Does anyone else ever think - fuck, I'm old - where did all the time go?

[CloudsCanLookLikeSheep]

I was watching reruns of 80s top of the pops last night and could remember some of the songs from the first time...

It made me realise how old I am (43) as these were 35 years ago - more than a third of a century! Looking back at the 80s it seems so long ago and such an alien time compared to now but I was actually alive then as a child.

It made me have a bit of an existential crisis if thats not too OTT as I suddenly realised all these years have gone and like Pink Floyd said, no one told me when to run, I missed the starting gun.

Am I just to expect more of these 'fuck, I'm old!' moments until I die? I didn't seem to get them in my 30s maybe because I was busy doing things like having babies then which was all new, but now I'm just looking back at my life and feeling like I should have acheived more.. my career has definitely stalled post kids.. not sure if this is some sort of mid life crisis? Anyway I'm suddenly aware that all this time has passed and not coming back.. .anyone else get freaked out slightly by the realisation of this?

Yes it’s awful

Yep. I'm 48 although when I look back on my childhood it seems eons ago and so I can see where the time has gone, if that makes sense. The time between having DD1, who is 12, and now.....voooom! Gone! No idea where.

I dont worry about getting old because I am old, just enjoy each day as it comes, being old is a bonus.

I think I realise I’m probably at my peak in terms of earning, energy and looks atm. I’m 43, too. I just think how incredibly young I was and how I dealt with loads of shit. I slightly regret not being more career focused in my twenties but am loving my job now.

43 is a mere baby! Wait till you're 65 like me - where did the old woman in the mirror (that I hardly look in anyway) come from? How can I have children in their thirties? Why do my knees hurt and why can't I eat toast and marmite without getting heartburn?

I had such a lot of hair (on my head) and now it's thinning and grey - shit! I always had brown hair.

I remember England winning the world cup and the moon landings, John Kennedy being shot and it doesn't seem that long ago.

Bugger!

I’m 34 and I’m getting a serious case of the “fuck shit bollocks I have so many regrets. I don’t want this life - I want better”

(Regrets e.g Like not finishing my degree and living in a boring unsuitable county with no jobs or anything fun at all!)

I’m trying to find a way to fix it ASAP! I feel too old and tired. I don’t even understand UCAS anymore so applying to universities is making me feel old and hopeless!

I feel like I have a limited time to make amends

I wonder how it's been 20 years since I was 20 but I don't feel old at all.

What really freaks me out and realises how much time has passed is when you see a celebrity that you've not seen in a while and they are really old looking! Daniel Day Lewis, last I remembered of him in the 90s he was a strapping fit hottie, saw him in a film recently and he was an old man! And Paul Weller.. when did he go grey seems like only five minutes ago he looked like someone in their 40s with brown hair and now it's practically white.

Yep. I was young for absolutely ages and then at 40, which was about three years ago in real time, there was some fuck up in the time/space continuum and now I’m 53 and my babies are whirring through their childhood. Please can it all JUST SLOW DOWN A BIT.

I got a message from a student friend of mine on my 48th birthday, I thought it's 30 years since I've seen them, how time flies, then had a sudden realisation that in 30 years from now I will be almost 80 !

Yes. I am 42 and quite depressed at the moment by all of this

@MrsWooster

Yep. I was young for absolutely ages and then at 40, which was about three years ago in real time, there was some fuck up in the time/space continuum and now I’m 53 and my babies are whirring through their childhood. Please can it all JUST SLOW DOWN A BIT.

I know that your perception of time speeds up as a percentage of the time you've lived so a five year old will have a perception of time half that of a ten year old (as one year is a fifth of their life, but at ten one year is a tenth). So by the time you get to old gimmer status say 50 a year is 1/50 and time passes 10x that of the five year old and 5 x that of the 10 year old.. scary!

I don't think Paul Weller is good example tbh OP, I think something must've happened to him about 15 years ago which seemed to put about 40 years on him overnight

I do think the same though. I turned 47 last week and I can't believe that my next 'big' birthday is 50 ffs. It seems incredible, because in my head I'm definitely still 26.

But...actually I'm quite enjoying getting older. I've let my hair go completely grey, I dress for comfort, I've re-evaluated where I want to go in my career because I no longer give a fuck about, well, about a 'career'. It's liberating and it feels like the start of something, not the end. It's definitely not too late to do all the things. Embrace it!

I agree! I'm 40 in December. I have a 21 year old! My daughter is 16 and the weekend and my 13 year old has just asked me to buy him some aftershave...I can't handle this. I'm fed up of sobbing about my kids leaving the nest.

I feel fat, grey and the best of me was given to my ex husband. I feel sorry for my DH now.

I’m 53 and it scares me that I have less time to live than I have lived already

I look in the mirror and an older wrinkled face is there than I think I am in my head

I’m 54 soon and can’t believe it,

I’m with you on this. I had ds late, at 45. I went back to work, had another 10 years of career, bought another house, took up running.

But suddenly ds is 12 next week. Yes, I can still run 10k but I ache the next day and suddenly my next big birthday is 60 .

The trouble is I don’t feel old. At 57, my mum’s idea of a good day out was sitting on the sea front eating egg&cress sandwiches from a ziplock bag. In an M&S cardie!

I’m just not there yet

Yes! Usually I feel young and vital, but then I realise something like 'I am 10 years older than Kurt Cobain was when he died' or 'i haven't seen X from school for 20 years' and it sends me into a spiraling vortex of bygone times and lost youth.

I'm seventy this year, I reckon I have five decent years left. 40 something is a baby to me. You've probably got half your life left. If you don't currently like it, change it. You have time to change it. Go for it. This is Not a rehearsal, as they say.

If it's any comfort to you, I'm content I don't envy people who have done " better". I think I've done just fine. I have a wonderful child ( one who was 50 recently) and as a single, teenage mum, I ended up doing just fine.

My health is not great (hence my thoughts on how long i may have), but I intend to milk every single moment of joy out of them. From watching the birds using our bird table, to taking my holidays, once this fucking lockdown stops robbing us of our small pleasures.

Beats being dead though

Yes entirely this! And I'm now listening to 'Time' so thanks!! I have 1 more month of being 50 & I'm 2 stone heavier than I was on my birthday, plus menopause, plus really grey, plus almost full beard & moustache if caught in the wrong light!! Jealous of my soon to be 21 year old DS who's heading off on his year abroad (languages degree) and trying to get into belief in reincarnation because this can't just be it, can it??

I’m 60 and whilst I’m not as physically fit as I was 10 years ago, I’m still much fitter than a lot of women my age. I’ve run 10 miles this morning (very slowly). I’ve recently given up a high stress career and feel much better for that. I don’t think I look my age and I try hard to not act or think my age.BUT it worries me that in 15 years (which sounds no time at all), my husband will be 80. And that is seriously elderly. Most of the household appliances are more than 15 years old !!

I’m almost 54.

Things that were current affairs when I was growing up are now taught in school history lessons. For example, Margaret Thatcher becoming Prime Minister, the Falklands Conflict etc. That makes me feel old.

My three DDs are also all virtually grown up now! How the hell did that happen? Where did my little girls all go?

Yep, I am 52 and suddenly very aware of the passage of time and that middle age can mean losses etc

Although I did feel old when several of my classes knew nothing about the twin towers.