Time and an ability to relate to it.

[Lesley_Roberta]

I have noticed since being here at Susan's that it seems like the persons with the greater degree of urgent frustration and desperation seem to often be persons under 20 or there abouts.

Myself, I am 51. Time means something different to me than it might mean to a 20 year old. Well that is my observation.

I look back at high school, seemed like it would take forever when I was 13. Now, hmm 4 lousy years. It's been 4 years since we celebrated the new decade. Seems like yesterday too.

I look at so many things that were essentially brief spans of time, now that I can measure it against my life span.
I am a big fan of WW2 as a subject. Going with the conventional perspective of it being 39 to 45 (even though historians will know it was a lot more than that if you were in say like China), it's just 6 years. When I was 15 and just starting my life long interest in this subject though, 6 years seemed like a long time. I wasn't much more than twice that in age.

Now though, 6 years is a very small slice. In fact I often marvel at how much took place in such a small span of time. Wow so much history, and just 6 years to cram it all into.

Today, as I sit waiting on the process to begin, which is said to be 16 months (I had to re read that a few times to burn it into my mind that it actually said months and not weeks), I can casually state, it's just a couple of years.
But I can relate when a 20 year old starts to panic when told they might need to wait 2 years.

Not that I am getting any younger here When you are 51, you can't generally claim to have all your life to wait on some stuff. I have noticed for instance, on polls, there is only one category left now, the 65+ as they simply no longer seem to feel a need to fret over making a fuss over increments

But I thought I would try to reach out to all of our members and anyone reading and not yet a member...... that is 20 or under, don't fret about the time spans. There is really only one key part of transition to think about and that is, is it the right choice for you? And at 20, well you DO actually have time, there is actually no specific need to rush and do anything rash. Your barely able to claim being an adult, the paint is still drying on your new status

You have 10 YEARS before you even reach the next major stage of your life. And even then you have another 10 years from there before you get to only half way.
A couple of years getting your new you sorted out, actually will not even use up any noticeable life span.
Being young, it's a treasure no amount of money can buy.

I want all of the young people here to stop, take a deep breathe, let it out slowly, and say this...... I have all of my life still, so what I didn't get to be the other gender fumbling through the teen years clueless. So what you didn't grow up a a small child in the other set of clothes. You still get to enjoy all the best years of your life. The ones where you get to do it your way, not the way your parents made you do

[Lo]

I remember turning 18 and thinking about tattoos. A couple of my best friends started getting them all over the place in the years following, and would often pester me to get one too, or to make fun of me for taking too long.

I asked them what in the heck the rush was? I've got the rest of my life to live with the ink I do get, no matter how long it takes me to get it.

I think trans* youth culture is it's own thing, also. Anxiety about transition maybe comes up with a different urgency for someone in college or high school than those of us who are older. (I'm going to be 25 in a couple of months, but sometimes I feel older than my 35 year old husband, and most times feel just as old as him.) I feel like the pressure and stress is actually a lot similar to the kind you get when HS graduation is coming up and if you don't pick the right school to go into, or the right major, or whatever, then it feels like Life As I Know It is going to end. Maybe that kind of anxiety fades with time... only to be replaced by other kinds. 

[Lesley_Roberta]

If only I was 25 again. Everything took longer, time moved slower and it seemed like I had forever

What the young don't realize, is time speeds up as you get older

Senile is not a mental condition, it's just that everything gets blurry as life goes rushing past

[Doctorwho?]

While not entirely disagreeing with you I would like to qualify this.

I am now in my 50's - I'm also a full time medical student on an accelerated course (where basically I am doing TWO years of study in s single year - which as you can imagine is not for the faint hearted...)

Anyway I would say time now runs    V E R Y    S L O W L Y    for me! even though I am well over 50... Until a few years ago, when I was vegetating in an undemanding job that I knew backwards and could do with my eyes closed - it was indeed starting to slip by a bit quicker.

but then as anyone who knows me is aware - these days since getting back into education I'm always in a hurry, I think at 1000 miles an hour (often too quickly for my own good,) and can still give most 25 years olds a good run for their money, in terms of both speed and stamina!

Yes I am atypical - for example at 53 I've just taken up women's Rugby! - but then again that's my point - its not a universal, and you can fight it... actually it's linked to your level of stimulation and your metabolic rate.

The brain works like a sampled data system - if you can keep it sampling fast and keep the clock rate running swiftly time will not slow down - and indeed if it does... if you up stimulation rate - to judge by my experience you can slow it right back down again!

[Lesley_Roberta]

Hmm well my body is moving at the speed of a 70 year old, but my mind is likely multi tasking too often. I think I have probably over clocked it too much

Most days, it is a challenge to keep my mind and body in sync.