Do you feel much younger than your actual age?

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Do you feel much younger than your actual age? I've always wondered if this is associated with AS. Could this be associated with something else unrelated to AS? I am 43 years old but the majority of the time, I feel as though I'm in my early twenties. Don't get me wrong, I'm not complaining, just wondering if anyone else feels this way.

My AS is considered high functionning. When I ask NT people the same question, they generally say they feel like their actual age with a variation of -5 or +5 years.

I think it is fairly common since I believe that we basically reach a level of being what I call a 'whole' being when we're somewhere between 14 and 20 years old. We never age beyond that point in our own minds with respoect to how we see ourselves. We are very mature for our chronological age at any stage.

Yes, I feel much younger than I am.

Yeah, my interests, (emotional) way of thinking and general outlook on the world are VERY childish, I think it will never change, maybe one can build a hard mask to face society, but the real core remains that of a kid, which is both our beauty and our weakness.

I feel much younger than I am, and I've found that people treat me as being younger than I am. They do it in a protective way, not in a patronizing way.

I heard a psychologist say that every person has an image in their minds of who they are, and this image always comes from a certain stage in their lives. For me, my self-image is that I'm 20. It causes some problems, because I can't do what I was able to do at 20, but that is how I see myself. I think it's what's known as being "young at heart."

But I think there is something about AS that causes this kind of self image to imprint more strongly. Apparently, in NTs, something happens called "brain cell pruning," in which certain areas of the brain atrophy as a person ages. So, when your average NT matures, they go in a linear progression from childhood to adolescence to adulthood. When they reach adulthood, they "put away childish things." The childlike part of their brain atrophies. Aspies, on the other hand, don't lose those parts of their brains. So, while our brains mature, we still retain the childlike parts as well.

This makes total sense to me. I am still a kid inside, even though I'm pretty mature emotionally and intellectually.

I read that when someone asked Einstein how he came up with the theory of relativity, he said something like, "I think like a child, and I ask the questions that a child asks. But I have the brain capacity of an adult man." Apparently, that's textbook Aspie brain development. I don't know how the "experts" figure this stuff out, but that's what I've been reading.

And you already knew it and didn't need an 'expert' to tell you so. I think that the 'young at heart' thing goes directly to where a persons mind is at and I do think that this can change a persons physical being for the better or worse.

...I know I'm still young, but I still feel even younger than I am now. I feel like I grew up too fast :/

Oh yeppers, I used to be a lot older than I am now. But the mirrors don't work properly.

Yes. I'm always surprised at how old I am, lol. I'm 51 but have a lot of energy and move quickly...I think my face looks my age but my body and mind seem younger. I feel about 25 ish.

It's great to see most of you feel the same way I do. I was asking because my therapist told me that feeling younger than your age can also be associated with Post Traumatic Stress Disorder. She explained that for some reason, a person will get stuck in a loop. I haven't researched it yet but I definitely will. I have a dual Diagnosis of AS and PTSD which is also common amongst people with AS. Great posts by the way!! !! !!

No different when I was 6 (mentally), so yeah.

When I suck my gut in most of the girls think I'm only 58 or so.

I don't see how anyone can make that claim since there's no way to know how they should feel at any given age.