Youth's wasted on the Young

I've been told by many people over the years that as I'm young I should appreciate my body while it works, usually in the context of things like marathons. They get very uncomfortable when I tell them that my knees were awful by the time I was 8. 

I think you do what you can with the body you have. Sometimes you can make it better for a bit. But I try not to mourn not having as functional body as others my age do and find other things to do, in my case, kayaking (doesn't require good knees).

Thank you Dormouse. I have just over a year to go before I would qualify for assistance from the Cinnamon Trust, but I had a look at their website and it seems promising. I will keep a note of their details. 

I think they were too Roy, plus we had influencers who weren't called that, they were probably called fashion journalists  and style advisors then in magazines for teenage girls and women, I'm sure a lot of the content was paid for by Top Shop, Etams, Tammy Girl and C&A, as they were always the shops featured. I always fond them a source of woe as they rarely had anything that I would be allowed to wear or that would fit me.

I think you’re right, my 30’s was when I felt at my best, when I was younger I never identified with people of my age, they never seemed very interesting. I remember starting my first job, it was met with disbelief that I didn’t want to join the company football team, I think we have had the conversation about sports, that one is best left alone.

I’ve always known how to mend things and how they work, if we ever had a workman in the house I would just watch them and ask questions, it was like my brain was set on record.

I came home last night and last night, I’m still living mostly at my mothers house while I’m restoring mine. The flooring in my annex I’m living in was wet, I ripped it up and the concrete floor had water oozing out of it and the water meter digits were spinning around. I got the concrete breaking out and dug a trench the length of the room, two copper pipes had corroded in the concrete. Today I think every bone in my body hurts  I’ve capped the pipes as they had no isolation valves. Plumbing hat on today once I can physically move.

’Twiggy’ was on tv a couple of weeks ago, there is a new film about her life, she explained that she always had to look a certain way.

I’ve noticed how much younger people are swayed by ‘influencers’, I’m sure they just used to be known as a salesman / salesperson.

What an ordeal to endure (hoping you feel better soon).

If you live in the UK and are age 65 and over the organisation The Cinnamon Trust may be able to arrange temporary foster care for your dog in such a situation:

https://cinnamon.org.uk/support-for-you-and-your-pet/temporary-pet-care/

For those people who live within the M25 of the London area, there is an organisation called Mayhew Pet Refuge who may be able to provide temporary care and shelter for the pets of people facing a crisis –  whether that be an ongoing issue or an unexpected emergency – for up to 3 months.

https://themayhew.org/how-we-help/in-our-home/pet-refuge/

In many areas of the UK there are services called The Good Neighbour sheme   Some of those schemes can help people during a health crisis with various support - sometimes including pet walking when people are ill.  Your Local Council, or local Age UK, may have contact details.

I'd like to be about 35 again physically, I was at my fittest and had the most energy. I wouldn't want to have to grow up in todays society, there are lots of pressures, but then I think there always were, it might not have been as constant because there was no social media, but there were pressures to be thin, to conform to someone elses idea of physical beauty, there were plenty of ways to get into fringe politics and religions.

I wouldn't want to go back to being a young person, I hated growing up and didn't really start feeling comfortable with myself until I was about 30, I think it was because I was always being told I was an old head on young shoulders and did things that people ten years older than me were doing. I just want to have the physical abilities of youth.

I would like to have the body of a young woman, but keep my mental faculties, as well as my cognitive and psychological functioning. 

I am totally exhausted at the moment and could do with a new, young body. I spent most of last evening in the hospital emergency department, having been sent there by my GP due to a suspected clot in my leg. I was told it would be after midnight before somebody would give me a blood test and a doctor could see me. The place was crowded and there were people being called from all directions — it was rather overwhelming. There were several suspected stroke patients who had waited over six hours and hadn’t got beyond triage. I had to tell the nurse I couldn’t wait any longer as my dog was on his own, and I didn’t have anybody who could see to him. I ended up going home without being seen by a doctor. I was awake most of the night worrying about my dog, but I managed to contact a friend who looked after him today. I spent all morning and most of the afternoon back in the hospital, and finally was diagnosed with a clot, given two injections, and sent home with more pre-filled syringes of blood thinners. I’m worried sick about my dog in case I can’t get anybody I trust to look after him if this sort of thing happens again. I have one other person, and another at a pinch, who can look after him, but they are not always around. Leg clots wouldn’t have happened with my younger body.

I struggled in school and left with very few qualifications, I was pretty much last in most subjects throughout my secondary schooling, and I couldn’t understand why I couldn’t do the work required back then. I would like to have known then, what I know now; that I was autistic and would have perhaps been given clearer guidance on how to do homework and how to work effectively in class, and what to do if overwhelmed.

Later in life, through the Open University and another UK University, I discovered that I loved learning; the learning style of part time and distance or semi distance meant that I thrived academically. The Open University was very good in giving me a separate room during exams, and the supervisor allowed me extra time and breaks. I didn’t use the allowances during my Masters, but it needed a more independent study style and it made the work seem easy, probably because of my intense interest and autistic focus. 

If I didn’t have the obligations and financial constraints of my youth, I would use the extra energy to pursue a long held dream to complete a PhD related to Neolithic or Iron Age figurines. I would probably have to self fund as I mightn’t fulfil the grant award criteria and I would struggle if I was expected to teach at the university. I would struggle with the viva but maybe universities now would be open to a written interview style. 

Unknown said:

I don't think I would want to go back to being young, it is a vulnerable and dangerous time with so many corrupting influences and damaging experiences that linger decades after.

Oh I don't know - the corrupting influences were one of the biggest draw of being young.

I went to uni at age 17 and lived in the halls of residence so finally had independence, freedom, some money and access to many of the things that were always forbidden to me by my parents

Talk about a kid in a candy shop - I loved it!

It takes some maturity to be able to be immature safely though and I think I had just enough to keep on the right side of the addictive elements.

I would love to have a young body for my old mind again but without more of us old ones popping our clogs we would just be another person consuming resources that there are few of in the world, occupying a property that there seems to be a shortage of and taking a job from someone younger who probably needs it more than me.

Currently in mid 30s but feel out of touch with modern culture.  There's a lot of things I don't agree with, I miss the years before smartphones, digital media and social media.  And when Nokia phones were the height of mobile technology before overpriced, homogeneous glass and plastic sandwiches.

I don't think I would want to go back to being young, it is a vulnerable and dangerous time with so many corrupting influences and damaging experiences that linger decades after.

I was never into adventures or new experiences, I only ever want stability, security and a semblance of consistency.

Maybe it will get easier to accept growing older moving forward, as long as I can still move of my own volition and have most of my marbles.

filp the statment around. Freedom and options are waisted on the old.

People get old, hit a mid life crisis and sudenly regret all the adventures they didn't have, while simultainiously forbiding their kids to have those adventures. It's one of the most ironic things you'll ever see.

I’m glad not to actually be a young person growing up at the moment, the constant social media and pressure to be body perfect is something I never had to contend with. Clothes and trainers came from a local market stall. A lot of young people seem to want the ‘15 minutes of fame’ but once it’s a reality sadly can’t cope with it.

 
If I had my time again I would like to think I would have changed a lot of things, in reality I would still have been an undiagnosed autistic person, I would have most probably still made the same mistakes. I still work with cars, I would have definitely gone into the building trade, I did consider it, after analysing it I decided I couldn’t go up a ladder.

I would have liked to have traveled more, I got a mortgage at a very young age, the benefit was I’m now mortgage free, the downside was I couldn’t afford to travel, now I’m older travel isn’t so appealing.

I read an article recently about how youths can sleep all day and party all night.

The belief is that in ancient times the youths would guard the camp all night as lookouts, the older people would sleep and then hunt in the daylight. The youths would then sleep all day.

I'm nearly 30 now so not mega old but old enough that my health and sight is already starting to suffer. I can now appreciate making the most of time with my family, and, making the most of life in general so long as depression isn't too severe.

If I could be younger again, let's say between 15-20 I would definitely use the wisdom of appreciating my time with my family more than I did. It hurts now thinking how many times I could have stopped to talk to my mum or my sister, thinking I had forever and now those moments are forever gone.

So much time wasted in my youth, I should have done so much differently and it's weird thinking that so many opportunities are gone as I lack the energy and health to do it now.

I saw someone wearing a t shirt today with this statement:

It's weird being the same age as old people

I concur.

That's what I feel I have now, I relate much more to younger people than people of my age, ok I might not have the tech skills, but I've been told that I have a much younger outlook on life and I find a lot of people my own age boring, set in their ways and not open to exploring new ideas or music, books, viewpoints etc. I get asked why I want to learn so much new stuff, what good will it do me at "my age", like I'm sat in gods waiting room, listening to muzak and reading old magazines until it's my turn to shuffle off this mortal coil.

Theres lots of crazy things I'd still do if I was able.

Conversely what would happen if you had the body of an older person and the mind of a youth? 

It seems only fair to consider the alternative, unless that's the reason for the post! 

In terms of 'being young' I think wisdom is overrated. Youth should be about doing crazy, stupid, exciting, exhilarating and potentially dangerous stuff. You might fall, but you can get up again, learn from the experience and have a lot of fun in the process. I wouldn't change anything I did from age 16 to 23 despite all the scars (mental and physical).

In terms of what I'd do now if I had all the bouncy resilience of youth... Probably finally get around to learning to ride a motorbike (I was a passenger all through my teens), resign my job and do a round of European music festivals.

Guess I don't have a lot of age related wisdom, just boring, sensible caution that stops me.

To be honest, I'm glad I'm not young now. Kids are under far too much pressure to fit in; wherever they go. Schools, thesedays, are Market Research; rather than Education.

I prefer to be of service, rather than climb an imaginary ladder of success. Life should be a journey, rather than a competition.