Do you look younger than your age?

Do you look younger than your age?

Could this be autism related?

 An autistic friend mentioned this to me the other day and then it was commented on in a thread here today.

I do look younger than my age and so does my friend - maybe by as much as a decade (on a good day).

Parents
  • Genuinely unsure! I’ve had some people tel me I look ancient, but I think part of that is that they can’t see past the hair loss. Fair enough. I’ve had others tell me I look significantly younger than I am. One person told me three years ago that I was ‘wearing extremely well’ which momentarily changed the way I perceived myself. Though it wasn’t too long until the next more condemning comment from someone else. I often find the last thing said to me by someone becomes the objective truth for a while - like I’m in a world of godlike beings with the power to set reality and overwrite the last one. And I’m the only mortal with no influence. 

    So if someone tells me tomorrow that I’m ugly and look 75, then that is the new reality and unless someone later says something to the contrary, I’m stuck that way. 

Reply
  • Genuinely unsure! I’ve had some people tel me I look ancient, but I think part of that is that they can’t see past the hair loss. Fair enough. I’ve had others tell me I look significantly younger than I am. One person told me three years ago that I was ‘wearing extremely well’ which momentarily changed the way I perceived myself. Though it wasn’t too long until the next more condemning comment from someone else. I often find the last thing said to me by someone becomes the objective truth for a while - like I’m in a world of godlike beings with the power to set reality and overwrite the last one. And I’m the only mortal with no influence. 

    So if someone tells me tomorrow that I’m ugly and look 75, then that is the new reality and unless someone later says something to the contrary, I’m stuck that way. 

Children
  • Well when that happens you can simply start a discussion here and ask us to tell you how beautiful you are hehe.

    I also tend to get very attached to what people say about me. In the past it was to a worrying level, if someone told me that I'm selfish or lying then I'd wonder if I was!. Or that I'm too sensitive to lights for instance and so on. The more I learn about myself the more I'm confident that I know myself well and that people are misunderstanding me. Also recently I've learned that it's a struggle among lots of autistic people to be misunderstood so that gave me some validation.

    I guess part of it is also about the fact that I actually believe what is said. There's a movie about a world where lies were not created yet and everyone believes everyone instantly. I think my brain lives there.