Mental age

[Susannah]

Hi.

I'm 42y, but I feel my mental age is swinging from 14y to 90y, all depending on what I'm doing and who I'm with. I hear it all the time, "I still feel like I'm 25", or "I'm almost 60, but inside I'm like a teenager".

I's typically older hipsters saying this. It's all about your mental age. Anyone feel they don't "fit" their age?

 

[Throwawaysoul]

I'm 41 and feel the same way. I don't think I'm older than 18-25 emotionally. Coincidentally this was around the same age I started doing recreational drugs. I feel tired like a 90 year old though.

 

[DetachedDreamer97]

22. And half the time when I'm pandering about something and speaking out on things, I'd say I become mentally 50-100-ish. And when I'm in one of those random moods where I'm emptyheaded, I'd suddenly become like 12-ish.

 

[sammii]

I'm 28 years old and I look and feel about 10 years younger. Wish I could pause ageing for a bit to let my brain catch up lol.

 

[ArtsyDrawer]

I'm 30 physically, but mentally... 16 would be a decent guess. Got locked in a mental cage, if you will.

 

[amnotreal]

I have DID and my mental age seems to swing from very young like 2 all the way to older than I really am which is 40. Mostly I feel pretty young and childlike.

 

[vulturecyclop]

In terms of personality, maturity, accomplishments and intellect I'd say I feel at most 17. I feel embarrassed about it.

 

[Sweet emotion]

Hi.

I'm 42y, but I feel my mental age is swinging from 14y to 90y, all depending on what I'm doing and who I'm with. I hear it all the time, "I still feel like I'm 25", or "I'm almost 60, but inside I'm like a teenager".

I's typically older hipsters saying this. It's all about your mental age. Anyone feel they don't "fit" their age?

Wow how this relates to me. I'm 34 years old but I got sick with complex regional pain syndrome at the age of 20 and spent all those years in hospitals, having surgeries, going to over 50 doctors, and being secluded in my house. So I never got to be around people my age and relate to them. I never got to grow mentslly. If I were to get better now I'd have no idea how to relate to people my age. They would find me very immature and child like. Yet I feel like I'm 80 years old because of how sick I am and that I am house bound. It really screws with your mental state. I feel like I died at 20 so that is the age I feel like I a now. But I'm 34 and that feels incredibly old to me even though it isn't old. It's just that when you don't get to live 14 years of your life and they start to pass you by and nothing in your life changes you just don't know how you got to 34. So I completely understand how you feel.

In terms of personality, maturity, accomplishments and intellect I'd say I feel at most 17. I feel embarrassed about it.

Don't feel embarrassed about it. This is what depression does. It's not your fault.

I have DID and my mental age seems to swing from very young like 2 all the way to older than I really am which is 40. Mostly I feel pretty young and childlike.

What is DID?

I'm 41 and feel the same way. I don't think I'm older than 18-25 emotionally. Coincidentally this was around the same age I started doing recreational drugs. I feel tired like a 90 year old though.

They say when you start doing drugs you wind up mentally stuck at the age you started doing them. Mine weren't recreational but I was on opiates and I started at 20. So I don't feel 34.

 

[TearyEyedQueen]

I'm going to be 20 next year but I feel 12. That's when my social life stopped. 15-ish at most.

 

[kkatt]

I'm 47 but since being rescued by the police after substantial oxygen deprivation,I'm readin at age 10-12 years levelMy CPN gave me 2 paragraphs to read,but it was just impossible.
Conversations can manage up to about 10 minutes before I'm so far behind that I've totally lost the plot. People whp understand can do a short recap for me but others I just politely dismiss myself from.
I am really hoping next year will see me able to read a simple book,but I've reordered my ingredients just in case.

 

[End Piece]

I feel like in a lot of ways, I am stuck in a teenaged state. I'm only 23, but loads of my peers have surpassed me in education, jobs, experiences, etc. I feel left behind while everyone grew up. At the same time, I feel like an old lady with dementia. My mental cognition is terrible and I can't focus for shit.

 

[Throwawaysoul]

loads of my peers have surpassed me in education, jobs, experiences, etc

Seems like every douche bag that tortured me in High school is doing better than me. Hell, one even was an accessory to murder of a convenience store clerk. He went to jail, came out a carpenter, has a house and a family.

 

[End Piece]

Seems like every douche bag that tortured me in High school is doing better than me. Hell, one even was an accessory to murder of a convenience store clerk. He went to jail, came out a carpenter, has a house and a family.

Ouch. That is annoying, to say the least. I think the worst for me is my step brother. We are exactly the same age, and he just finished his nursing degree and is going off to Japan to ski for 6 months. When he gets back, he's planning to move out to BC, which has been my dream for a while. My dad moved away to a farm with him and his mother when I was a kid, had a baby with her, and they all have this perfect little life out there. I can't help but feel that if I had that life, things would be different for me. I'm pretty bitter, trying to be happy for him though.

 

[Mr2005]

I feel both 17 and 70.

 

[SoupSnakes]

I'm pretty sure that I'm a 90 year old trapped inside the body of a 26 year old.

 

[Feelingsruiner]

Ouch. That is annoying, to say the least. I think the worst for me is my step brother. We are exactly the same age, and he just finished his nursing degree and is going off to Japan to ski for 6 months. When he gets back, he's planning to move out to BC, which has been my dream for a while. My dad moved away to a farm with him and his mother when I was a kid, had a baby with her, and they all have this perfect little life out there. I can't help but feel that if I had that life, things would be different for me. I'm pretty bitter, trying to be happy for him though.

Hi @End Piece , I feel exactly the same as you do. I'm about the same age and everyone seems to be doing so much better. My dad got himself a new family far away and they all have that perfect little life, while my childhood and teenage years were shit. Can't help but feel bitter and believe that I would have turned out a lot better (mentally and physically) had I been a member of that family. Trying to just be happy for him. I relate sooo much. If you ever want to you can PM me. :)

And about my mental age I would say I feel like I am around 30/35 maybe, while I'm 10 years younger. Feeling physically older with health problems, and very late when it comes to "life projects" like I should already own a house, be married and have children. I also have some 60 years old's hobbies (and style sometimes).

 

[Sensei]

Anyone feel they don't "fit" their age?

Absolutely. My actual age is 45, but I have the mind of a 15-year-old boy and the fitness of an 85-year-old man. I missed the train and don't live the life I'm supposed to live at my age, so I guess my life is that of a 25-year-old. When it comes to mental age, I always think of Christopher Lee. At the age of 79-82 he played Saruman in The Lord of the Rings trilogy and at the age of 88 he released a heavy metal album. I know plenty of people who are in their twenties or thirties and are less youthful than Christopher Lee was in his eighties.

 

[kerokeroka]

i bounce between 15 and 17 even though im 20 years old. I have adhd and i hear people with adhd lag behind mentally by a few years compared to their neurotypical counterparts.

 

[DepressionsAHo]

Wow how this relates to me. I'm 34 years old but I got sick with complex regional pain syndrome at the age of 20 and spent all those years in hospitals, having surgeries, going to over 50 doctors, and being secluded in my house. So I never got to be around people my age and relate to them. I never got to grow mentslly. If I were to get better now I'd have no idea how to relate to people my age. They would find me very immature and child like. Yet I feel like I'm 80 years old because of how sick I am and that I am house bound. It really screws with your mental state. I feel like I died at 20 so that is the age I feel like I a now. But I'm 34 and that feels incredibly old to me even though it isn't old. It's just that when you don't get to live 14 years of your life and they start to pass you by and nothing in your life changes you just don't know how you got to 34. So I completely understand how you feel.

Don't feel embarrassed about it. This is what depression does. It's not your fault.

What is DID?

They say when you start doing drugs you wind up mentally stuck at the age you started doing them. Mine weren't recreational but I was on opiates and I started at 20. So I don't feel 34.

DID is dissociative identity disorder

 

[SawItOnce]

I'm 40 and feel 40 and it feels... clicked. Like the planets are aligned and my mind is going smooth, no more swings from 2 to 70 (I used to have them a lot). If only my body was aligned too, piece of crap shit.

 

[Francois]

I am in my forties and I honestly, mentally feel like I am in my forties.
Even a few years ago I engaged in sexually risky behaviour. Going to clubs, having one night stands with strangers I hardly knew.
In a matter of five years I totally lost interest in sex and I look back in a bit of shock.
They subsequently diagnosed me with low testosterone levels, which I already knew. I honestly felt that testosterone compromised me emotionally.
I felt it diminished my rational decision making.

Now, five years on, I do feel like I matured a lot emotionally.
I have to make a decision, the doctors are giving me the option of taking hormonal supplements to "rectify" my testosterone levels.
But rectifying that might break me emotionally.

Maybe if I enter a new relationship and its important to my new partner I might go on testosterone.
Though I lately feel like I am a man going my own way. I don't have anything to offer a woman.
I am trying to be my own best friend.

 

[bunny]

middle school tbh

 

[charlottewilts]

am 20. multiple shrinks said that if they had to take a gander at my mental age it'd be 12. feel the same honestly

 

[Ambie]

I have dissociative disorder so my mental age depends on the moment but usually its somewhere around 2-12.. (Im actually 20)

 

[DoNotLet2]

I feel my age but people keep saying I'm childish.

 

[mathieu]

Yes, I'm like a teenager in how I live my life. Stay up all night playing video games then sleep half the day. Irresponsible with money and immature. Penchant for drugs/booze to kill the pain.

 

[Soulless_Angel]

What is age really? Since I started not bothering with my birthday, leaving the years to flow with no number, I don't feel an age, I don't feel like I should act anyway, I don't feel like I have a number to define me. The only thing I do feel, is a little bit odd when I have professionals clearly younger then me dealing with me, I struggle with that, Life experience Vs Uni Experience are very different!!

 

[ManWithNoName]

Seems like every douche bag that tortured me in High school is doing better than me. Hell, one even was an accessory to murder of a convenience store clerk. He went to jail, came out a carpenter, has a house and a family.

Indeed. I wonder if it is douchebags that the cosmos favors, or if it is that one becomes über successful then that person douches-out because of his success.

Where being a mere douchebag allows one to have a steady job or business, a house and comfortable income, the ruling class (elite bankers, über wealthy) are downright evil. One has to wonder if there is a correlation.

 

[TheStranger]

I'm 20. I feel like an edgy 12 year old. All my peers are becoming adults and I just want to lay in bed and play video games.

 

[forever21]

I feel like an edgy 12 year old. All my peers are becoming adults and I just want to lay in bed and play video games.

Im 21 and I feel the same. But instead of videogames, i watch Youtube and watch memes on reddit.