you're still in many ways, innocent and young.

i think you're absolutely right @Anita, people's perspectives of what is old change as they themselves grow old... and i like to believe that the kids we once were are still within us... that we still can be that adventurous, that playful, that idealistic, whenever we decide to. that it's a choice.

is age just a number? maybe.. to the extent that it reflects upon a person's life experience, i'd say it isn't. but you can live more life in a small period of time than some people do in their entire lives, and i don't just mean physically, but emotionally and spiritually too... the scope of your understanding can expand rapidly in a single moment, leaving you only slightly older in time, but decades or centuries older in personality.

this is not really making sense i know.. i'm 24 but in a lot of ways, i feel older than i am. paradoxically, the older i get, the more i want to stay in touch with how i felt when i was young... i guess i just don't want to become jaded, like so many people do. i don't want to become that bitter old woman filled with regrets, and mourning for a life she once knew. i want to enjoy the moment.. and forget the rest.

 

I'm only 20, but I think the only reason I've changed is because people's perspective of me has changed, and my environment has changed. People expect more of me, and I've basically been handed the freedom to take life where I want. I'm surrounded by 20-somethings, and 20yrolds treat me as their equals, so I feel that 'about 20' is the standard age. That's really the only thing I feel has changed.

 

Perspectives do change, as you age.

Before I turned 25, I always thought I was so much older than my peers; my outlook was more adult - even in high school I wrote stories about the elderly and how it felt to have ones body feel the ravages of age. I thought about war, and I worried about the future all the time.

I was a weird kid.

Starting into my 20s, though, I picked up more "childish/childlike" habits and began enjoying them, as if I were living life backwards (cartoons, comic books, funky hair styles, new gadgets, etc). And I began feeling younger than I actually was, and I seemed younger than I was. People still have problems guessing my age (they're usually 10-15 years too young).

But now? I think I'm averaging my time and space. I think not having children can change ones perspective on aging, and you have a different set of maturity rules when you don't raise children. I think we can be a bit more selfish if we don't have kids, but we also have a unique life challenge/perspective that should be more fully explored.

I know I'm in transition now; I kind of want to be an "adult" now. I want to have my own home, live where I want to live, and have the job I've always wanted to have. I want to be a successful writer (not just a dabbler) and I actually want to live a "minimalist" life filled with organic wonders. But age is seriously just an idea; our maturity level and our live experiences are the real factors indicating who we are, and how we relate to the world.

In other words, we age when our experiences shape us, and make us who we are. For good or for ill.