Published on 12, July, 2020
I’ve seen a few posts recently about differences between older and younger autistic people and their attitudes, and I remember at least one thread about whether or not we look younger than neurotypicals.
I’m curious to know whether the “older” among you actually feel your age.
I know I look much younger than my age and I’m in great physical health but I also feel psychologically much younger than my true age. Perhaps because I feel I’m still learning social rules everyone else mastered by the age of 20? Or because I never got to be a parent, which must be one of the life experiences that truly signals to people that they are no longer the younger generation?
My dad felt very much that the world had changed and left him behind and so he had nothing in common with the young, but I never really felt I had anything in common with other people even why I was chronologically young myself so I don’t feel any more alienated now that I’m older.
At 52 I am starting to feel that age is catching up with me both in terms of struggles with fatigue and the aging affect on my looks seems to be accelerating. I look a photos that people take of me and it's like the sparkle has gone from my eye, the youthful cheeky look is fading fast, the grey hair is spreading to those hairs that haven't deserting my bonce.
Physical health is so so.I have struggled with some rare aftereffects of the first COVID vaccine, but I try to counteract this by going to the gym 2-3 times a week.
I guess that its quite evident (from THAT thread) that I, like you dad, feel that the World has changed and I do sometimes struggle to find commonality with the younger generation. Unlike you, I do feel somewhat alienated now that I am older. I could go into the whole spiel of "back in the old days", but maybe I'll save that for another day / thread.