Comment by jaggederest
16 hours ago
43, I've never felt better or smarter, the wisdom vs intelligence ratio is real, and you learn to take better care of yourself over time. I am definitely old, but it's less in the brain than I would have expected when I was younger.
The other thing you gain is time contraction - a year now feels like a month when I was younger, so it's easier to plan long term and follow through on projects.
But I too am very interested in the perspective from closer to 80! I suspect, if I'm lucky enough to make it there, I'll consider present me the same kind of fool as I now consider younger me.
I'm in my mid 30s and I already feel the time contraction. I have noticed that weeks are going by incredibly quickly, and months and years have started to feel like they slip by faster and faster. I live a fairly busy life, and I enjoy it, so I am not walking around with regrets, but it is concerning sometimes that it seems like an entire season has gone by without me really realizing it.
My understanding is that the median point in most people's subjective experience of life is in the late teens to early 20s. The cruel irony of retirement at the end of life is that it's effectively one long summer afternoon when you're a child, in terms of subjective experience.
The regret is what infuriates me. If I knew in high school what I know now about how to take care of this specific body, I’d have been unstoppable.
I think you have to give yourself the grace of realizing it's research. Nobody comes into the world with a manual, and even people with great intuition in taking care of themselves run into unexpected challenges