Anyone else feel that time is running out

[Rankandfile]

For the last 8 years or so I’ve had this feeling that time is running out, along with a load of regret that I didn’t do more / make different choices. For perspective, I’m 55 this year, have a successful career, love my job, head a department, lived abroad from 30-52 (one year travelling and the rest working) and have 2 teenage kids. I just can’t shake off this feeling that I wish I was in my 30s or 40s and that I’ll blink and be too old to do anything!! Talk me out of this ridiculousness.

That feeling comes to us all.

@StarDolphins No idea, something around making the most of each day i guess. You can't appreciate it, until you are faced with your own
mortality l don't think.

Ignore me.. I'm in the depths of despair and don't feel much like being questioned tonight!

I hate to say this OP but time IS running out, and a whole lot faster than you think! I'm 65, and I can honestly say that the last 10 years have gone incredibly quickly. Then start taking into account that we do start to slow down as we age, and before you know it, you'll be my age, and realising that in 19 years I'll be 84 (and that's if I live that long) - the same age my Mum was when she died!! It really IS a scary thought, so if you have things you want to do, then PLEASE don't wait, the time to do them is NOW!!

Time is definitely passing quicker as I get older....but I feel OK about that. I think I accepted long ago I was not going to achieve anything exceptional, but neither do most people, so why sweat it?

I'm a little younger and am feeling similar except we are doing something about it, dh is retiring, I'm plotting to quit working myself (need to work 4 more years) and we are doing our bucket lists

The clock ticks for us all.
So may as well make the most of the time we have.

I have just turned 60 and struggle with this less now.
i went through a really awful patch in my 40’s … I realised I was never going to be a Mum.
i started citalopram in my mid 40’s… absolutely life changing and the fear has gone… maybe chat with your GP and make sure that you don’t have depression?
i want to make the most of every day… I have just booked a trip I have always wanted to to do… should be saving for retirement but I prioritise experiences.

I quite like this way of looking at it

What ever you want to do, do it now. I have just started scuba diving at 55. Get out and do it now. Time passes, life is fleeting. Grab your time now :)

51 and I also have these feelings that time is running out. I have a dropped significant relationship because it has never served me and it has only just dawned on me that I don't need to carry on this way...I feel OK about doing this now, I don't feel I have the time left in my life to carry on with a charade anymore.

Children are no longer teens and seems that a new chapter has started. I have been thinking about only doing things / seeing people that matter to me, trying to get fit and be healthier so that i stay mobile etc for longer.
Thinking about how long I need to work for, retirement etc (when really I should have been thinking about this 20 years ago!)

Prob a mid life thing..... time is running out. Perhaps you should start thinking about what you want / need to do in order to be happy and fulfilled.

Life feels pretty incredible at 55. The time is now. We know it's not going to get easier. I've got a stupid neck thing that is going to take a minimum of 3 months to settle - wouldn't have happened like this when I was 30. But the brutal truth is I spent 25 years in two rather difficult marriages; I don't regret marrying my dh (number 2) but nonetheless I am happy every day to be living like I do now, and not like I did then. I feel.happy that I listen to what I like, do what I like, am through the lengthy training period for my job, that I don't have to do stuff I hate any more. I don't have phalanxes of disapproving aunts any more because they're all dead. These years are the best of all. I think from age 59 until about 80 my mum had rather a blast; I'm hoping for the same.

I had a heart attack out of nowhere when 46- and ongoing daily angina so I do think about this pretty constantly

I will be nearing the 50s but have to raise my small kids first. Feels to me that I am just starting

I'm the same age as you and know EXACTLY what you mean. There's no cure or reassurance so all you can do is take the feeling and stick it in a box in the little room in your head where you never really need to go. If you remember it's there you distract distract distract, preferably with a fun or absorbing thing, or a plan to do something nice. Meanwhile you keep your eye on what's in front of you, enjoy every moment you can, don't look too far forward and don't look back. Oh, and get as fit and healthy as you can. It really helps if you're not met with a daily reminder of things you're physically 'too old' for.

I get it. I'm 47 and for various reasons haven't done as much as I'd hoped to...is there time to do it? Who knows. I very much regret not travelling more instead of using most of my disposable income on being crap.

As I get older, I hear more and more about people I know or friends of friends dying of cancer, some younger than me so that's one reason for this panic feeling. Always a diagnosis that happened too late. It's also to do with fear of some parts of the future - of being stuck renting and the disastrous consequences of AI and climate change. It's frightening, what's coming.

Yes, I’m very much feeling like time’s running out. I’m disabled, stuck in a job I have a love-hate relationship with. No idea what I want to do, because I don’t believe I’m capable of doing anything else, and I have no one to do ‘things’ with, and I’d be too frightened to do them alone. So I’ll carry on, just getting through each week. My health will continue to get worse, until I get diagnosed with some form of cancer or other, and off I go, having achieved fuck-all with my life. Time is running out, for all of us.

59 here and yes I have the feeling I must make everyday count. Part of me thinks working is wasting my life. I have done many things and had many experiences but still crave more adventure.
I have always been a restless person so I partly put it down to that.

I feel a conflict on this, on one hand time is running out to do the fun stuff. I'm 47. But at the same time it terrifies me that I could be around for another 40 years doing absolutely nothing only filling the hours. I feel like I've been on this earth for a long time already, I have more to give but the thought of being old scares me much more than death. I think its the knowledge that this is the youngest I'll ever be and it just slowly and gradually gets shittier every day that depresses me.

I feel the same and I’m going to be 46 this year. I made so many stupid decisions when I was younger which have had a financial impact on me since and whilst I know there is no point having regrets as I can’t change anything, I still can’t come to terms with certain things.

I know I’m not old by any stretch of the imagination but I really do feel life is passing me by. We don’t have children and I have so much freedom in that respect but I dont seem to have any burning desire to do anything I’m just exhausted all the time. Feel I should be doing ‘things’ but what things I don’t know!

🎵Enjoy yourself, it’s later than you think🎵
I’m in my seventies and sympathise OP, all I can say is look forwards and not back.

50s and also feeling like this. I realised that some of the things I want to do I will never have time for or physically be able to do it. That really hit me hard.

I've felt really down today thinking about this so this thread is well-timed. I think I need to make some tough decisions about the future but feel paralysed, stuck in a stressful long hours job and a not-ideal relationship.

It's horrible but reassuring to know we're not alone in feeling this way.

I feel the same too. My oldest son asked me if I wanted to go somewhere on holiday with him, and I cried because of all the places I will never get to see! Not enough money and I still have other relatively small children so my time won't be my own for several years.
I'm 53.

Yes and I'm in my 30s. I've never had a job outside of customer service. I'm an unpublished artist and I have this dream that people will really like my art and I can buy a house and my cats will have a garden to play in :)

The sounds intense. Do you think this might be a low level burn out?

I can't comment on whether it is burn out but I do know it's a fairly normal realisation as you get to a certain age. It's a conversation I frequently have with friends. Time IS running out as PP said. And tbe years whizz past so much more quickly as you get older.

OP - Try focusing your energy on planning how you can get the most out of the remainder or your life. Don't waste time on regrets., you can't change the past but you can change your future

I do get fleeting feelings that my healthiest years are behind me, I miss being able to run fast, cycle at full pelt downhill and swim in a rough sea without any fear like I did in my 20's.

I think this is where gratitude comes in. I feel so lucky to have a cosy warm home, a lovely son. Life has been hard so far but I've also had a lot of laughs, I've got really brilliant friends that get me through anything and they are such great company.

My life has been paradise compared to over half of people on the planet with no real home, no food security, volatile countries or just a very very harsh existence.

I've had a blast to be honest. I think I get nostalgic and upset that I can't do it all again, I can't do it like I used to. I've got my health and strength to think about because I really want to stick around to be a grandma!!