Do you wish you were younger?

[kenny]

Do you wish you were younger?

Why?

 

[Rosebloom]

Definitely not.

But... I wouldn't mind having my pre-kids body and skin back!

 

[Circe]

DEAR SWEET MERCIFUL GOD NO.

Ahem.

What I mean to say is, the bit about "older and wiser?" Definitely true for me.

 

[packrat]

I wish I *looked* younger. And I second Rosebloom about the prekids body/skin for sure.

 

[tammy77]

I chose other as well. There's NO way that I would trade my life now for my life in my 20's but I sure wouldn't mind having those years back age wise.

 

[kenny]

I wish I was who I am today, but age 19.

 

[junebug17]

Yes. I felt better physically, felt more useful and more productive, I miss my kids being younger and I miss how I used to look. Oh, and I'm slowly getting closer to the end of my life, which I'm not thrilled about.

I noticed that almost everyone who has responded so far is fairly young already! I'm past 50, and I feel things are winding down for me. My health is good, I'm active and I try to stay positive and enjoy life as much as I can, but for me life has gotten much different and it's hard to adjust sometimes.

 

[manderz]

I love where I am right now, personally much more so than professionally. I would never ever want to take back the experiences I've had, but I would like to have done the college thing before I did. Would be nice to already have my master's, like many of my high school class mates.

 

[movie zombie]

honestly, no.
BUT......
i'd like to stop aging right now.

 

[gregchang35]

Not really.. i went through a hard but great time as a younger man....just to that i can be the person that i am today. However, if i could stay youthful looking, then i am all for it. I rather not have botox.....

 

[MichelleCarmen]

honestly, no.
BUT......
i'd like to stop aging right now.

I voted yes, but would say, that I'd be happy with not aging from here on out. I gave up a lot of my dreams in my late 20s/early 30s to make sure my kids were taken care of and I lost some of "me," and it'd be nice if I could have that back.

 

[monarch64]

Yes. I would relive my teens and actually care about my education. I would relive college and actually give a damn the first 3 semesters.
I would relive my 20's and do LOTS of things differently.

I don't really have regrets, per se, but I do mourn my youth at times.

 

[MichelleCarmen]

Yes. I would relive my teens and actually care about my education. I would relive college and actually give a damn the first 3 semesters.
I would relive my 20's and do LOTS of things differently.

I don't really have regrets, per se, but I do mourn my youth at times.

yeah, that is how I feel, too. I wish I had focused on my education more in my HS years and applied for scholarships at the university rather than let my mom say that I could study accounting or she wouldn't pay at all. In retrospect, I should have told her to get lost... she since has sent me lots of emails saying I've not applied my life the way she wanted, even though SHE was the one who went into the college office and told them what I should study w/out even listening to what I was/am interested in.

In an ideal world, I would have tried more in HS, earned scholarships, received the degree that I wanted, and still had my two kids.

 

[missy]

No. I worked hard to get to where I am today and I'm happy with where I am in life. I agree with others that I wouldn't mind if my body could stop the aging process and I could just stay the same appearance wise and health wise (well 10 years earlier to preserve my health as it was) but I wouldn't want to go back all those years just for that reason.

I will never be an old man. To me, old age is always 15 years older than I am.
Francis Bacon

At age 20, we worry about what others think of us. At age 40, we don't care what they think of us. At age 60, we discover they haven't been thinking of us at all. Ann Landers

Old age is no place for sissies.
Bette Davis

 

[lknvrb4]

No, but I do wish I could freeze my age right now. I am 36, but in the best shape of my life. I feel healthy and strong and am doing things and testing myself in ways I never would have if I was younger.

 

[arkieb1]

I wish I was who I am today, but age 19.

OMG yes. Totally, I'm with Kenny, if I could go back and do it all again I'd do it ALL very differently. Hindsight is a wonderful thing!!!!

 

[SB621]

I'm still the same person at 30 then I was at 18. Slightly cocky and pretty narcissistic However, now with a husband and children I know what true unequivocal love is and for that I would never ever wish to go back to a life without them. I look forward to growing old with my DH and watching our children grow up to be hopefully wonderful people. If anything I'm so excited for what my future holds. I would rather grow old surrounded by those I love then be young again.

That and I think I look wayyyyy better at 30 then I did at 18. Which my DH agrees to since we met at 18!

 

[rosetta]

Yes. I'm 33 and I'm running out of time to have kids. But I am enjoying my kid free life with my husband so much, I wish we were 10 years younger and had more time to just be a couple!

Other than that, I'm happy being 33 (I look younger, no wrinkles, no grey hair, boobs still perky, what's not to love? )

 

[chrono]

Not really; I love how much I've grown emotionally, personally and professionally and even how I look physically, only that I don't want to have so many aches and pains. Having better stamina would be a bonus too.

 

[dragonfly411]

I don't wish I was younger no. I do sometimes wish I had been wiser when I was younger.

 

[Laila619]

Yes, but only because then I could have had my kids at a younger age.

 

[junebug17]

honestly, no.
BUT......
i'd like to stop aging right now.

I'd settle for that!

 

[luv2sparkle]

Thinner yes, younger not really.

 

[Kelinas]

Yes. I'm only 25, with my birthday on the 28th but I wonder where the last 10 years have gone.
10 years ago, I turned into the ultimate delinquent and put my parents thru hell. However, I had some of the best times of my life then, and made some of the best friends anyone could ask for.

Hindsight being 20/20, I wish I could go back and tell myself that theres so much in life, and that I should take time to.enjoy being a kid (and that my career choice is horrible!)

I'm still young, I know but I feel that on the inside,I'm well in my 30s.m

 

[diamondseeker2006]

I would not want to have to relive those years, no. But I would like to have the appearance of age 35!

 

[Kelinas]

annnd the song "Don't Blink" by Kenny Chesney comes to mind

 

[Niel]

I already feel too young. so no.

 

[justginger]

Interesting question.

I would like to be who I am now, but at age 21. College life treated me well and I'd love to just relive snippets of it, you know? When I actually was that age, I didn't understand why all the oldies came back to party it up at Alumni Weekend. Now I GET IT, lol.

I am a much stronger, more capable, intuitive person now. But a brief flashback of being naive, foolish, passionate, and hellaciously stubborn would be a treat, nonetheless.

 

[AprilBaby]

I'm pretty content at 54. Would love my 20's body back and would love to stop the clock now.

 

[Smith1942]

Yes. I felt better physically, felt more useful and more productive, I miss my kids being younger and I miss how I used to look. Oh, and I'm slowly getting closer to the end of my life, which I'm not thrilled about.

I noticed that almost everyone who has responded so far is fairly young already! I'm past 50, and I feel things are winding down for me. My health is good, I'm active and I try to stay positive and enjoy life as much as I can, but for me life has gotten much different and it's hard to adjust sometimes.

Awww, past 50 isn't old, Junebug!! You sound a little down about getting older, but many people have had great successes later in life. My favourite, very successful author didn't write her big break-through novel until she was 63! (Rosamunde Pilcher, The Shell Seekers.) There is also a 73-year-old woman in my Body Pump class and a 70-year-old man in my Iyengar yoga class. I wouldn't say they're particularly fit, either, but they're fine, they turn up and have a go, and seem to get something out of it. We also have an 87-year-old friend who lives independently and drives himself around, hearing and sight good - he's had his health problems and has a pacemaker, but he's fine and living life to the full. He's got a transatlantic romance going with a girl 14 years younger than him!

I think at any age, life is what you make it. My mother because very depressed abut growing older once she retired. These fears about being very, very old took her over - my father told me that she had a "morbid fear" of being 90-plus and left alone in a nursing home, etc. Her fears affected her life for quite a while.

Well, life can be very strange. Shortly after that episode, she was diagnosed with a terminal recurrence of her 1999 breast cancer, so she no longer had to be concerned about extreme old age. She might as well never have worried herself about it. She was devastated though....until......

.....She was stabilised, the cancer seems like a low aggressive type, and now all hopes for a long life are back again (although probably not till 90s - she's 70 now.)

So, my point is that there's no point thinking about age, really, because you just never know what's going to happen. You don't really know how close you are to the end of your life because you could live to 100 or more. My husband's grandma lived to be 100 - and her sister lived to 102! And there are people with my mother's type of cancer who were told it was all over and then lived another 30 years. You just never, never know.

If you feel that things have wound down for you, I'd kick things back into action, if I were you. It's never too late to try new things- I don't mean going sky-diving or anything. I was much younger when this occurred, but at 28 I was unhappy with every aspect of my life. I hated my job, my city, my looks, and my lack of a private life. I had to change so much. I went on holiday to a beach in the Indian Ocean and there I resolved to change everything. I had to dump Mr. Useless and meet a lot more men. I needed to lose weight and colour my hair the blonde I always wanted (despite my family telling me it would never suit me) and I needed to change my entire career. I did it all, just about. I went speed-dating and met 30 eligible men per session. I made sure to go on a Saturday night, reasoning that anyone with a girlfriend already wouldn't be there on a Saturday night, and people who were more serious about a relationship would go on a Saturday night. I met a man (now my husband) who was supportive of my career change. I like my hair colour, and I did lose weight, although keeping it off is sometimes a challenge. But when I lose that last 10 pounds, I am SO buying a pair of leather trousers, even though 40 is staring me in the face now. I don't care about the age factor. And all this stuff about not wearing miniskirts past 30 etc? I've got no time for it whatsoever.

Don't mean to lecture you, but I think you're a very sweet person and I don't like to think of you being down about getting older. I think many people feel the same way as you. It's a transition, and I know there are counselling services to help with all manner of life transitions. One of my friends had an absolutely terrible time transitioning to the idea of herself as a mother, for example. Horses for courses.

I think other people don't help sometimes. At 38 and a half, I feel as young as ever, but after that birthday lots of people - from family friends to the eye doctor - kept saying to me, "Well, at your age" and "Now that you're getting older" and other things in that vein. I mentally flipped off every single one of them. Made me feel better. You're as young as the pair of leather trousers you feel like, in my opinion!