How old do you feel?

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do you guys feel your age? I am in the strange transistory period between high school and uni (doing my uni entrance exams at the moment) and am very ambivalent about going to uni next year. I'm doing a bachelor of science (advanced science if i do well enough in my exams) and i love science so i'm looking forward to advancing my studies in that respect, but I am very apprehensive about entering the 'adult world' because I FEEL ABOUT 15!! I have no idea how im going to relate to the people and I hope that I'll be able to find at least one person who just wants to play video games, watch anime and read comics like me, as opposed to go out drinking at pubs or whatever else 'adults' like to do.

but anyway- do you feel that your mental age is the same as your physical age?

Hah, not at all.

I'm 21, and a senior in college. I'm very much afraid of having to go off on my own next year (though luckily, my parents will help support me as I try to get off to a start in this).

People who know me well tell me that I have an "old soul." People who don't know me at all have the tendency to assume that I'm about 12. I'm short, look fairly young for my age, and am very quiet and meek in social situations. I also don't wear makeup or "dress my age."

Personally, I feel about 5 or 6 yrs old when I have to deal with other people. I feel like there is just something I'm not getting, but I only notice this after the interaction is over. Most of my social skills have come from instruction and advice from friends, parents, or my older cousin, and I don't think I've learned everything I should know by now.

I'm lucky enough to be at an art school, where there are plenty of geeks like me (in the illustration department). I have plenty of friends who like anime and comics, and play video games. I also love animals, and I've got a few other friends who do as well. Some of these friends also go out drinking and dancing, I just usually sit those events out, they understand that I'm just not that type of person.

I suggest that once you get to school, you try to be as open as possible with other people, to make friends right off, because this is always easier than waiting until everyone has already formed their own little cliques. You should also try joining clubs that you're interested in (like, if there is an anime club, join up and meet people there!).

I've always felt as though I was too mature to relate to my peers. I was much more apt to speak to my teachers in school than I was to converse with fellow students. Yet, strangely enough, there are times when I inexplicably feel like I am still a very small child. This happens only occasionally, but it is a very distinct feeling whenever it does.

I think there are certain situations that may trigger the childlike feeling. I haven't tried to pinpoint it in the past, but if I had to hazard a guess, the feeling tends to manifest itself primarily when I am in an unfamiliar or uncomfortable situation. Being in an unfamiliar physical environment seems to particularly induce the feeling, giving me an odd sense that I'm a young child exploring his surroundings for the first time. Pretty weird, eh?

I hated that transition from highschool to college. It turned out ok though and I made some good friends. I had always felt older than my peers intellectually. During college everyone seemed to be moving on and developing socially in ways that I couldn't comprehend. I really hadn't much interest in it all. Still this made me feel like I was never going to be a "grown up." I guess I always kind of knew that on some level though.
I sometimes feel very old though, like I have already experienced all of the social games and seen them for what they really are.

I don't really feel that old for my age, I'll be 31 in November but I don't feel past early-twenties most times, it doesn't help that some look at me as if I'm 18 or 19.

Of course, was always either more mature than others my age or younger and never really liked being with my peers, if I did interact I preferred interacting with adults.

i agree with jayshaw and ware4 - a marvellous mix of being 973 years old, and 5.

i think it's a wonderful thing to able to keep the childlike sense of awe and wonder and play, which so many adults have had socialised out of them. and i do rather enjoy the intellectual old-ness.

blowing bubbles and jumping in puddles whilst discussing quantum mechanics seems an ideal way to spend a sunday afternoon, if you ask me.

V

I agree! I spend my childhood as an adult, getting hugely frustrated with other kids immaturity, and now I'm 36 but behave like a 8 year old. My favourite sentence has always been.... 'When I grow up, I want to be/have....'

I have a note written by my teacher that at age 14 I was an adult - mentally. My mother commented that this opinion made her very proud, but she did not understand why that "mature adult" behaved so often like a 5-year-old.
Oh, well, my immature peers have grown up, and I am stuck at the level somewhere between 12- and 25-year-old, depending on what aspect of my personality one looks at. What's more, I have an impression sometimes that others treat me as such.

What a fantastic idea! Hey, I could do it anytime.

This is a very confusing question that has bothered me all my life! I am 41. When I was a child, I felt like I was an adult. School was boring, play was boring. All the other kids were so... childish!
As an adult, when I have to interact with other adults, I feel so small, as though NOW I am the child. Maybe I should say I feel perpetually 17? Of course it doesn't help that I LOOK 17. Well, OK, maybe not THAT young (the last guess someone made was 25), but I am so sick of people assuming my teenager daughter and son are my sister and brother... or worse, when I am out with my husband people will often talk to him (ignoring me) and refer to me as his daughter! (which invariably inspires hubby to buy more hair dye! )

Like others I'm a mix of young and old. I always felt more mature than my peers (and still am in some areas ) but they seemed to pass me by in social development during the teen years. Now I see people that I grew up with living on their own, working full time and getting married while I still feel like a kid in so many ways

You just described me! I'm 23 and routinely get mistaken for 12-15 for those exact reasons.

When I'm with my friends, I feel like I'm about 30. When I'm being talked down by certian people, I feel like a rebellious 15 year old trying to break out of a cage.

I turned 27 in July, but feel and look several years younger than I am. My uncles, aunts and all but about a half dozen of my cousins [including those more than once removed] are older than me (and I have a great many).

I feel older in another respect, because I live in a retirement community with my parents, where, of course, there are many residents 55 and over.

I really don't have any independents, from not wanting to/feeling comfortable enough to drive to having my parents not wanting me to do/go places on my own. I could use our golf cart to go uptown, but they are leary with me going by myself.

So, I spend my time online frequently, which gets my father particularly upset because he feels I should be doing other things. Nothing is better than corresponding with people I met online. It actually is helpful, no matter how few opportunties I have to meet people... especially my age.

Last edited by Tom_FL_MA on 29 Oct 2004, 11:26 pm, edited 1 time in total.

People who try and guess my age usually go for the late 20's.

I'll be 25 at the end of November.

But I feel like I'm 19.

21 on Thur. I feel old.

I feel emotionally I am a 4 year old, intellectually I am probably 27, and physically I am 16. (my chronlogical age)

It Depends My Favorite Age Is 5