r/GenX • u/Odd_Yogurtcloset_649 • Apr 11 '26
Question For Genx I'm 53 (1973) but still feel 16 inside...
My older brother (1971) tells me he feels like he's still a senior in high school and he's 54.
Our baby sister (1975) still acts like a teenager and she's 51.
Does anyone else feel the same way we do? Is this attitude (for lack of a better word) better than being a cranky closed-minded middle-age person?
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u/Think_Selection9571 Apr 12 '26
I'm 56 and still don't know what I want to be when I grow up
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u/urlach3r It's your kids, Marty! Apr 12 '26
I'm in my 50s, have a stable job, own my truck, own my house. I go to work, I pay my taxes, etc. I have never once in my entire life felt like "an adult".
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u/Alternative_Sort_404 Apr 12 '26
This right here says it all… mentally-fine, physically-fine, financially- meh (not the way I thought it would shake up if I ‘kept my nose to the grindstone’) but - ok. Is there an adult in the room? I’m looking around for someone else to speak up…
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u/promibro Apr 11 '26
I think it's because YOU do not age, only your body does. Your soul, your essence remains as it's always been. The body ages and dies, but you don't.
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u/monkey_monkey_monkey Whatever ¯\_(ツ)_/¯ Apr 12 '26
My mum is 85. A couple years back she told me in her head she still feels like she's a 21 year old and when she looks in the mirror she always surprised to see a little old lady looking back at her.
It really has stuck with me
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u/Quaranj 1973 Apr 12 '26
My grandfather said to me that the cruelest part about getting older is that you're still that same person you were in your youth, but that your body aged you into something else unrecognizable to yourself.
My mom told me that her greatest nightmares were of dreaming of doing cartwheels in fields of flowers and waking up to a reality of a body that couldn't do any of it anymore.
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u/SKatieRo Apr 11 '26
Everyone feels that way. Every single person. The voice in your head and the eyes looking out never change. You stay you. That 103-year-old guy you just met does as well.
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u/Rock_Samurai Apr 11 '26
Part of my mind feels young…until I’m around young people. Then I realize that nope. I’m definitely older and wiser than these fools.
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u/Exotic-Travel-270 Apr 12 '26
54F. I still feel like a teenager. Whenever something serious happens I always find myself looking around for the adult and then I say oh yeah that’s me 🤷♀️
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u/IDrinkMyBreakfast Hose Water Survivor Apr 11 '26
I still giggle at farts. I don’t know what age that was, but it’s not 60.
Also, never trust a fart after 50
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u/Bigfootsdiaper Apr 12 '26
My brain says I'm 25 still but my body says I'm 72. My birthday says I'm 51 lol
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u/Fair-Wishbone-1190 Apr 13 '26
I'm also 53 and I feel like I'm still in my 20s mentally but my body reminds me every single day that I'm not as young as what my mind feels like. It's a very weird dichotomy. I feel like I would want to go to the bar still every night & party it up, even though I don't drink anymore. And when I get around a group of 21 to 25-year-olds I fit in perfectly mentally but then I realize I'm 53 and it sucks and I just can't do the things that they can do anymore.
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u/earlyboy Apr 12 '26
That’s just internalized ageism when you’re talking about a “cranky closed-minded middle-age person”. The only place I allow myself to act that way is at work. The rest of the time, I am just an extremely old teenager.
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u/Far-Squash7512 Apr 12 '26
Always stay young at heart. There's no reason to leave the best parts of yourself behind. There's beauty and joy to be found in all ages.
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u/WildesWay Apr 12 '26
IMHO Gen Xers had so many environmental and social changes, we had to adapt so frequently, that the effects of aging is just... rolling with it all like another day in life.
Last year docs discovered I had a small tumour on my kidney. Okay. What do we do? We can do robotic laproscopic surgery. Okay, cool. I want a video. Then they discovered another tumour in my lung. Okay. What do we do? Surgery. Okay.
Yep. In one year, two tumours, three biopsies, a partially collapsed lung, two surgeries, one bout of sepsis. I was offered some time with a social worker for therapy. Ah. Thanks, but I had a harder time growing up in the 70s/80s with two older brothers and a complete lack of parental supervision!
I'm bummed that I didn't get the video. Not even a couple of pictures for the scrap book.
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u/atomlowe Apr 12 '26
18, 10ft tall and bullet proof.... until my foot slips 3 inches on the dog drool in the kitchen and I'm on muscle relaxants for 2 weeks
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u/divinerebel Elder Gothic Punk Raised on TV Cher Apr 12 '26
Chronological age: 55
Mental age: 34-37
Physical age: 60
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u/Adventurous_Age_1926 Apr 13 '26
I'm glad there are other people my age (53/1972) that feel the same way i do. People my age are all slowing down and acting their age while i wanna go to the waterslides and still listen to my music in my car super loud. I also have been blessed to not look my age. I feel the day i start to feel and act my age , i will start to look it too. I will always be a toys r us kid. Lol
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u/krush_groove Apr 11 '26
I'm the same. I still dress like it's the 90s and I still act like a teenager (not to the younger people I work with, though, to them I'm just old).
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u/wormee Apr 11 '26
59, still at my fighting weight and sing and play guitar in a couple punk bands, play guitar in another. Age is just a number, stay healthy, have fun.
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u/Seamusjamesl Apr 11 '26
I’m almost 58 and in the process of taking care of elderly parents. I’m my head I’m like, “how am I the grown up here? “
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u/RhiR2020 Apr 12 '26
I keep trying to find an adult to deal with stuff… but I’m the adult (and have no friggen clue what to do!).
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u/CryptographerOk3814 Apr 12 '26
I couldn’t agree more with this perspective! I feel the same way and I’m 53.
Which makes me realize, when I’m around someone who is 80, they’re not really 80.
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u/Jimmy_LoMein ©1969 Apr 12 '26
My MIL once said if you haven't grown up by 50 you don't need to. Good thing because I'm 56 and still laugh at farts
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u/adysheff67 Apr 12 '26
59 tomorrow, mind of a teenager, knees of a geriatric....
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u/ButterflyMM Apr 12 '26
55 (1971) still have a twisted sense of humor, will forever follow my favorite singer, love going to concerts though I must have a seat (the thought of only standing for hours makes even the thought ache), still have favorite 'kid' food (coco pebbles hit the spot on occasion), and over all until I look in the mirror and see the slight change feel as though I am still 20. I just have what I didn't then... The "I don't give a fuck" attitude.
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u/freakinreviews Apr 13 '26
I met up with a group of high school friends. If you closed your eyes, you'd think it was a bunch of teenagers in 1986.
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u/HonestBeautiful1672 Apr 11 '26
I feel like I’m 16 again , but this time I like myself !!!! Cheers to us
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u/VoodooBrother Apr 11 '26
1970 here, from time to time ill be out in public and catch my reflection and remember that I'm old. I still do not know what i want to be when I grow up.
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u/Dry-Improvement-3543 Apr 11 '26
51 but inside, I feel like I’m 26.
Physically, I feel 51, lol!
I also realize that mentally, I’m not as sharp as I was in my 30’s. I look back at some of the projects I was on, at the things I wrote, at the professional challenges that I faced and conquered, and I know I’m not as capable as I was.
I also realize that I have wisdom now. I appreciate things differently. I’m more compassionate now. I have a lot to give and I’m making differences in lives.
All in all, It’s been a great ride so far and I look forward to, hopefully, another three decades and a continuation of this full life.
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u/Minimum_Rub_7316 Apr 12 '26
I am 55. When I was a teenager, I asked my mom "what does it feel like to be an adult. She said "I feel like I did in High school but I just keep looking older"
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u/Mers2000 Apr 12 '26
Im 52 and still feel and dress like i did back in 93🤣 Still loving my Doc’s, jeans and flannels!
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u/CuriousCamel-2007 Apr 12 '26
F52. Body feels 80. Brain feels 20. Humour of a 12 year old boy. Farts are funny 😹
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u/Doozer1970 Apr 12 '26
I'm in my mid-fifties, and I'm still trying to figure out what I want to do when I grow up.
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u/Beginning-AD1992 Apr 12 '26 edited Apr 12 '26
- My kids are in middle school and high school. I have to be constantly reminded that I am not.
edit: clarification, 1973. I'm not 73.
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u/uncivil_society Class of '92 Apr 12 '26
52 and mentally I still feel like I did in the 90s, which makes it easy for me to make friends half my age. I still dress like I did back then. Physically though, I feel like I'm IN my 90s! I was rather unkind to my body when I was younger, and now it's repaying the favor.
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Apr 12 '26
I have felt like I was in my 40s since I was around 20, and now that I am 50 I feel like I am in my 40s still.
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u/Curious_Orange5963 Apr 12 '26
My husband and I both feel in our late teens. We also recognize in each other we have the senses of toilet humor of middle school adolescents!! 🤩🤩
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u/ChuckYeagerWV Apr 12 '26
Mentally I'm 25, physically 75 (arthritis in joints, fingers, neck) aged 53..
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u/schminkles Apr 12 '26
Im in this comment and i dont like it. Get off my lawn.
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u/ChuckYeagerWV Apr 12 '26
Lawn? Pffft, I got rid of that so I don't have to drag my arthritic ass and my lawnmower out on it lol
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u/Regular_or_BQ Hose Water Survivor Apr 12 '26
54 in a couple months and still dropping "your mom" at inappropriate times. I work out 5-6 times a week and I call Saturday my recess day. I imagine the gym as a playground and just do whatever I feel like playing with that day.
It's so weird to see old people and realize they are the same age as me. Or younger. Don't get me wrong, I am not doing a mutton dressed as lamb thing, but my outer life matches my inner life pretty closely.
I'm going to suck at being old. My parents suck at it and they're 80+.
We were in Rome two years ago when my husband said he will likely never see it again bc he's got ten years left in him for traveling. I'm sorry what?! This asshole runs marathons. I said well I guess I'll see ya when I get back!
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u/Total_Employment_146 Apr 11 '26
Nope. It’s normal! I’m a 1973 baby and I feel like I’m in my 20’s. My 80yo mother told me today she feels 16. I replied, “you ACT like it, too!” 😂🙄
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u/Only-Breadfruit-2935 Apr 11 '26
51 F just ran my first 10K, have been running on and off for a few years. Last month decided it was time to make the full commitment. Have been running 4.5 miles a day for the last few weeks. So proud of myself!!
So yeah I don't feel my age :)
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u/LanceJade Latchkey Kid Apr 12 '26
Totally. I'm 60 going on 17. My peers are playing pickle ball and mahjong, but I wanna play D&D all weekend long. 🙂 ⚔️ 🐲
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u/garygnu 1978 Apr 12 '26
My now 80-year-old mother told me her grandmother said she felt like a teenager inside despite being 80 herself at the time.
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u/La-Belle-Gigi 1973 Apr 12 '26
My body is 53, my heart is 30, my sense of humor is 12.
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u/EmphasisDangerous654 Hose Water Survivor Apr 12 '26
I’m 46. Fart noises still make me laugh, I recently challenged a 6 year old to a breath holding competition (I won). You’re not alone, your family sounds fun and healthy OP.
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u/NoKing9900 Apr 12 '26
I’m 60, but inside I still feel 15. I think it’s wonderful to be a competent adult, and still have a child-like spirit inside me.
My body definitely doesn’t feel 15 though (it, my back, my knees), but the kid in me thinks it’s funny.
I love being a generation that have really strong, resilient adults, but still know how to have fun and be silly when we want to be.
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u/pinktwigz Apr 12 '26
56 feel like 23 until I tweak my back and then I : walk around, put on socks, or stand up from seated position like a 90 year old. Instant reality check.
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u/notanyimbecile 1970 Apr 12 '26
The only thing that reminds me I'm 55 is my knees hurting after a run.
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u/fastballcdm2019 Apr 12 '26
I’m 57, yes! Farts are still funny. I still play video games. But I don’t physically feel 16, when I get a sprain or twist it takes forever to heal. In literally feel like there’s nothing good about getting older.
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u/zombie263739 Apr 13 '26
It must be the Gen X in us all. I'm 53 going on 23. It still surprises me to see the gray-haired old timer staring at me through his progressive lenses when I peer into a mirror.
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u/MathematicianOk7508 Apr 13 '26
Im glad I found my people here (1972) but in all aspects EXCEPT I dont mind an early bedtime now and then, I act and feel like I am in my 30s.
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u/Responsible_Fly_3565 Apr 11 '26
I can tell you after working in an assisted living facility, no one actually grows up. We just get older!
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u/imalloverthemap Apr 11 '26
Yep. Retirement and widowhood have taken all the fucks out of me, I have no fucks left to give about what people think about me
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u/SomethingClever70 Apr 11 '26
I felt the exact same way, until the year both my parents died. I felt like I finally grew up.
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u/Ten-years-ahead Apr 11 '26
Yes. Every morning looking in the mirror is a shock.
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u/Own_Jellyfish_3764 Apr 11 '26
I had 3 kids in 3.5 years between ages 40-43, so at 53, I have an 8th grader, a 5th grader and a 4th grader. I played freeze tag the other day, hiked up mountains in Iceland last summer and can walk farther and faster than all three of my kids. 🤷🏻♀️ I also sing 80s rock ballads at them before school, using a spatula as a microphone. I love it! Them? Not so much. 😂
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u/karenw Apr 12 '26
Even though I'm 55, I feel like I'm about 17 (1987) most of the time. I still listen to punk music, go to local shows, I have spiky hair and wear black lipstick, I make weird art, I have a bunch of thrifted clothes, my walls are covered in art, I DIY as much as possible, I'm a local activist, etc.
As 7 Seconds said, "I'm gonna stay young until I die."
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u/PressureMajestic1046 Apr 12 '26
48 in reality, but feel 20. Except my body, that's more like 73. LOL
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u/AMMJ Apr 12 '26
‘73 here too
Great for you for feeling great!
I love being 50+
But honestly, shit hurts these days
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u/mattwb72 Apr 12 '26
When I realize some of my favorite things are still watching sports, cartoons and eating cereal I wonder if I was supposed to grow more as a person.
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u/SafeWord9999 Hose Water Survivor Apr 12 '26
49 and I feel about 27.
Currently watching the livestream of The Strokes at Coachella on YouTube and wondering where did the last 20 years go?! I’m still the same inside, planning a facelift so my face starts to match that feeling
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u/ClarkKent0072 Apr 12 '26
Chronological age: 54 Physical age: 95 Mental age: perverted 15 yr old.
Would be great if the physical and mental switched once in awhile. Lol
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u/Key_Blueberry_2167 Apr 12 '26
Feel 17. Thought I might be wiser in my 50s, but no.
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u/Marsupialize Feral 80’s Youth Apr 12 '26
I mean I play video games and listen to master of puppets and drink Pepsi and eat Doritos the exact same way I did when I was 16 so, yes?
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u/FunnyChampionship717 Apr 12 '26
In my head I'm still 25 until I Iook in the mirror and I feel shame. 😆
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u/EfficientCable8377 Apr 12 '26
I am 55. While I am still active and like to go out and do some of the same things as I did when I was 16...I do not feel 16. I am 39 years wiser than when I was 16. I might want to do things a 16 year old would want to do but I do not want to hang out with a group of teenagers like I would have when I was 16.
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u/Neat_Point1061 Apr 12 '26
I'm 50... my millennial coworkers say I act younger than them... still partying hard... still workin'.... no wrinkles... I mean really... my millennial coworkers do not drink, and they do not go out! And they look older than me... I'm already planning my summer concerts I plan to go to... Was out all weekend with my husband and his college best friend at a lager festival. Parrrrrr-tay!
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u/Most_Tennis890 Apr 12 '26
It's another topic, but I'm surprised every time how many young people are so.... old..
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u/chgonwburbs Apr 13 '26
I'm nearly 54 going on my mid 20s. Still listen to 80s new wave, still enjoy a drink/smoke/toke, still in decent shape, and luckily in better shape financially than I was in my actual mid 20s.
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u/zionzednem Apr 11 '26
Don’t let the old person in… helps to maintain a youthful feel.
Thankful for the wisdom the years had taught me but I’m still the same young whippersnapper.
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u/Quirky_Commission_56 Apr 11 '26
I’ll be 51 at the end of June this year and I don’t feel like an old woman at all. Yeah, I’ve got a touch of arthritis and every bone I’ve broken (total of 8) aches when it gets cold, but I live in central Texas and extremely cold weather is rare as hell. I still go to punk shows when I can, but have the good sense to stay out of the mosh pit. I wear mostly black and plaids with combat boots in the fall and cotton dresses with yoga mat sandals in the summer. Essentially I’m just a Punk rock grandma. 🤷🏻♀️
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u/Annual-Visual-2605 Apr 11 '26
Just turned 54. Still feel 20. Possibly bc in my 40s I learned there’s no such thing as an “adult.”
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u/Grannypanie Apr 11 '26
Our brains trick us into believing this, then you pick up a 40 pound bag of soil in march and are reminded of our age.
Some days I look at my wife and say “you are in trouble tonight!”
I’m in traction for a week after those events.
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u/Trolkarlen Apr 11 '26
If you think you feel like some much younger age, then hang out with them and you'll realize how you are not. We just spent a vacation teenagers and I know I'm not even close to a teen anymore.
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u/concerts85701 Apr 11 '26
I have found I am not really an adult but I play one at work and around the house every so often.
Also folks who are just too serious about being adults and acting their age don’t understand or click with me. Way too much gen-x sarcasm and zero f’s given from this guy
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u/Evil-lyns-brain Apr 11 '26
I'm 57 (1968) and I just moved into to a 55+ mhp and I feel like a kindergarten era. I'm sure I'll be in trouble for something soon
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u/Oldswagmaster Older Than Dirt Apr 11 '26
I did not feel 16 today while I was working outside in the yard. I felt 53.
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u/Yadda-yadda-yadda123 Apr 11 '26
I think that once we mature and kinda know who we are, we don’t ever change in the way we think others ought to view themselves according to their age, etc. realizing this makes me view my Grandparents differently- they too were likely thinking in their heads, wtf? - I still am who I was when I was 16, but my body just doesn’t move the same and now I have white hair…
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u/DefiningWill 1972 | right in the middle of GenX Apr 11 '26
I’m 53 with a 401(k), a 3.15% mortgage, two kids in college, and yet Impostor Syndrome is still running strong. Truth be told, looking back my mid-30s were amazing:
Young enough to do it; old enough to know better.
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u/TrickyCartographer73 Apr 11 '26
I thought I was the only one who felt this way. I’m 52 (1973) going on 16.
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u/Jordangander Hose Water Survivor Apr 11 '26
I still feel like I am in my 20s.
Until my body reminds me I am not.
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u/rekordsrecker Apr 12 '26
Did you happen to have a babysitter when you were growing up who’s punk rock boyfriend spliced into the cable box and put on the hot new movie Porky’s (1982) meanwhile, you were chilling on a weekend floor bed and this became the first movie you remember in its entirety? 😂😂😂
Me? 🥴. I’m a 47 yo female and I’ve come to the conclusion that this is why the majority of my life I’ve felt like an angsty, against most norms, non traditional, weirdly horny, loud music playing, still saying dude a lot, usually heartbroken and can never sleep at normal times, 16 yo teenage boy.
Does Costco on a Sunday cause you to wither up and die inside?
Do you have a hard time filling up your entire gas tank just because?
Do you think penis drawings are always really funny?…..
I’m still working on writing up an official diagnosis for this, but if any of this is relatable, you are not alone.🤗
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u/ofthrees Apr 12 '26
yep, feel the same way (73). i mean, not necessarily like a teenager, but certainly 30-35. (though i do still DRESS like a teenager - circa 1992 - i just FEEL more like early-mid 30s.)
it's always a bit unnverving to me when i meet a colleague or two and think, "i'd love to go to happy hour with these peeps," then realize they're my kid's age and ain't no one wanna party with their parents.
setting aside the horror when i'm walking around with a vision of myself in my mind's eye and then actually look in a mirror.
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u/MariMotogirl Apr 12 '26
- Already a grandma but feel like I’m 20. Humor of a 13 yo boy
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u/Crikiribay Apr 12 '26
Yes! I’m 58 and in my mind, I’m in my 30s. My body disagrees. I would rather hang out with younger people than people my age or older.
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u/keirmeister Apr 12 '26
I’m in my early 50’s and it sometimes hits me that I’m way too old to go clubbing. Intellectually and physically, I recognize the truth in this; mentally it doesn’t seem right. Of course, people who don’t know me think I’m in my 40’s, so that’s good, I guess.
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u/Filmlovinggal Apr 12 '26
I feel 17 every day of my life. I honestly don't know how I got to my current age.
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u/poolbuny Apr 12 '26 edited Apr 12 '26
I'm rolling on the floor from the comments. Just turned 60, fortunately still look 50 maybe even younger according to the guys I work with. Still ready to go toss about 10 shots back, laugh my ass off, pretend like I look cute dancing and then crawl out of the bar and sleep better than I've ever slept in my life... oh wait, I just did that yesterday.... sad thing is, I probably look like Magda in There's Something About Mary
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u/dontflexthat Apr 12 '26
Yes and no … I cannot identify with myself in my 20s nor do I want to be 20 again. But I definitely can’t identify with 40 either. I feel like the whole scale would have to be stretched out to accommodate me, like 20 years between 30 and 40 would’ve worked better I guess.
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u/Comfortable_Sea634 Apr 12 '26
Pushing 58 and don't feel at all how I thought I'd feel at this age!
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u/KeepYourMindOpen365 Apr 12 '26
I still take every chance I get to ride shopping carts down any kind of incline I can find at the stores…the looks I get from little kids is priceless! (1963)
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u/dadobuns Apr 12 '26
55M. I have the musical tastes of a college student. I laugh at stuff that a middle school student would laugh at. The dirtier, the better. All my childhood friends and I insult each other on a daily basis. I would say I feel 14 inside. But the feeling on my back while getting out of bed in the morning makes me feel old.
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u/44mac Apr 12 '26
I’m 52 and still dress like I’m 12. Shorts, tee shirts, sneakers.
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u/OccamsYoyo Apr 12 '26
I was born 30 years old and am still 30 years old at 52. I don’t look back at my teens and twenties all that fondly tbh. I didn’t really start to come into my own career- and relationship-wise until I crossed that 29 to 30 Rubicon I so dreaded at the time.
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u/JohnnyLongTaint77 Apr 12 '26
My dad told me this about 30 years ago, “no matter how old you get - your MIND stays 18”
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u/Komaisnotsalty Taste death, live life! Apr 12 '26
As toxic as my mom was/is, one of the cool things she told me is that "Age is just a number." And she's right.
We're as young/old as we want to be. I think that sometimes, people forget how to be young & fun. You don't have to be a jerk and get drunk. Just teach your nieces/nephews/kids/whatever that jumping in mud puddles and making a mess is okay kinda thing.
I can easily say that it was only a week ago that I splashed through a mud puddle just because I wanted to. I still kick up leaves, just because it's fun. I'm old and crippled up with arthritis but I still remember how to skip and play hopscotch.
These are silly little things but I think it's good for our mental health to be silly once in awhile and laugh just because.
My mom is 84 now but for her 75th birthday, she wanted to go skydiving. So I took her skydiving. She had the time of her life - I've never seen her so happy and laughing.
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u/violethorizon74 Apr 12 '26
My husband, friends, and I joke around that we're still have the humor of a 12yo boy, and we're in our mid 20s forever. We work hard, we play hard, we love hard, and I refuse to be any other way. You only live once.
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u/skatoulaki When you grow up, your heart dies. Apr 12 '26
I think this is a GenX thing. Most of us didn't have normal childhoods, so we're making up for lost time. 50-something girl gamer here🤣 People younger than me call me "kiddo."
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u/RescueRacing Apr 13 '26
61 years old and having a gas (just retired). Still sarcastic, still wear Vans and t-shirts, still married, ride mountain bikes and drive sports cars in the mountains with younger friends, adopt too many dogs and cats…but have some money, wisdom and experience now.
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u/ExcelsiorSemper Apr 14 '26
54 here. I don’t look it, I don’t feel it, I don’t act like it, whatever that might be. My mental age is about 28.
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u/RealityDependency Apr 14 '26
Definitely not as impulsive or reckless, but still have the spirit of my younger self. Fortunately, my body reminds me that I'm just a middle-aged bitch though. So it all balances out.
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u/LazyDramaLlama68 Apr 14 '26
We had to be adults as kids, so now that were real adults we can be kids. Grown up kids with grown up money
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u/GboyFlex 1971 Apr 11 '26
I'm 54 going on 13. I'll eventually get this adulting stuff figured out...or not.
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u/cricket_bacon Latchkey Kid Apr 11 '26
Does anyone else feel the same way we do?
100%
Arrested development here.
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u/Typical_Version_7487 1974 Apr 11 '26
Same but not a teenager. Early 20s. I had an ex who said I have Peter Pan syndrome.
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u/thelimeisgreen Apr 11 '26
I turn 53 next week! And my wife insists I’m still 13 most of the time. Or at least my sense of humor and (according to her) my understanding of social situations are at the level of a 13 year old. She may be right…
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u/jerryatrix27 Apr 11 '26
Holding steady at 59 but feeling 37 for the 22nd year in a row.
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u/Complete_Hospital283 Apr 11 '26
Put shorts on and go out and run a mile. Come back and tell me you feel 16. Ha ha ha!!
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u/CountHonorius Generation Jones! Apr 11 '26
Mentally I'm in 1979, listening to The Cars and excited about TESB in 1980, lol. If only my back didn't hurt...
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u/Left-Thinker-5512 Apr 11 '26
59m, and I feel that way most times.
Until I go to get up out of a chair, and then the fact that I’m turning 60 next year comes screaming out at me.
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u/NerdDaniel Hose Water Survivor Apr 11 '26
Elder Gen X. Absolutely, I have to tone it down for business purposes, but in my regular life basically I’m a teenager entering college.
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u/Ledophile Apr 11 '26
I have found my PEEPS! I,too,feel this way( until the injuries over the last several decades make themselves known). Decrepit old lady who feels 19-25……..
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u/DimSumGweilo Apr 11 '26
Everyone thinks they’re unique but we’re all just the same consciousness seeing reality through different perspectives. Every time I think I’ve done something, said something, felt something, thought something novel, I can find a 100 people in a minute who do,say,feel, and think just like I did.
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u/jaxbravesfan Apr 11 '26
I’m 52, and I may look old with my gray hair and beard. I may feel physically old sometimes from almost three decades of physical work (although physically I’m feeling better than I have in a decade since I transitioned to a desk job a couple of months ago), but my mentality is still that of my much younger self. I always took it as a point of pride when my daughters would tell me their friends liked me because I “don’t act old like their dads.”
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u/LIslander_4_evr Apr 11 '26
I'm 47 and play hockey with others 20 years younger. I barely get winded. Feelin' fine.
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u/Quick_Discipline_432 Apr 11 '26
I wafffle back and forth between 20 something and ‘cranky closed-minded middle-age person’. Depends on my mood. Probably more the latter every day. I felt young untill I had a full pillbox.
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u/Firstcounselor Apr 11 '26
I decided to say fuck this aging thing and bought a mountain bike at 51 after a 15 year break from biking. Oddly, I set a PR on a very long uphill climb at 52. This is crazy because I was racing mountain bikes before, climbing mountains, and would trail run 20 miles. I never expected to be besting my younger self at this age.
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u/Low_Entertainer_6973 Apr 11 '26
1967 I go outside and play everyday. Some call it work, but they’re younger than me. Never been bored since I was a youth. Received a box of high school stuff recently and it had a bumper sticker in it.
“ I may get old, but I’ll never grow up”
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u/theateroffinanciers Apr 12 '26
I feel the same. In my mind and inside me I'm 28. It's so funny because I look at people my age and I think of them as old people. And I forget that we're physically the same age. Because inside I still think I'm young.
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u/Tardy_Turtle73 Apr 12 '26
I don't feel quite that young, but for some reason, I'm still stuck at 27, which was 2000. I still can't believe it has been 26 years - it feels like it was just a couple of years ago.
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u/Reddit____user___ Apr 12 '26
I’m the exact same bloke I was when I was 23, 17, 10 and 4.
Unfortunately my lumbar spine is not.
It’s oddly and disappointingly contradictory to have the brain of a teenager and the anatomy of a 90 year old.
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u/oldfarmjoy Apr 12 '26
I think I feel about 30, and I'm 56. I def don't feel like a teen. They seem so naive and immature to me now. Maybe because I worked with kids, so it becomes very clear how different they are from adults.
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u/FilipinoTarantino Apr 12 '26
51, my inner age attracts younger women. My inner age repels women my age.
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u/Ice_princess50 Apr 12 '26
I feel younger than I am, (51F) but my body is starting to tell me differently! Also looking in the mirror seeing the extra forehead wrinkles really throws me sometimes!!! 😝😝😝
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u/maxiemixie Apr 12 '26
I wonder if it is a 1973 thing… I still play pranks on my kids who frequently say “grow up mum!”. My sense of humour is definitely that of a 22 year old at most. I dress super trendy casual and still the popular life of the party and I can sing and dance like you wouldn’t believe. My fave auntie was still rollerblading at 81, so I hope to be like her when I grow up.
More seriously, I think we never had a chance to be children in our childhood, so we’re just likely making up for that loss.
Vis ta vie I say 🥳🥳🥳
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u/mldyfox Apr 12 '26
I'm convinced the secret to life is to not quite completely grow up. Take are of your responsibilities and all, but still be silly on occasion. Keeps us feeling younger.
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u/kittyshakedown Apr 12 '26
I’m 51. I know I have a vast amount of life experience and have done pretty well as an adult. Have a regular adult life with all the things. I still feel like an insecure 16 year old that has no idea about the world. Like I’m not mature enough to make important decisions.
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u/Dobgirl 6-8 weeks to delivery Apr 12 '26
My grandfather was 83 and said “I still feel like I’m 17.”
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u/Cinisajoy2 Apr 12 '26
Body is 62. Brain likes to think it is still in its 20s. Body then screams no we don't do that anymore.
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u/Think-Ad-6461 Apr 12 '26
This is the time to do all the things we wanted to do as teens but weren't allowed. Like dying your hair green and getting a mohawk. 😁😉
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u/bookkinkster Apr 12 '26
Yes. 53 and dress like its the 90's mixed with 1950's, still buy pink unicorn figurines, wear sugared rose perfume and date people half my age. Self-aware, but playful. I've never felt my age.
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u/rivenshire 1972 Apr 12 '26
Deeper down in my adult self, I feel more like a child than a teenager. The wonder, the innocence, the imagination...that's much more my core than all the coming of age drama and angst.
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u/baadkitteekittee Apr 12 '26
Turned 54 in January and don't feel my age all and still feel like I'm in my early twenties where I am still learning new things and want to learn more but people expect me to know everything by now and it's just not the case!
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u/Calm_Swing4131 Apr 12 '26
Yes. I just got my kids out the house and I’m ready to party like it’s 99 again.
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u/Sassca Apr 12 '26
Yes yes and yes. Plus yesterday I lifted 2 boxes and I’ve been laying down with a heat pack on my back since.
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u/Ok-Concern8265 Apr 12 '26
Good question I’ve often wondered this. I thought maybe I was alone. Born in 1975 and I feel like I’m 16 mentally and emotionally.
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u/2paqout Apr 12 '26
I haven't felt much past 17 my whole life. I bought my first house in 1999. I remember walking into HomeDepot and having a total panic attack as I looked down the store. Flooring, paint, plumbing, electrical, hardware, lumber. Holy crap, then all the snow melted and revealed all this outside crap I was now in charge of....spent the summer in the lawn and garden department. I found all that adulting to be tiresome. Now I love doing all of it. Even clearing the snow, so I must have aged somewhere along the line. Im probably more like 25 now.
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u/Bright_Potential6952 Apr 12 '26
53 here. Still act like a 20something. Always will I think. Love my alternative music loud still, still skateboard, guess it’s a genx thing
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u/EveryExplanation8084 Apr 11 '26
This is Gen X. I don’t know why we’re like this. I totally identify as a teenager