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My eighteenth birthday is in about three weeks, and even though I know it's just a number, and there really isn't much of a difference at all between being 17 years and 364 days old and being 18, I can't help but feel even more like a loser now then ever before. Somehow it was more "ok" for me not to be able to get my s**t together, or for me to completely inept at simple tasks and unable to function in the world when I was still, well, a kid. Most people my age want to grow up, me, I've been trying to play catchup with myself for way too long. I feel like I'm so far behind where I should be, like I'm missing out on parts of life that I'll never get the chance to experience again. Everyone wishes life came with a rewind button, but right now I'd settle for pause.

i dont think this s**t is linear .... i dont really know what you mean but i hope this stuff comes when you need it ... it is just a number dont let it tell you what to do

i feel like the wizard from taxi driver whenever i try this stuff, sorry im no good with advice

I turned eighteen a little over three years ago now, seems like a lot longer though.

I found though that I didn't need to behave any differently once i'd turned 18 it made little difference to me. Yes, there are oa lot of folks who expect certain things of an adult, but sod 'em. One doesn' have to go far to see large groups of 'normal' adults in a pub, getting considerably drunk and subsequently wetting themselves (see: My housemates when they stumbled in last night, and the ominous puddle I found in the lounge this morning.). These people are aged between 19 and 24, makes you think eh?

Personally, if the above is what constitutes being a 'normal' adult, then i'd happly settle as I am. I wouldn;t worry about it either. If I managed then anybody can, and all that. You'll be fine.

Hi lunchbox,

I understand what you mean. When I turned 18 I was put under a lot of pressure from my parents to 'become an adult'. I had no idea what they were talking about.

They had been going in about this for so long however, that I was almost beginning to believe that I would wake up on the day of my 18th birthday and magically have transformed into a wise, confident and independant female.

Sadly, I woke up feeling just as confused and disillusioned by the world as I did every other day.

I think part of the problem in my case is that my parents never took my AS and related problems seriously - they thought that I just wasn't trying hard enough and I think they hoped that as I got older, I would grow out of it or something. Although, of course, you don't grow out of AS, so that was never going to happen and they were imposing unrealistic expectations on me.

It is frustrating that society seems to attach this pseudo-reverence to particular birthdays.

I still don't really feel like a 'grown up' - and I am now 26!

I guess the main difference for me is that I am now pretty much financially independent and also I have chosen to distance myself from certain members of my family who are abusive to me - which I couldn't do when I was younger, because I felt like I was under thier power or something.

So the difference is that I now feel like I am taking some control of my life. But I still have a lot of support needs because of my AS and I have accepted that it is very unlikely that this will change and that people just have to accept me for who I am. And, most importantly, I have to accept myself for who I am.

I just turned 18 last month. For the most part I'm happy about it because now I'm one step closer to being as old as I feel.

I'm turning 17 at the end of August, but I feel time moves too fast for me. I'm not bloody 17, I'm 15 in a 17 year old body for Pete's sake!! It's like everyone is expecting two years extra out of me.

I turn 17 in June as well but age is just a number.
With all the de-aging techniques that are out now, who knows when someone 65 walks down the street and still looks like a college student.

It looks like everyone that uses de-aging stuff wants to be kids again if they overdo it a bit much.

Then pause. The only people really telling you to have all of your "sh** together" so soon is society (and grown ups brought up strictly by the rules of that society) It's a safe guess you didn't follow social norms most of your life, don't let a number change that. Society can go sit in a bathtub full of toasters and leave the rest of us alone.

lmao thats an awesome quote, do you mind if i put it in my signature?

No, I don't mind at all, thanks.

I'm 18. I don't feel it though.

I know how you feel - i turned 18 in January and now I have to start preparing for uni and leaving home & i'm really scared i won't be able to cope. Does it really annoy anyone else that if you're doing badly/struggling with school work people you can get people to help you but if you're doing well in school everyone presumes that everything else in you're life is ok too. I want someone to tutor me in going to the supermarket and coping with meeting loads of new people.