Do aspie adults have a difficulty in "growing up"?

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Someone just posted the link below on another thread. It seems apropos that I should link it here.

Getting More Autistic

Thanks for ^. I read it once before, but rereading it now is extremely helpful.

I'm not sure if this answers your question, but I have friends who are nearly 15, and a friend who is in her 30s. Most of my friends fall in between the two. I don't feel any particular age in that range, but I do feel younger than my physical age (27). It's slightly confusing in that there are things I identify more with the teenagers, and things I identify more with the 20 somethings. I was once told that aspies are mentally 5 years younger. This figures. It also helps that physically I look about 6 years younger than I am. Sometimes it hurts not identifiying completely with one particular age, but then I've never really been an exact fit into any group. I think ultimately I will be happier with people who are younger than me, with the exception of my best friend (I've known him since we were 12) and a few other close friends. So when I am in my 30s most of my friends will be in their 20s, simply because the mental age gap is smaller than you would expect from my physical age. Similarly, it would not surprise me if there was a big physical age gap between myself and the woman I eventually marry, if I am lucky enough to do so.

In terms of the obvious question as to whether I still play with toys, the answer is no, but I would take a children's party over an adult one any day of the week. They are way more interesting. When I was 23, I was invited to an after-show party and we played Twister. I hadn't played that game since I was about 8 but to this day I love it. We were all in our 20s. It was the most fun I have had in a very, very long time and remains a favourite memory of mine.

Im 47 hf aspie...blue collar kinda guy My.friends are all low30's profesionals teachers,IT,musician,security..few dink. ,oldest is 37. I love it..Being a geek or different within this group, for me feels right. Doesnt hurt that they understand either..
I have though been single,..picky on who I date. Which does however free me to do other things. Like buy more toys and tools to even further my interests..to numerous to mention.
At 47..I dont care what age I act or feel like. Geek.nerd,akward,different...so what? My friends,... have seen past that and enjoy it. Especially when they need something fixed or made

I love this Website. Being a Newly diagnosed Aspie, I keep finding that I am not so different to everyone else and that I feel like a lot of other people - namely other Aspies. In terms of Age, I am nearing 30 years old, however when I actually consider my age, how I think, feel, react to situations and people. My wants and desires, I actually feel much like I did when I was around 17. My grandmother calls me Peter Pan, the child that never grew up. I know that she means this endearingly but I know where she is coming from. My younger brother is married and has 2 children and the youngest brother is also engaged. I still play pokemon, watch cartoons as they call it, Anime really, play video games and basically do everything I did at the age 17.

However contrary to this adolescent mind, I live alone, I own my own apartment - mortgaged and practically look after the majority of my needs using the aspies greatest tools, organisation and order. To the NT looking on I am an anomaly, though I am perceived as whimsical and child like, I can be mature and sage. Being a "grown up" is a set of perceived behaviours set by a collective and possibly unknown source. To me it seems more about suppression of things that you like to do. I say to hell with the perception of the Grown up. As long as you are happy, and not hurting anyone, you should do what you feel.

Thanks for that. It's a bit much to take in, but I did see some things that fit me. I think I seemed fairly normal up until my early 20's, but then it was becoming obvious that things were amiss. I was stuck in the mud, going years without a date while many of my friends were dating regularly and getting married/having kids. I was bombing school badly. I wasn't progressing in any sort of career path, and started regressing due to my sleep problems.

Finally at about 24 I snapped. Burnout was probably the main category I would have fit under then, but there were a number of things that converged all at once. I got fired for the first time over my tardiness at work. I only made it a couple weeks into the school year before having to drop all my classes. I had a "surefire" date go about as horribly wrong as possible (a friend alerted me to the signals I didn't catch, so I asked her our, but without someone there to interpret what was going on... I whiffed, and nothing happened). So yeah, the facade of normalcy came crashing down pretty much all on one weekend, though it had been building slowly for a year and steadily for the month prior.

I'm sure there's more I could relate to in this. Thanks for posting it.

You'll never grow up so long as you cannot participate in the grown-up lifestyle --stable employment, a long-term relationship, family, children. i know people my age who have granschildren by now and I'm still peter pan. That's because I never had friends to grow old with, I only fell in love hopelessly, Instead of a full-time career at a level for which i was qualified, i put together a patchwork of underpaying part-time jobs in order to eek out a modest living.I never had kids to take to school and watch grow up, so i never felt myself growing older. That's how it can be sometimes when you're aspie.