You're too young to be so old

Something a friend told me on my birthday once. It was because, in her eyes, I'm one of those strange people who acts older than their age.

Somewhat a compliment, somewhat depressing.

"You're not getting any younger, but all I know, is you're not really very old." - Counting Crows, a hidden song

The interesting thing about this phrase is that it could also be used to mean that you are one of those equally strange people who act younger than their age

What I've been told many times. This seems to be why only women over 25 seem to be good dates ;P

I take it as a compliment...I see how most other people my age act, & it's revolting to say the least. The phrase attributed to me also was "80 year old in an 18 year old body"

So many young people who hear this, and are saddened by the realization, are those self-absorbed depressed teenagers with that nobody-knows-the trouble-I've-seen attitude and fear of responsibility and accountability. Life goes on-- let me tell you-- If you think this is old, you ain't seen nothin yet. Experienced death? heartbreak? Too much work/studying? Too smart for high school? The shit just keeps on coming, and too smart is never smart enough.

I personally consider myself a total freaking idiot. I'm not sure if this is good, or bad, or even true-- but I know enough to value perspective that comes with experience, because it's rarer than you think.

Old people say that youth is wasted on the young, and in the same sentiment I don't consider being young and feeling 'old' as a liability-- Do you realize what most people would have given to know what they know now when they were young? I've dealt with a lot for the few years I've been alive-- some of it bad, but mostly I've been extremely lucky. It's given me a tiny little bit of perspective. Moving out on my 16th birthday, making a life, paying tuition, running a corporation-- It's all stressful, and my friends all wonder why I've given up my teenage years to grow up so fast. This is why:

There is nothing in the world like being immoderately young, moderately thin, and moderately successful in New York City. Life sucks-- but if this is as good as it gets then I might as well enjoy it.

It's impossible to live madcap existence once you get past a certain age, or a certain stage in life. This is why experience acquired during youth is so valuable-- you've got it when you can still use it. They say that experience is the most expensive school of all.

"I'm too old for this shit."

A friend of mine who is a psychologist has been hearing this phrase from Vietnam vets since the mid-1970s. What on earth could make a 21-year-old say, with out a trace of irony, he's too old to deal?

Helplessness, despair, no conceivable way out, troubles that seem too big to carry.

Another friend of mine, who spent the last few years working through some seriously bad (read: abusive) relationships, recently told me that she feels empty--like a soccer mom whose kids have all grown up and left her pointless. She's all of 28.

When I was a teen, I was frustrated by a host of things, large and small, that I had very little control over and could conceive of no way to change, prior to moving out and getting my own life. So yeah, maybe some teens feel despairing, exhausted, and spent over things that to anyone with their own checking account seem trivial. But on the other hand, they haven't got much in the way of power to change. (Or are too afraid--but that's another node).

I used to feel very, very old (I was of the 'don't-know-the-trouble-i've-seen' variety). I just turned 31, and I've never felt younger in my life. Age is a condition of the soul.