If you could be any age for the rest of your life, which would you choose?

veronicaella @lemm.ee to Ask Lemmy@lemmy.world – 58 points –
54

Mid twenties.

Young enough to do whatever I want but old enough to be taken seriously.

25, maybe 30.

Your brain doesn't finish developing until around that point, and it's the part that helps you control your thoughts and emotions (prefrontal cortex). There are no other advantages after 30, though, and the development been 25 and 30 isn't as vast as 18 to 25.

That said, I've been blessed with a middle aged 40 year old body since I was 12, so meh. (And really, I should have been given "most likely to do his taxes on time" title in the yearbook.)

For this I usually go with 27. Trade slightly more cortex development while only losing about 3% more of my collagen. So like one crowfoot and a forehead crease, but no more. Eyes are also stable enough for eye surgery but not going into retinal decline like in the 30s. Basically your late 20s rides off all your physical generation for a lot of different soft tissues being peak into ~25 but not having caused the damage that starts to build up and cause side effects in your 30s.

Anywhere between 28-32. Old enough that people take you mostly seriously but young enough that the world still feels like it’s set up with you specifically in mind.

I'm gonna turn 28 in 2 weeks. Any wise words to make the best of the next 4 years?

Get a solid workout routine and make sure to stick with it. Whatever you want your goals to be, start now if you haven't yet. Don't put off taking care of your health.

Early thirties. Peak physical, loads of free time, good paying job, so good money.

I miss the endurance I had. Everything else is still like that.

If I can keep my current development I'd go for 25. Otherwise I'd prefer to stay my current age. 25 is a nice age but I wouldn't like to be an actual 25 year old in mind again.

Anything between 28 and 32 sounds fine.

I'm currently 30, and am increasingly confident that 28 was the high point.

The pandemic was a high point for anyone?

Fair point - but I think that by 2022 it was already fine where I was. I lived in a very touristic city at the time, so the period after I gained freedom of movement before the tourists returned was actually pretty nice as for once it felt like the city belonged to those who lived there.

I also very much felt during the pandemic that I was wasting one of the best years of my life. Still not complaining though - rather that than one of my more formative years.

I'd say around 25. I'm still fit and perfectly healthy at 33 but I'm not getting any healhier from this on.

Maybe 22 or something.

Turning 30 in a few months and definitely feel that, due to anxiety and depression, I've "wasted" the last 15 years of my life.

Oh I feel you, turning 30 this year and feel like I am having a mid life crisis.

Do you also get the "oh don't be silly, 30 isn't that old!" attitude from people you confide those fears to? Super annoying.

I had an existential crisis at 33, and it is fucking annoying getting that response.

I know it's not that old, but it's the oldest I have ever been. The 30s was to me like a transition from teenager to adult. It is fucking rough, though it gets a lot better and definitely has perks.

In my experience the problem is not really all that age related at all, it's just that you're increasingly aware that you have to find your own meaning in life and that your choices now will directly affect everything that follows.

Age 25 I didn't feel like anything really mattered, I had time to fuck up. Now it feels like I have ten years to find something I consider worthwhile or I'll in all likelihood be permanently fucked.

To me, in my 20s, I was treated as I didn't know shit about anything (which is kind of true) and in my 30s I realized that being older doesn't mean people know their shit.

It shifted my perspective on the whole world and created that existential crisis.

I am not yet in my 40s, but I am comfortable with being a blip in the world and in the universe.

My only existential gripe right now is dealing with the thought of if I will survive one of my kid, or if I will die before they are in their 20s.

I am trying to be the best for my family and friends, and enjoy the process. Some people have a life changing event that shift their life around, but for most of us, the change is gradual until a few months/years later, you realise where you are. And at that point, you can decide whatever you want to do with that information.

And you know what's funny in all that? People like me will try to tell you what you should do in your situation, like people tried to do with me. But every person process events and emotions differently so you should definitely ignore whatever I say and what other people say if it doesn't make sense to you.

I might as well be a bot to you and that's all the same.

I feel the same as all your guys' comments. I turn 30 in like a week. It sucks balls.

I just turned 40 this year. I had the same thing when I turned 30 - I had wasted most of my 20s doing drugs and partying. I can honestly say that my 30s ended up being the best years of my life (so far)

26 or 27. That's when I fully cooled down, so seems my brain finally finished baking then

Damn I didn’t cool down until last week and I’m 41. I wish I could have been sane when I was in my twenties.

probably 18. Free enough to do whatever I want but young enough that society doesn't expect any responsibilities from me.

I'd say probably 22-24. I'd prefer a little older for sure, but at age 25-26 a disease I didn't know I had got much much worse and has effectively robbed me of half my life. So a little younger for me.

Probably early 30s, like 30-34. Relatively young but not too young, and my knees didn't crack as much as they do now. lol

  1. I had a lot of growing to do before then, but at that point I felt like I had become a person I wanted to be. I actually had got back to school, so I was around a community of learners, and I felt like I was still on top of my job. I feel like I mulliganed my early 30s to the pandemic.

Team 28 checking in, it was a very good year.

I think I would choose 30, but I'd like to do my 20s differently. Lifestyle creep is real. I notice my younger coworkers also make the mistake of spending way too freely. I'd also get married earlier. And take bigger risks earlier.

I liked being 16. Mature enough to design grand plans. Naive enough to actually try them.

Plus the greatest adversary I face for the rest of my life would just be standardized testing :P

My vampire age was 45. Absolutely would keep that body forever, sex drive like a teenager but stronger, happier, more experience, physically I think that was my favorite but honestly feel great now too, and no chance of getting pregnant so maybe I'd keep this one.

I see people saying 25 and 30 but my life has definitely been an "it gets better" experience overall. 30s were the worst point so far.

\35 Those were the best times. Your body's still young af but your mind has grown up and gained some wisdom.

Lol, I think something turned your comment into a list so you're telling us you want to be 1 year old

That's funny, in my interface (kbin) it still looked like a list but it said 35.

  1. I was the thinest and fittest I've ever been in my life and I felt invincible, had tons of energy, could eat whatever I wanted and drink like a fish and still wake up early the next day without a hangover. God, I miss that body.

Assuming our cognition stays the same and we're just talking changing physically, I'd probably say like 25.

40-50. (53 now) Around then you're old enough to have some gravitas, even if you don't try. People respect you automatically, which is weird.

You can still be in excellent shape and looking good. I kinda lucked out on that.

Bonus: If you have all your teeth and hair and are non-fat, the dating pool is smaller, but awesome. I was dating women I wouldn't have had a chance with when younger.

I am a lady, but had the same experience. Maybe a 5 as a 20 something, average in looks and the curvy short girls win the early rounds. Always had a few guys who thought I was the best thing they'd ever seen but not "majority attractive", understand? But just stayed in shape and waited, and, well, small don't fall so as a 50-something relatively much better looking. It was such a a surprise.

Have you developed some serum for this? Give me a quote for 100 bottles.

  1. The not too old to be classified old and not too young to be classified as such either. It feels right to me.

16

Fuck being an adult. I just don't wanna wake up sometimes.