Feeling that one's body has aged quicker that oneself

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I have been dealing with this sensation for a bit now: feeling younger than my age. I finally found another "aspie" who described this (on YouTube, his name is Craig Thomas i believe, have to double check). Anyway, for a couple years, I have become aware/ willing to admit that i am emotionally younger than i am. I.e :. Two years ago i was 22 and felt 14.Now i am 24 and feel i am emotionally experiencing (despite my extensive wisdom and ppl often calling me an old soul), emotionally the age of 18. I want to know who feels younger that theyare despite wisdom and life experience. I include a survey and would also much appreciate comments.

I was thinking this very thing only yesterday as I repaired a model kit that we seem to stay as the adult children we always were.
I mean as children, we had the traits of children, but also a way about us that would cause people to think an old head on young shoulders.

But I don't feel I have changed from this advanced adult child much in 40 years.

It might be why children and animals still like me.

I wonder if its because apart from having to go to work, I still lead the same life I did as a teenager, meaning that I never moved on by having relationships or having children.

I am 56

I just turned 60 - physically and mentally I feel at least 60 if not older. But emotionally, I still feel myself somewhere around 11-13.

Is it a developmental delay or something? I'm 26 and I guess I feel 26 (it's still pretty young), but I have to believe my mental age and maturity is closer to around 18-21.

This is difficult, because people say I look like I am in my 40's but I am 51. Yet I see the tell-tale signs, age spots, crinkled skin.

I am not sure I can make a self-assessment of how I think. I invest like a 60-year-old. Like to play video games and read books that kids like (like re-reading Harry Potter). I'm not sure even what a book for a adults is.

Concerning investing, if there is one thing I could pass on, it would be "Leave beneath your means". So if you can afford a $30,000 car, get a $23,000 car instead and invest the difference. Try to at least contribute to your 401-k the amount your company will match - in my case its 8%, but I actually do 18%.

I recently turned 50 but in many ways I'm still the 16 year old I once was.

I am 48 but seem to have stopped developing emotionally somewhere around age 10.

I am still trying to figure out the mechanism(s) behind this happening, as there are other self-observable traits that kind of point back to a common cause.

My most recent theory is that some sorts of mental trauma causes the brain to take drastic measures to create a self-protection mode of perceiving reality. Otherwise the intense emotional flood of reality would be too much to process or handle safely.

I think the result of this is a schizoid type of psychological split, or set of filters developed between areas of the brain, for example the feelings of emotion coming from the subconscious being separated from the conscious thinking part of the brain.

So far what I think I have seen are multiple methods of separation to include logical filtering (emotions are not tangible and therefore not real), and time-displacement which allows conscious thinking to be done independent of real-time such that it is not directly linked to real-time emotions.

This sort of thing has effective short-term use to handle overwhelming situations like many military members routinely go through, but in the long term I have to say that this sort of thing is extremely unhealthy and ultimately self-destructive.

The main suggestion here is that one of the results of such psychological splits is a vast difference between intellectual development and emotional development. The emotional development would have been severely suppressed and even halted, where the intellectual development may be equally accelerated.

It depends on the situation; sometimes I feel 13 and other times I feel 5 or 6 and sometimes I feel I'm my age but rarely. I'm 16, 17 soon lol.

I'm 19 who feels like 8-12. Regardless that, I never felt like a real teen or never been in a 'phrase'. I'm not a late bloomer when in comes to physical, but I might be sexually. (Or maybe I'm just really asexual) Emotionally, I'm much more of a child perhaps. Too sensitive, and too much to cope. Just recently, a teasing elementary just made me cry. But when it comes to wisdom, it varies or I'm not really sure how I assess that.

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I appreciate everyone's sincerity with the responses here, and I'm glad I'm not alone in feeling younger. When I was a child I too was often told I acted older than my age. It can be hard, but Im trying to find the good in it.

I am 25, I do look younger...but damn its kind of like I'm not 'young and sturdy' anymore...soon I'll start having whatever health problems I am meant to develop based on how I've taken care of myself thus far, and in only 10 years maybe the menopause or whatever hormone issue it is women go through when reaching middle aged...is what I get to look forward to. Where the hell did my life go? I'm like almost middle aged already....admittedly this has been grinding at my mind a while don't know what to do with it though....whats done is done I guess. Can't go back and relive my adolecent/teen/young adult years and actually have had a life...so meh what a waste. And too old to not have it be a major turn of that I never actually made bonds or friendships....I mean who really wants a 25 year old college drop out, who basically has had no life and still doesn't as a friend...or a person to invite to come hang out, or maybe even go out and do something with? Before I know it I'll be 40....and still be stuck behind everyone.

Overall, my body doesn't feel older than it is, so far. I don't feel in perfect health, but I used to feel worse 20 years ago. I used to expect that I'd be feeling quite old by now, but I think my expectations were based on observing people in their 60s at the time, i.e. round about the 1960s, and I think people seem to be physically ageing more slowly these days, so a 60-year-old from 2015 has a "younger" body than a 60-year-old from 1965. I suppose I looked after myself quite well, I avoided a lot of junk food and pollution, got a bit of exercise walking and cycling, did a bit of yoga. Aspies do often seem to look young, but I don't know if that's purely a visual thing.

As for my mind, that's a mixture of ages. I feel very weary and wizened in some ways, but in others I still feel very childlike.

I´m 61, but my body seems to be younger (test results point in that direction), but I feel exactly like 36 inside.
Lately I have felt uninhibited joy visiting toy departments: Calaidoscopes and LED fingertip lights.....mmmmmm! Visual goodies!
Perhaps the second childhood is creeping up on me

I'm 54, yet fairly youthful in demeanor. I still howl, meow, etc in the streets. I could be silly.

I look like I'm in my 40's, probably. If I would color my hair, that might drop down to my 30's. When I was 15, I could pass for under 12.

My wife, though, insists that I act "old." Perhaps because I hate to shop?

I'm almost 40. I hear that physical changes happen "all of a sudden" when one hits 40, so I don't know what's in store. I think I look *a little* younger than I am (I have been assumed to be the younger sister before.)

Inside, I still feel like a teenager and I like it that way. I feel like I am "in touch" with my inner child, with all the wide-eyed amazement, adventurous spirit, and passionate feelings. The one thing that has changed the most over the years is my anxiety has lessened, which I feel like helps me to better tap into those good things of having a younger spirit, more so than when I was actually that age.

I am definitely more adventurous than most people my age.

I have a lot of "grown up" skills, but still have problems with things I have ALWAYS had problems with, like organizing and keeping track of stuff. I still forget appointments, pay bills late, have trouble with changes in my weekly routine, lock myself (and the kids) out of the house, forget my phone, my house is in disarray (not the worst I've ever seen, but not as good as what's considered "normal".) I'm not sure I would ever get good at these things without an assistant. I really need a personal secretary, if I could only afford one.

I have gotten a lot better at emotional control. Basically now, I know most of my triggers and signs that I am getting overwhelmed and can get out of the situation before I blow up. However, I still have *VERY* intense feelings. I have learned better how to CHANNEL them so they can be put to good use. I wouldn't trade having these intense feelings, but it's better to control them properly. They make me feel alive.

I feel like a 12yo trapped in the body of a 33yo