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AIBU?

Share your dilemmas and get honest opinions from other Mumsnetters.

Original poster

To want to be young again?

96 replies

HarryorHas · 08/03/2021 15:11

Just that really.

Life was exciting, less stressful, more fun, I looked great, felt great, had a fantastic figure...the thought of the future was so exciting,

I’m not old, old (43) but god, life was good, wasn’t t it?!

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HollysBush · 08/03/2021 15:22

I’m similar age and get waves of this feeling. Was reading my old college diaries recently and my life was so busy and fun! Literally anything could happen. Not sure I’d have the energy now to live like that now.

NeedToGetOuttaHere · 08/03/2021 15:23

You’re only going to get older so why waste enjoying being 43?

Original poster
HarryorHas · 08/03/2021 15:24

@HollysBush Perhaps it’s a mid life crisis 🙈
Honestly, it’s like it was another life...another person...

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MissConductUS · 08/03/2021 15:24

Youth is wasted on the young. I'm early 60's and the good part is that the kids are grown and I can retire in a few years,

Original poster
HarryorHas · 08/03/2021 15:25

@NeedToGetOuttaHere I do...but I also miss it so much and wish I could go back and do it all again

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peak2021 · 08/03/2021 15:25

I would not want to be young now and be part of 'Generation Rent', or have to live with job uncertainty and all the other things that those in their twenties have to live with.

Original poster
HarryorHas · 08/03/2021 15:28

@peak2021 No, me neither, but back to my own youth..need a time machine perhaps

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fpurplea · 08/03/2021 15:28

@NeedToGetOuttaHere

You’re only going to get older so why waste enjoying being 43?
This. I totally agree with you OP, but I've wasted my 20s and 30s feeling like that. And I now look back and feel doubly bad that I wasted all those glorious years on wishing I was younger.
Original poster
HarryorHas · 08/03/2021 15:30

@fpurplea You wished you were younger in your 20’s?

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VickyEadieofThigh · 08/03/2021 15:31

I do wish I could go back to my own youth and do some things a bit differently (a LOT differently in some cases).

Liquorishtoffee · 08/03/2021 15:33

Youth is wasted on the young (as many people have once said).

I wish I had my old stamina, figure and looks! And when I look at DS - 16 with all those possibilities in front of him, I feel quite green (and very excited for him)

coldwarenigma · 08/03/2021 15:35

Its when I look back and realise I wasted that time trying to live to others expectations.
The poor life decisions. The poor choices. Not doing what I wanted to do. Not having the cofidence or courage to make my own decisions. Wasted years and now I'm stuck in low wage job, still unable to do the things I want to do due to lack of money and responsibilities.

BashfulClam · 08/03/2021 15:36

I’m 42 this year and we grew up in an amazing era, the 90’s were brilliant, the millennium excitement and the works was so different, it’s hard to comprehend that 1991 was 30 years ago!!! Where did my youth go? My dh says wow 30 years so when we were at high school and said 30 years ago were were talking about the 60’s which seemed so long before our time.

DK123 · 08/03/2021 15:36

I wouldn't like to be young now, but I'd like a time machine to go back to the 90s so I could stay there forever! I wish I had the personality I did then and people who've since died were still around.

Original poster
HarryorHas · 08/03/2021 15:39

@BashfulClam @DK123 Yes, the 90’s!! We were so lucky

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Original poster
HarryorHas · 08/03/2021 15:39

@DK123 But that’s it, why has your personality changed?

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Tianatiers · 08/03/2021 15:40

I look back on pictures and think the same thing occasionally but I also remember periods when I was younger where I had really low confidence and although my life looked fun I wasn’t very happy generally. It’s easy to look back and forget that life was still hard just in different ways. As I get older, even though it’s all falling apart on the outside I definitely feel better on the inside!

DeeplyMovingExperience · 08/03/2021 15:43

The only things I miss is that I was gorgeous! Fabulous figure, could wear anything... now I'm nearly 60 and definitely in the dumpy invisible woman territory. It's tragic!

thebear1 · 08/03/2021 15:44

I will be fifty this year. I know growing old is a privilege not everyone gets, but I am not feeling good about the future. I wasn't bothered about being 30 or 40 but 50 feels different.

noeffingwayyyy · 08/03/2021 15:46

I wouldn't want to be young now AT ALL, but ohhh I miss the feeling of being young - waking up on a Saturday morning calling friends to discuss the antics of the previous night, and getting excited to do it all again that night, meeting up to go shopping and buy outfits, being beside myself with excitement to see a particular DJ or band, or go to a specific club night, having endless energy and bouncing back from hangovers and comedowns. Going without sleep for 2 or 3 days straight, and enjoying it. Not knowing who you might meet on a night out, what house party you'd end up at, or in some cases, what part of the country you might end up in by the following morning! Knowing loads of people wherever you went on a night out. Making last minute decisions to go on ridiculous day trips with hangovers and zero planning. Not caring about paying the utilities until you got the red bill, living in your overdraft because it was worth it for all the fun.

A feeling that absolutely anything is possible, and anything humdrum doesn't really matter. That's what I miss.

IntermittentParps · 08/03/2021 15:46

I do too. I'm 46 and have shonky knees/hips, sore wrists, declining eyesight (it's always been shit and is just getting worse). What I used to consider perfectly reasonable amounts of exercise/exertion I now need an overnight to recover from (I'm talking things like a few hours clearing out cupboards/sorting and packing clothes).
My body seems to be just wearing out. Sad

sHREDDIES19 · 08/03/2021 15:49

90s chick too, wow what a time to be young wasn't it?! For me, I'm an eternal optimist and whilst I would love to re-live some of my youth again, I live for the now and look forward to my future. I'm 43 too with kids and a very different life to where I started but in essence, I'm still that same person but with the benefit of age comes maturity and wisdom (well, sometimes!). I'm also quite excited to see the young adults my kids turn into. Having said that, I know that we are all biased about our youth and it 'being the best time to grow up' , but I don't think it's the same being young today. Whilst they have lots of amazing opportunities we perhaps didn't, I wouldn't want to swap it for a heartbeat.

toomuchtooold · 08/03/2021 15:50

I think I would be quite happy being 45 if I had the responsibilities I had when I was 22 (i.e. none). I don't even think I had more energy then. I never got woken every. fucking. night by a child (the same one, she's on borrowed time Grin) and yet still I got tired.

I did look a lot better though. My face aged about 10 years every time I got pregnant. Sometimes I run into people I've not seen since then and you can see them trying to hide the shock.

katy1213 · 08/03/2021 15:51

I'd like to be 43 again. It was one of the best times of my life, old enough not to give a fuck - young enough to have fun - and plenty of money for travel. Glad I seized the day!

Original poster
HarryorHas · 08/03/2021 15:51

@noeffingwayyyy Yes yes yes!
How old are you, out of interest? Sounds like the 90’s

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