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The gap between how old you are and how old you think you are

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Re: The gap between how old you are and how old you think you are

#111

Post by ux-app »

LBJsPNS wrote: post #102
tenpies wrote: post #100

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I think the better example is that when you're young, the world hasn't sorted you into a bucket yet. Education, university, and your first jobs are largely that process: figuring out in which bucket you'll fit in society. When you're older, if you want to change buckets, there is no easy mechanism. Even going back to university is clunky. It's by no means impossible, but I do wonder if we're missing out as a society…

As the exception to that rule, I changed careers completely in my 60s, and picked up yet another at 66. You are welcome to remain in a bucket, I'm way too busy.

60s is a great time to jump buckets. Kids grown up. No debt if you're lucky and possibly some decent passive income.

30-50 is hard, primarily due to obligations you can't just walk away from. Your mortgage drains $Xk/month and the kids need braces is a bad time to try and find yourself ;)

Re: The gap between how old you are and how old you think you are

#112

Post by twiddling »

neilk wrote: post #66

I still feel like the upstart who barely knows what he is doing. The only difference is the people around me. I used to be surrounded by people I looked up to, who seemed to know everything. But now everyone around me has become mysteriously less and less competent and they're acting like I am the established authority, which just shows how little they must know!

You realized that everyone else has been faking it too

Re: The gap between how old you are and how old you think you are

#113

Post by Aeolun »

gnz11 wrote: post #41
crdrost wrote: post #32

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Jukebox the Ghost in 2012, In my lungs I still feel young But my body won't play along I'm thinking this must not be where we Belong. Alan Kay was talking somewhere, but I don't have the link, about how a lot of his success in his youth had to do with the research community around him, and I think he was asked a question about how that sort of thing changes as you grow older... He replied that the combination of grow…

In general (nothing against Kotlin) I think it probably has to do with the prospect of having to fiddle about and work late with new tech for the same outcome as what you would have gotten with the tried and true tech. At the end of the day, I want to spend my time with my friends and family and not burning the midnight hours on work tasks that could have been avoided.

In my personal experience working with Kotlin saves you half the time on typing alone.

Re: The gap between how old you are and how old you think you are

#114

Post by skeeter2020 »

neilk wrote: post #66

I still feel like the upstart who barely knows what he is doing. The only difference is the people around me. I used to be surrounded by people I looked up to, who seemed to know everything. But now everyone around me has become mysteriously less and less competent and they're acting like I am the established authority, which just shows how little they must know!

Yes, I don't feel any smarter but I see others missing what I think are obvious observations and actions much more frequently.

I'm also OK being the same fraud I've felt like since my 20's. Starting to be comfortable in my skin, I just wish it wasn't so wrinkly now that I can enjoy it.

Re: The gap between how old you are and how old you think you are

#115

Post by skeeter2020 »

tmtvl wrote: post #109

I am 33 yet feel mentally like an 80 year old dementia patient. Physically I'm fine, I can do kip ups all day long, but I feel like I have forgotten more than I can ever hope to relearn.

Near 50 and the exact opposite. Mentally I'm sharper than ever (low bar) but physically starting to feel old. I still have some fairly aggressive physical ambitions but wondering if I've got what it takes to accomplish them.

30's through mid 40's was the best physical segment of my life.

Re: The gap between how old you are and how old you think you are

#116

Post by DataJunkie »

I am in my late 30s. I feel like after the pandemic I started visually aging. Part of the problem was that I lost a lot of weight at the same time, so I do actually look a bit different. People tell me I am crazy. I feel like my hair is receding though nobody notices it and in photos it really looks the same for the past 10 years. I feel like there is me at my age, there is some illusion of me at my age, and me at the age I feel.

I feel young. On average, I feel about 25 mentally and maybe 30 physically, but sometimes I feel like I am stuck as a precocious 15 year old. I have a silly sense of humor. I feel like as my numerical age increases, the more I am expected to be boring and not be myself anymore. Quite frankly, it's led me into a depression.

Re: The gap between how old you are and how old you think you are

#118

Post by wrycoder »

homarp wrote: post #90
jacquesm wrote: post #13

"Inside every old person is a young person that wonders what the fuck happened".

as illustrated by TikTok "teenage filter" - https://mobile.twitter.com/memotv/status/1628758590033993728

LOL where are the old people?

Re: The gap between how old you are and how old you think you are

#119

Post by garrisonj »

There is an asymmetry here, because, for the most part, you can’t know what it feels like to be an age until you’ve been it. So it will be more common to feel your age or younger because that's what you've experienced.

If you feel worn out when you are 25, you just think that’s what being 25 feels like.

Re: The gap between how old you are and how old you think you are

#120

Post by wrycoder »

fernly wrote: post #117

Actually turning 80 caused a mental shift. I'd be doing something and think, wait, should an 80-year-old be doing this? Something about the number made my mental age repeatedly try to re-align with the physical. The effect lasted a few days then faded.

Yeah, I'm 80 and feel about 40. I'm a little slower, that's all.

Sometimes, I'll be walking past a shop window and say, "Who's that old dude?"

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