Is it weird that I feel I'm in mid life and still immature?

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catpiecakebutter
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04 Jan 2026, 4:44 pm

Is it weird that I feel I'm getting older and still immature at the same time? I mean I will be 42 shortly but I'm quite immature for my age and yet I feel I'm too old for certain things like making new friends because it's too damn hard. 42 is kinda old, at least to me.



iScream
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04 Jan 2026, 5:29 pm

I'm 54 and, in a lot of ways, feel like I stopped maturing at about 20.


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nick007
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04 Jan 2026, 8:52 pm

I read lots of autism stuff that claims autistics tend to be behind our peers & our mental age on average is one third less than our peers. Important to note that figure is just an average & there are LOTS of exceptions. I'm 43 am behind my peers in lots of ways as well as very immature in some ways.

As for as having friends, it's common for autistics to have a harder time making friends since autism is a social disability. I never really had had offline friends except for people I knew from work or school & I mostly only saw them there. The only exception has been my girlfriends but I met them on online forums first.


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timf
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05 Jan 2026, 2:17 pm

Engagement with the world often facilitates social maturity. Self-isolation and social avoidance can delay maturity.

I have observed some in Mensa that may have avoided social interaction until their 20s and 30s and then try to develop skills that their peers learned in high school.



CockneyRebel
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05 Jan 2026, 9:41 pm

I'm 51 and I feel like I'm 21. I'm quite immature for my age and I feel as though I'm behind my regular peers. I like toys. I believe in Santa Claus. I can be very emotional. I'm also very creative and I have a pea-flavoured way of looking at the world.


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Tamaya
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05 Jan 2026, 9:48 pm

I'm not sure if I'm immature as such. My poor emotional regulation can make it look like I'm approaching anxiety-inducing situations with tantrums. Like at work I can slam doors and kick things and cry when under emotional stress, which may look immature, I don't know. But I've seen NT guys at work react the same way when angered by something, except they don't cry of course, and for them it's probably not anxiety making them react like that.


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lostonearth35
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06 Jan 2026, 2:21 pm

I'm almost 52 and yet I'm still buying toys and junk. Just the other week I bought this toy dolphin that you suction cup to the wall above your bathtub, put soap or bubble bath in it, and when you turn it on a big, rainbowy cluster of bubbles pours out of its mouth. It's kind of noisy, but fun. So yeah, I guess I'm immature. But immature is basically a word boring people use to describe someone who actually does something to help make themselves enjoy life, if only for a while.



AnaisKi
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06 Jan 2026, 2:44 pm

I always say,” I’m mature where it counts!”
I know I’m immature, sometimes more than others but I don’t ever want to grow up in certain ways, I tried and it’s too boring.



AnaisKi
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06 Jan 2026, 2:47 pm

@lostonearth35 I love that! Sounds fun and grounding! I seriously buy my kids bath toys because I subconsciously like the thought of the item and its use, but now I might just get myself some



nick007
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06 Jan 2026, 6:48 pm

lostonearth35 wrote:
But immature is basically a word boring people use to describe someone who actually does something to help make themselves enjoy life, if only for a while.
I'm very boring & also very immature. I don't do a lot or have much of a life. I've always been set in my ways & dislike things lots of others my age would consider fun. I haven't worked in a couple decades & I don't do much housework either. I spend a lot of my time watching TV, doing stuff on computer while listening to music, & playing video-games. A bit of the TV, music, & video-games are ones I've liked since I was a teenager.


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Irulan
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08 Jan 2026, 11:00 am

nick007 wrote:
I haven't worked in a couple decades & I don't do much housework either. I spend a lot of my time watching TV, doing stuff on computer while listening to music, & playing video-games. A bit of the TV, music are ones I've liked since I was a teenager.


Your post could be written by myself as well :|



TesrickTheDog
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08 Jan 2026, 12:53 pm

catpiecakebutter wrote:
Is it weird that I feel I'm getting older and still immature at the same time? I mean I will be 42 shortly but I'm quite immature for my age and yet I feel I'm too old for certain things like making new friends because it's too damn hard. 42 is kinda old, at least to me.


As an autistic, yeah I feel like that too. It feels as if there is something in our brains that just would not let us come to terms with the fact that we are, in fact, already over twenty or more years old.

For me specifically, my best working theory is that this is due to my not having any non-negative interactions with people in my entire life all the way up to the very present. Either in school, or at home. Maybe if my parents had given me some emotional support and was not absent from my life most of the time, I would have been able to mentally compensate for my isolation in classrooms and playgrounds. But, as it were.......


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Fishyfisherton
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08 Jan 2026, 1:01 pm

It seems to be common for people in general to not "feel their age" the older they get. But I suspect that for people like us, we feel that way for good reason. Something something developmental disability something.
I recently turned 33, people usually assume I'm younger. I don't know if I look younger in the face but my clothes and mannerisms are younger. My lifestyle also hasn't changed since I was 21 and I feel like I'm really lagging.


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Tim_Tex
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08 Jan 2026, 2:22 pm

catpiecakebutter wrote:
Is it weird that I feel I'm getting older and still immature at the same time? I mean I will be 42 shortly but I'm quite immature for my age and yet I feel I'm too old for certain things like making new friends because it's too damn hard. 42 is kinda old, at least to me.


I feel the same way, plus nearly everyone I potentially connect with is thousands of miles away.


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10 Jan 2026, 12:01 pm

I think that physically I'm perimenopausal and emotionally I'm going through some weird stage of adolescence that I seem to have missed out on

I mean I don't know this for sure but that's just how it seems


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Tamaya
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10 Jan 2026, 3:08 pm

This might be the part of autism that i get embarrassed about the most. I don't like having a disorder that makes you immature. In society immaturity gets looked down upon and can lead to criticisms and mockery.

I was so immature as a teenager. I was about 3-4 years behind intellectually and socially, and even more behind emotionally, during my early teens. I caught up with my peers again when I got to my mid-teens, although I was always still hyperactive at home, like bouncing off the walls.


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