Ways being young was fun

[Anonymous]

I’m 38 and really starting to feel my age - body is a bit wrecked after third kid, eyesight seems to be declining, and I’m starting to feel some kind of way about my skin, and am therefore nostalgic about certain things from my youth.

1 - Hangovers were kind of fun and felt more an extension of drunkenness rather than a punishment of it

2- I looked fantastic with little to no effort

3 - Life and the world felt limitless and wide open. The future was mine to create.

How about you? What are things about being young that you found awesome?

[Anonymous]

I had such little fear. I miss that feeling of being invincible. Certainly I put myself in risky situations because of it and fortunately made it out in one piece but now every decision I make is couched in factoring in safety for myself and my family. I am so much more aware how vulnerable we all are and how life can change in a second. Especially after I had kids, I became so much more aware that if I died it meant my kids lost their mom - changed my entire perspective on life. A necessary shift obviously but gosh I miss how wildly free the world felt before I knew how vulnerable life was. You’re just so ALIVE as a kid.

[Anonymous]

So much potential. Where you might live, who you might marry, how your career might go. Young and free to soak it all in and dream. Life was full of possibilities in a unique way.

[Zynoba]

I still feel young at the age of 37. I'm still physically fit and exercise regularly.
In certain situations I think twice about whether I should do it or not, but I'm not afraid. You now know more about the consequences and then ask yourself whether it's worth it.
It was certainly more liberating as a child, but only because you didn't see the consequences. I wouldn't say that seeing the consequences is a bad thing.

[Anonymous]

I had not lost my parent yet. Even though I had my own kids, I was still someone’s kid. It was a tough blow to lose my mom at 40, my dad last year at 46… much easier to deal with other changes that reflected my vanity and outward self vs losing my parents and multiple close friends.

[Anonymous]

The second and third posters nailed it. I’m 42 and occasionally I’ll have dreams of when I was a teen or my 20s, and I get this warm sensation of aliveness and I wake up feeling free. Free to do whatever I want and feel whatever I want. And the possibilities are endless and I don’t have anything to worry about. I want to stay in that feeling forever but then my baby cries and I have to wake up and make breakfast for the kids. I love my babies so this life is still great but that feeling… I miss it and hope my kids will one day experience it too.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I had such little fear. I miss that feeling of being invincible. Certainly I put myself in risky situations because of it and fortunately made it out in one piece but now every decision I make is couched in factoring in safety for myself and my family. I am so much more aware how vulnerable we all are and how life can change in a second. Especially after I had kids, I became so much more aware that if I died it meant my kids lost their mom - changed my entire perspective on life. A necessary shift obviously but gosh I miss how wildly free the world felt before I knew how vulnerable life was. You’re just so ALIVE as a kid.

+1

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:So much potential. Where you might live, who you might marry, how your career might go. Young and free to soak it all in and dream. Life was full of possibilities in a unique way.

Exactly this.

[Anonymous]

The freedom to truly go out without worry. Once you have kids and a family every outing is just a countdown to when you or your friends have to be back home. I felt strong nostalgia for this when we unintentionally found ourselves out on St. Patty’s Day. We really used to sit at a bar and day drink for hours with friends with nowhere to be or no one counting down the minutes until our return! What a time to be alive.

[Anonymous]

Greetings from age 58. I felt that way at 38. Miss those days. You will always wish you were younger. But yes, I agree. Miss the feeling of freedom and possibility.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I had such little fear. I miss that feeling of being invincible. Certainly I put myself in risky situations because of it and fortunately made it out in one piece but now every decision I make is couched in factoring in safety for myself and my family. I am so much more aware how vulnerable we all are and how life can change in a second. Especially after I had kids, I became so much more aware that if I died it meant my kids lost their mom - changed my entire perspective on life. A necessary shift obviously but gosh I miss how wildly free the world felt before I knew how vulnerable life was. You’re just so ALIVE as a kid.

+1

Me too. I survived some stupid things. I'm convinced that pregnancy turned on fear hormones, which have remained.

[Anonymous]

Dating and being single were exciting. You never knew when or where you might meet someone. Feeling strong chemistry with someone and not knowing if it might lead somewhere.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I’m 38 and really starting to feel my age - body is a bit wrecked after third kid, eyesight seems to be declining, and I’m starting to feel some kind of way about my skin, and am therefore nostalgic about certain things from my youth.

1 - Hangovers were kind of fun and felt more an extension of drunkenness rather than a punishment of it

2- I looked fantastic with little to no effort

3 - Life and the world felt limitless and wide open. The future was mine to create.

How about you? What are things about being young that you found awesome?

Wow OP, you are not even forty yet (!) & you already feel like you are reaching old maid status!!?
You are still relatively young!

I agree w/you - when I was younger, if I didn’t sleep well the night before, I could still pull off looking good the next day.
But now at 55, if I get a sh!tty night’s sleep, then there is just NO way I can even pull off looking halfway decent in the morning.

And yes, I also miss all the opportunities that were available to me in my youth.
That is probably the toughest part of growing old(er!)….

Coming to terms w/the fact that you are on a specific trajectory in your life, one where it would take a miracle to change.

[Anonymous]

By comparison at 28 I was involved as a passenger in a triple rollover at 5am at 60 mph where I fractured a few bones and got a concussion and stitches. Literally two weeks later was in a night club partying!

Today a cold can knock me out for a week,

[Anonymous]

Re: hangovers being fun

I agree! We’d be 24 and out until 4am, then wake up hungover around 11 and spend the next hour giggling over last night’s antics, then we’d get brunch. Those were the days.