Looking A Decade Younger Or More Would Make Me Feel Happier

[Isshun ga]

Sometimes I am depressed, partly from feeling that I have grown older faster than I was ready to.

Mom said that I've "always been behind" - in the ages I wanted to be. Example: When I was 13, she said I wanted to be 10, and when I was in college, I wanted to look like a high schooler, etc.

I cope by engaging in age-regressing activities. I have a workbook intended for 2nd graders, which I write in with my non-writing hand, and a Korean workbook intended for kids somewhere in early grade school. Moreover, this needing these particular coping methods is also why I'm on DD.

Lately, one trusted fellow told me I appeared to be in my 30s (early 30s-ish) while I'm still in my 20s. Another estimated my age to be right where it was.

I'm clearly not trying hard enough to look younger than I am. Moreover, having deficits in social and sometimes emotional skills (particularly in high-stress circumstances), if I can't act as old as I look, I'd much rather look as old as I act.

I would settle on looking 17-18 again. However, I have seen 12-year-olds who measured 6'4" tall, and I'm 6' flat with shoes on. I wonder how much harder it would be to look 12 years old again as opposed to 17-18?

I know some steps already:

1. Take as many antioxidants as I would if my life depended on it! (As in, pretend my body has a digestive defect that ONLY allows me to eat & drink (maybe even sleep) antioxidants for my daily sustenance, nothing else.)

2. Drink lots and lots of water.

3. Keep a regular exercising regimen.

4. Do not stay in the sun too long without sunblock.

They help, but would only do so much in keeping me looking younger. I need more steps, and on a reasonable college student's budget.

If Cher, Joan Rivers and other world-renowned celebrities can take 25-30+ years off of their looks, I could, in theory, take 10-15 off, but I don't have a celebrity's budget, so I need some down-to-earth methods to do so.

[Yuna]

I've found that it is not only important to dress the age that you want people to see you as, but also to go the extra mile and mess with their head a little. That doesn't mean that someone is gonna look at an "adult" and see you as 12 if you dress 12, but like I am 33 irl for example and I dress like I am somewhere between a pre-schooler and a very young teen or a tween with a liberal mommy, This makes it so that most adults well older than myself tend to guess I am in my low 20s or about 20 at the lowest. People my rl age tend to guess I am a little younger, like someone who is 18ish. People who are in highschool tend to think I must be an entry level collage student.

So, what's that extra mile?

Well for example, if I wear something with long sleeves, I try to make sure they cover part of my hands easly.

I try to get hair pretties and clips which are at least 2 inches long, or even 3 or 4.

If I am wearing a long petiskirt I re-set my waste to my bellybutton or even a little higher.

Etc.

I do realize you are a boy, but ummm I only know how to dress as a girl. Hopefully that will give you a couple of concept ideas though so you can create your own adaptations.

Occasionally I go all out and then people don't even know what age to guess.

If you find a way to look 2 feet shorter, let me know!

Good luck! *hugs*

[Bettypooh]

You can overdose some anti-oxidants so be careful there Find someone who know those things and follow their advice on dosages. Some things excess to your body.s needs pass easily while other things can build up and cause problems You only need to take what your body can process- any more is just wasted money or worse.

A 'look' is a funny thing. And 'the look' can have little to do with how convincing it is. From a life in the construction business I became a passable woman in my 40's and everyone thought I was at least 5 years younger That happened because I felt and acted like a 30ish woman and adopted a 'look' that would not draw attention to the true clues to who I was If you feel younger and create a look that younger people are wearing then act that age, people will be convinced that's your age- within reason of course To go back to 12, or even anything less than your mid-teens, would be unlikely to convince anyone- but your mid-to-late teens may be do-able. You'll have to look the part body-wise and act the part too, including hanging out with people of that age group and interacting with them as they do with each other Those friends will either have to know and 'play along' or you'll have to convince them too- and that is he hardest part to do. It is much easier to add to your age than to subtract from it

I know several older women who wear girlish hairstyles because they like them, and they act and are young at heart; they are not out to convince anyone they are not their age though. I met one cosmetician who couldn't have been a day over 40 if that old, but she showed her DL and she was 63- that was a real WOW moment She had been a model in her earlier years and knew the tricks to staying young and svelte. She ate only enough to end the hungry feeling and never ate anything white to keep her weight down. It works but you have to get your weight where you want it and stick to it 100%, never any exceptions, not even one spoonfull. I can't do that so my weight isn't what I'd like it to be but it's not too bad- for a guy Well, since I live that life now I can deal with my current weight though I wish it were less anyway.

Don't chase youth, embrace it! You'll look and feel younger than you are till the wrinkles and arthritis sets in

Bettypooh

[beallucanb]

Thruout my 20's to 40's I always hung around and frequented bars with the younger generation, maybe because I'm a smaller guy I was accepted as one of them.

I used to get asked to leave bars when I was in my late 30's, because I didn't look old enough to drink.

My thought on you looking older would be because of your height, for me being small it worked for me at times and against me also, because I never carried ID.

If you want to act younger and dress and have your hair styled younger I think it would help you fit in, this is one of those times being a little skinny guy wins

[messyman]

I can't say that Cher or Joan Rivers succeded in looking younger. Only in having the Hollywood too much surgery look.

[Zander]

Its not always great the other way around If I have my hair short and wear the right (wrong?) clothes, I still get ID-carded for lottery tickets in some places (legal age in the UK: 16 years), and universally for alcohol (18 years). People typically guess my age 6 to 12 years less than I am, depending how recently I've shaved, what my hair is like and how I'm dressed.

Of course, this also means people don't always take you as seriously when you first meet. In my line of work you get the odd raised eyebrow when walking into see CxOs or other senior decision makers who don't know you and you look like I do. It often takes them a few mins to establish you're an expert with years of experience in the field, rather than being able to just run with that assumption to start with.

[sarah_ab]

i sound and look much younger than almost 30, at work even people are still shocked to find out this is how old i will be in a few months.. Most guess me around 22-24, and I still get carded for smokes (thankfully my grey hair is a few layers down so not noticable)... but it just means when i'm like 40-50 i'll still be thought of as 30!!!!

[curiositykilledthecat]

You are complaining about looking your age or older, I am in the opposite boat. Due to a health condition I look about half of my age. You would think being into age play that his would be great but it's not. People who might be interested in me think I'm too young and back off and I can't tell you how many times I've been overlooked for promotions or just not taken seriously at a job because I look like I'm inexperienced. I don't really enjoy looking too young, though when I'm 50 and look like I'm 30, maybe then I'll enjoy it, right now it more or less sucks.