48 going on 15

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I am 49, but sometimes I think I am still 22.

I totally see that. Up until age 12 or 13, I acted and felt much older than my peers. But by the time I graduated high school, it felt like all of my peers had passed me in terms of being able to look and act like an adult, while I was feeling and acting younger than I really was. People saw me as naive and easy to manipulate, and treated me as such. By age 30, I probably reached the emotional maturity of a 20-year old. Now at age 50, I still feel much the same. Age is more of a random number when it comes to me.

I'm actually 50 years old.
To others, I look like a 40 year old.
When I look in the mirror, I imagine myself as a 30 year old.
While alone with my thoughts or immersed in my special interests, I feel and behave like a 20 year old.
When under stress, I feel and act more like a 10 year old
I AM DECADE MAN!! !

But seriously, I look at other people who are around age 50, and they all seem old and broken to me, and I know I don't look, feel, or act that way. It's sad to me, and it further isolates me from those who technically are my peers. If I had the choice, I'd surround myself with adults who are a lot younger than me (like, between age 20 to 40). I'm turned off by the way people my age look, walk, and act all broken down by that point of their life.

No, no! You're not the only one. The older I get, the more I feel I'm regressing back to when I was very young. I really don't feel any different.

I'm twenty but sometimes feel like a shy sixteen year old.

People don't tend to respond to me as an adult, either. Sometimes they do.

I guess it's usually better to focus on my goals than on whether other people think I'm an adult.

I am wise and knowledgeable, but I am also playful, innocent, emotional which is typically associated with childhood. So I would say I am 47 with characteristics of the young and old.

You are not the only one. I was just thinking about what an extreme latebloomer I am. I feel like I'm in my teens and though I try to be mature, in some ways I am, other ways just the opposite.

There are some positives about being young at heart though.

I'm physically 22, but mentally I feel like I'm between 16 to 18.

No, not even by a long shot. This is actually a trademark Autistic trait. I am going to be 53 in a couple of weeks and emotionally I will never be older than 4, socially I will never be older than about 12 and in practical cognitive application I will never be older than about 15 or 16. And I look like I'm 35. That is what the definition of a developmental disability is. Your brain has developed unevenly.

Teasing: I am 47 and look like I'm 74.

In reality people also see me as young, but it has to be my behavior and not my looks - I have age-appropriate skin (wrinkles, sagging), albeit there is no gray in my hair yet and I -of course- don't style it much. My NT husband has great skin (and hair) and although he is 3 years my senior, folks think he is younger than me.

Let's go play!

The older I get the worse I get.

Financially medically socially emotionally academically

Just remember: Growing older is compulsory...Growing up isn't.

I've come to the conclusion that I'll probably always be a big kid, so why fight it.

My husband is 59, but his development is Swiss cheese. There are chunks missing.

Where he really loses it, it is stuff like making a doctors appointments, dealing with social situations with that have unspoken rules. The social interactions that adults just "get". He is forever misreading social situations, which causes people to go WTF? Dude, you are smart, what the hell did you do?

His therapist said hubs functions at a bright 13/15 year old level socially. The worse part is he can't handle dealing with people anymore. The anticipatory stress just about kills him. He shuts down.

I'm worried is this a cognitive decline with something worse going on, or the autism making it so he can't handle being around people anymore without very set parameters.