Most kids growing up it seemed always wanted to be older than they were. They wanted to do what the older kids could do or thought that life in general would just be better if they were older.
As long as I can remember, I never had this feeling. I occasionally had the fomo feeling when people who were older got to do something I couldn’t, but in general, I was always very content with the age I was.
I’ve always been mistaken for being older than I am. I always got the “you’re so mature for your age” comments, when I was younger, and was often mistaken for a college-aged student when I was 13-14.
I always loved that. Of course the first one is always an ego boost. Has exactly the opposite effect that it should when telling kids who already have a big head. But even as I got older and people continued thinking I was 4-5 years older than I was I always enjoyed it. I never wanted to be that age, but I liked that people thought I was that age.
Much of this might have come from the freedom my parents gave me from a very young age. I was quite independent, even by the age of 12. Not like a “out on your own” independent, but a “we’ll help guide you but you need to make decisions for yourself” independence.
I never felt a constraint on being able to do things because of my age. There was never a “you have to be in your twenties before you do this kind of thing.” Age didn’t define what I was able to do.
Even now, I’m 22. Most people think I’m mid-twenties. I kind of wish I were still 18. I loved the ability an 18-year-old had to come into a group of 20-year-olds and impress them with skill and ability.
When everything is boiled down, all of this probably comes to a pride issue. Pride in people thinking higher of you than you really are. I feel like I’m catching up to the age people think I am, and I hate that. When people’s expectation of me is met exactly with me.
I’ve lived a full 22 years, and in some ways I feel older than 22, but hate the idea of turning 23.
As 1 of 2 of my mottos goes:
Life is weird.