Do you ever feel older than you are?

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Yesterday was my 22nd birthday. I know for most people 22 is still considered "young" but I don't feel young. Haven't for several years. Actually, I don't know that I ever felt young. Sure, I might have been socially naive when I was a child, but emotionally (most of the time) and intellectually I always felt more on par with my friends parents than with my friends. In most aspects I felt vastly more mature than other children, although I did, and still do, have my moments.

Sometimes I look back on events that happened a few years ago and I have a hard time believing that was actually me, that that was part of my life and my story. It's like watching a movie about somebody else. It's not like the person in those memories was so hugely different than the person I am now either. We, mostly, have the same thoughts, the same reactions, and the same struggles. Rather, it feels like all that happened a century ago, not three years ago. In the grand scheme of things three years isn't a very long time at all, so why does it feel like it is?

It feels like I have lived a thousand lifetimes in just a few short years, but yet I have only lived this one. So why do I feel so old at such a young age? And why do people keep calling me young when I clearly am not? Why is it that I can look at someone older than me and think that they aren't very old at all, but yet I feel so ancient? Does anybody else ever feel this way?

Maturity wise, personality wise and interests and hobbies wise, yes.

A part of me has always felt the same way. Even now with people who were adults, most of what I see is fairly childish. Sometimes I think I might be the most mature person around, although I'm sure that's not the case as I myself can be pretty immature at times. I imagine that's true for most people, but from my perspective, people take it to a whole new level.

Well, in your age I was actually the opposite. I still felt like a child and couldn´t belive I´m an adult. After 25 I got used to my adulthood.

I feel like I'm in my 50s or 60s at 21.

In some regards I feel a bit like that too. Especially when it comes to special interests and socializing. It's very confusing. Is it possible to be maturely immature?

I'm 37 and I feel ageless, always have. Somehow, when I was a child, I felt like an adult, maybe because I was already reading adult stuff, and also because I was more socially at ease with adults. But... Someone today gave me the comment that I have an undying capacity for wonder. Many people have told me that, one way or another, and it's true. I'm passionately amazed at how things are. It's wonderful to experience things, look, really look, at everything in detail, exploring ideas from scratch... For many people, it's a very child-like quality. And I'm kind of naive, even if I don't think that's the right word. I choose to trust, to be optimist, to see the best in people... Sometimes I'm terribly wrong, but that's a price I'm willing to pay. Again, some people may think it's childish or stupid, when really, for me, it's a conscious philosophical choice. I prefer that over anxiety and paranoia any day.

There's a song I like that says (hope I traduce it well) : "I age. That's the only thing that distinguishes the one I was from the one I am." In my case, it's very very true... And I so don't care about getting more white hairs or wrinkles...

I believe between our intellects and the abuse/neglect we suffer throughout our lives, we tend to feel older. I've always felt like I bounce between feeling 8 and 80 lol. As I get older, there's more 80 and much less 8 to my feelings.

When I was little, I felt older than I was. Then in my teens, I felt younger. I still feel more like a 20 year old or a slightly mature teenager than I do a 33 year old adult. Just last night my mother told me that for the first time ever, she felt like she was talking to an adult when she spoke to me.


Unless maybe you mean feeling old as a sense of the end approaching. In that sense, being 33 feels like time is running out and makes me hate birthdays or any other sign that I'm getting older. But outside of that aspect, I feel younger than my age, not older.

I feel old physically, with some good reasons.
I often feel old from all that I have been through. The Missus and I sometimes joke about something that happened a year ago, but it seems more like 20 years ago.

When I was a child and early teen, I felt older than I was. Then it stopped, and at 35 I still feel at least 15 years younger than I am.
It can vary though; sometimes I feel as giddy and silly as a 5 year old, and sometimes as world weary as an oldster, but mainly I feel like I'm teen/ early 20's

Physically though I feel like I'm older, due to lack of fitness and asthma.

Sometimes I do....I don't like frivolous things like partying, drinking and doing drugs, like some college students my age do, and I'm very responsible and studious.

I also like songs and bands from the 50s, 60s, 70s, and 80s. I went on a school trip once on a plane (I was a sophomore in high school) and one of the chaperones noticed I had my CD player (before I got an MP3 player) out....he asked me what I was listening to, and I replied, "The 5th Dimension." He looked surprised and said, "You're not THAT old!"

However, there are also times when I also feel much younger than I am. Sometimes I watch cartoons (particularly ones I liked as a kid, although I do like more sophisticated animation like Pixar and Studio Ghibli), I have a ton of stuffed animals, and there are times when I just want to be cared for and protected much like a young child is.

I feel older than I am some days, but I think I'm just fibromyalgic and I drag a bit until I get enough caffeine.