Fear of getting older...

[Krystal]

Does anyone else feel this way?

I am 25 fairly soon, ok so I know 25 isn't old but it is older!

I have a really panicky feeling about getting old. Like a fear. Sometimes it takes over so much in past i've actually had a panic attack. I was suffering depression at the time so that made it worse but the fear is real.

I feel like life goes so quickly and that is part of my fear, It's not helped by well meaning people saying such things as

"It's all downhill from here"
"The years go faster from now on"

Etc, etc.

I used to talk to my Mam about these fears and she said she felt the same when she was younger but as she grew up she didn't give it much thought anymore so i'm hoping as I age my fear will subside. (Wierd, the thing i'm scared of I am hoping will help me )

Is anyone else like this? Or were you like this at my age and did it get easier?

I know it probably sounds like a stupid thing to be scared of but seriously it's not just a arghhh i'm getting old thing, it's something that really gets to me

 

[emeraldsroses]

I've got 10 years seniority over you and I assure you that things get easier when you're older.

Just before I turned 30, I dreaded turning 30 and the one thing that helped was having 3 birthday celebrations for that birthday. I didn't organise any of them. My younger sister did. She didn't want me to sulk all day, so she arranged a big party at my favourite restaurant for lunch as one celebration. The second one was at a Celtic fair I wanted to go to. The third was a family thing (can't remember what we did).

Anyhow, turning 25 is a milestone, but not one to be too concerned about. Just think of yourself like wine: The older you get, the better

 

[Tadpole]

Does anyone else feel this way?

"It's all downhill from here"
"The years go faster from now on"

Is anyone else like this? Or were you like this at my age and did it get easier?

I felt the same way at 25 - I am now 31 and I can assure you life just gets better and better. A lot of the concerns & worries you fret over in your 20s just seem to melt away, you know your own mind and are less likely to take cr*p from people. I LOVE being in my 30s and if I feel this good now - when I hit 40 etc well WOW!! You don't change as a person as such - I am just a calmer, better version of myself in my 20s (MAJOR neurotic issues, anxiety, depression, self-harming, eating disorder etc etc). I don't even care about people knowing about all that stuff - coz so what? It is part of life. Anyway I will stop rambling now, just wanted to assure you that life DOESN'T go downhill, quite the opposite.

 

[Xena]

I'm 25 this year too - it's coming up to my 'half-birthday' in a couple of weeks and I keep thinking 'omg I'm nearly closer to 25 than 24' and then when I get to just over 25 I'll be closer to 30 than 20

When I met my DH he was 24 and I was 17. I remember thinking that 24 seemed a lot older than me - and now look at me.

Ya know the one think that's really depressing? The song Gangster's Paradise. In it he goes "I'm 23 now but will I live to see 24? The way things are going I don't know."
I remember being a little kid when that song was out. Him singing about being 23/24 - it seemed sooooo old....

blah

 

[beanie]

I get this and it has gotten worse since I had my children My mum died when she was 36 and I have just turned 30 so it plays a lot on my mind. I don't mind being 30, it feels no different but its just the fact I'm in the same age decade that she was.

 

[Krystal]

I get this and it has gotten worse since I had my children My mum died when she was 36 and I have just turned 30 so it plays a lot on my mind. I don't mind being 30, it feels no different but its just the fact I'm in the same age decade that she was.

Sorry to hear about your Mam.

I often wonder if thats one of reason's I have this fear. My Dad died age 39 (his own choice ) And my Mam died age 40 (C) although I did have this fear before they both passed but it does play on my mind. Like coming up to the age of 26 next year, I clearly remember my Mam being 26 and no she's no longer here. Also I have always had this thing were by I always thought I wouldn't live past 30.. morbid I know It's probably because when I was younger it's hard to see yourself as a 30 year old and thats why.

I dunno.. probably just put it down to me being a crackpot. I think too much.. thats my main problem

 

[beanie]

I get this and it has gotten worse since I had my children My mum died when she was 36 and I have just turned 30 so it plays a lot on my mind. I don't mind being 30, it feels no different but its just the fact I'm in the same age decade that she was.

Sorry to hear about your Mam.

I often wonder if thats one of reason's I have this fear. My Dad died age 39 (his own choice ) And my Mam died age 40 (C) although I did have this fear before they both passed but it does play on my mind. Like coming up to the age of 26 next year, I clearly remember my Mam being 26 and no she's no longer here. Also I have always had this thing were by I always thought I wouldn't live past 30.. morbid I know It's probably because when I was younger it's hard to see yourself as a 30 year old and thats why.

I dunno.. probably just put it down to me being a crackpot. I think too much.. thats my main problem

sounds normal to me but then I am a crackpot so that might not be reassuring. I don't think I'll live to see my children grow up as both my parents died young, my dad was 42 when he died. And I do think having your own children makes you aware of your own mortality too, I get jealous of mine for being young and having their whole life ahead oif them - see told you I was a crackpot.

 

[SarahH]

I am dreading turning 25 in Sept - eeeeeeeeeeeeek it's a quarter of a centuary!!

 

[kazlin]

Well I'm 39!!! You would never believe it by my posts. 39 years olds are supposed to be all mature and oldish looking...at least that's what I thought when I was a teenager! I probably act younger than most of you lot on here at times...but how are you supposed to act at what age.
Age is just the amount of time that you have spent on this earth, it has nothing to do with maturity (look at moi ) but unfortunately time does eventually age us, again at different rates! Honey, you have a long time before that happens...so stop worrying!

Listen to the old bag will ya!

 

[Princess_Puddles]

I feel old and I'm 18 (19 in September) I think it's cause I'm a Mum, I feel different and think differently!
I think my biggest fear about getting older is that I know (unless I go first) that i'm going to bury my Grandparents and parents one day Sorry to sound so morbid!

 

[~*Leanne*~]

Although im not too bothered about getting older - im only 20 now! its the fear of what comes after .....death!and it scares the hell out of me, when i was younger i used to have awful nightmares about dying and just sit and thinking about it makes me feel sick and i get all paniky - since iv been with my OH my life has been brilliant and the only time i have thought about dying was the other night when we were watching Amytiville Horror (i love horrors but dont know why i watch them because they scare me and make me think...grrrr) once i get into that 'thinking' mode though , i cant seem to snap out of it, its awful, all i think about is, once your dead....your dead, thats it, gone.....and it frightens me soo much.

also the same as PP with regards to burying our parents, i cant imagine my life without my mum and dad and it scares me so much that one day they wont be here



sorry for the rambling....x

 

[x-kirsty-x]

I think my biggest fear about getting older is that I know (unless I go first) that i'm going to bury my Grandparents and parents one day

I feel like that too, it's my biggest fear and I know there's nothing I can do to change it cos it's gonna happen eventually

I already feel old. I'm 22 but I wish so much that I could go back and be 16 again

 

[zebrastripes]

Well, I'm 17 in a month, and I feel old I think it is mainly because I've fast-forwarded a little ahead of my peers, in terms of parenthood and the onset of maturity Although it does seem to be a thing, once you begin to have your kids, there's a tendency to see it all as a little bit cut and dried- childrearing then death. On saying that I have always felt a lot older than people my own age.

 

[sarah113]

i feel really old, ill be 25 in july and have been dreading this birthday for months, think im going to stay in all day on my birthday curled up in the corner with a big tub of ice crean

 

[Jen & Her Men]

Although im not too bothered about getting older - im only 20 now! its the fear of what comes after .....death!and it scares the hell out of me, when i was younger i used to have awful nightmares about dying and just sit and thinking about it makes me feel sick and i get all paniky - since iv been with my OH my life has been brilliant and the only time i have thought about dying was the other night when we were watching Amytiville Horror (i love horrors but dont know why i watch them because they scare me and make me think...grrrr) once i get into that 'thinking' mode though , i cant seem to snap out of it, its awful, all i think about is, once your dead....your dead, thats it, gone.....and it frightens me soo much.

Im exactly the same. Its terrible. I have been like it since i was a little girl when I used to get so upset thinking about my mum dying. I can work myself up so much and feel sick thinking about death. I think its got worse since having James because you do become aware of your own mortality and how you are just a very small part in the "circle of life" and I am no longer the young generation - my child is. That makes me feel sooo old!!!

 

[Krystal]

Yeah, death is also a fear of mine too. Although more than the fear of being dead is the fear of the dying part.. like what it will feel like/will I be scared/will I be in pain. That type of thing - told you I think too much