Do you miss your young adult years?

[Prowler]

Do you miss being 18-29?

Well, I don't miss being 18-22 per se, because, looking back, I feel a bit of a second hand embarrassment. I thought I knew everything, despite being clueless. Plus, it's strange to walk past groups of university students nowadays and realising how loud, annoying and immature they are when they're drinking, chanting songs, etc.

25-29, though? I kinda wish I had been immortalized within that age bracket or something. Although being in my 30s hasn't been bad at all ever since the pandemic was over. I turned 30 in 2020 by the way, during lockdown. And I was depressed from late 2019 to summer/autumn 2025. But I was already starting to feel better around mid-late 2023.

So... there is a sense of nostalgia for those times (18-22) to some degree in my case. But definitely not as strong as the sense of nostalgia I have for my childhood and early teens, no.

The main thing I miss was having a lot of time left to figure things out still, and how the world was still so new to me. That first feel of freedom you got once you turned 18 was precious. Being able to go into places where only adults were legally allowed, being able to vote, being able to travel abroad on your own, being able to drink coffee or beer in front of older relatives and them no longer having the authority to order you not to do it anymore, etc.

I also regret missing out on a lot of opportunities to grow and experience stuff. But I guess that's just part of life. You make mistakes and then learn from them.

How about you?

[Andrew NDB]

Of course, I wouldn't waste as much time on this person or that person.

[Prowler]

Originally Posted by Andrew NDB

Of course, I wouldn't waste as much time on this person or that person.

I think we can all relate to that somewhat.

There's people I hung out with when I was 18-24 that I wouldn't want to hang out with nowadays. Or hell, if I could go back in time, I'd not have ever hung out with them even back in the day.

2 of them were guys whose priorities in life were drinking, making out with girls and smoking weed. We were 18-20 back then, for the record. One of them had a gf when he was 18 that he cheated on a lot. The other was still doing the whole player thing when he was 22. No idea nowadays.

As for 22-24, this guy I knew ended up severing ties with me after an argument on Facebook around 2019 or so. We had some clashes before because he was one of those people who thought they were always right and liked to act combative in debates. One day we argued about football and he tried to provoke me unprompted and I fought back, telling him to not start with his sh*t. He doubled down and blocked me.

This just to give a few examples. Of course there's more cases. This is why i'm rather cynical about friendships.

[Barkworm]

My 20s were a blur of partying and being an unproductive slob but somehow getting a masters degree somewhere in between. I don't miss that time AT ALL.

[IndigoErth]

Later 20s and 30s, yes.

Not a clue how I got to 47, younger sister now 40s, too, nephew already hitting a decade tomorrow... Kid was supposed to help it slow down, not speed up. lol

[Prowler]

Originally Posted by IndigoErth

Later 20s and 30s, yes.

Not a clue how I got to 47, younger sister now 40s, too, nephew already hitting a decade tomorrow... Kid was supposed to help it slow down, not speed up. lol

Ah I have an older brother. He does not have kids either, though. So no nephews or nieces here.

I have no clue how I got to 35 either. Especially after going through a 6-year long depression. Somehow, I beat it.

[Wildcat]

No I don’t and my life was better during that time too. At the moment things have been very hard.

I never “partied” or drank or anything like that. Always found that stupid. Those years were better from a personal standpoint and I regret not spending them more wisely. I miss family that has passed away and I wish I had done some things sooner but in general I do not miss being in my 20s/30s.

I know I’ve mentioned it before but I think people glorify the past. It’s not that things were better...how our younger selves perceived life and our personal experiences are why we look back at certain aspects more fondly.

I watched a YouTube video recently where the guy talks about nostalgia and perception. He talked about spending a lot of time during the pandemic roaming an open world game he was playing and feeling nostalgic for his personal time despite how bad things were outside.

He explained it so well. Whereas most of those videos are the complete opposite and the person just rambles on about how cool everything was in the 90s. I’ll try and get the link.

Edit:

[Mad Dog McMutt]

I miss going to tons of punk rock shows, hanging with friends, and skating that I did in my early 20s. I don't miss my late 20s though. My body felt like bugs were crawling over me, my legs and wrists/hands started hurting really bad, and I lost a lot of my libido without knowing why. After many years of pain and many doctor visits I found out it was all connected and all due to small fiber and autonomic neuropathy. My neurologist said that I probably have some auto-immune disorder that science hasn't caught up with yet. I am doing great right now though. I have everything figured out, and got disability so I am no longer working through tremendous amounts of pain. I actually think that I maybe feeling better emotionally in my adult life than I ever have before and I am 39 years old.