# Passage of Time Makes Me Sad



## chris87

I know this probably sounds so weird, but for some reason, the passing of time makes me really depressed. It started to get much worse when I turned 20, because I felt like I was so old (even though I know I'm still young). Now that I'll be 22 next month, I feel even worse. It's not like I'm 90, so I shouldn't be so unhappy. I just started my senior year in college, and I can't stop thinking about how fast time seems to have flown. I wish I could go back to my freshman year, but that's obviously not possible.

I'm not sure how this relates, but a couple of months ago, I watched The Sopranos from the beginning. Just seeing everyone change/age from Season 1-6 made me feel so unhappy. It's sad to me to think about all the time that elapsed between the 6 seasons (and to see visually how everyone aged slightly). I guess it made me think back to 1999 when I was so much younger. It's like that year is so close, but at the same time, it's becoming further away.

I attach an element of sadness to the progression of time, which is really a terrible way to live. I have no idea why I'm like this. Most people that I know don't really get upset about this type of issue.

I'm making absolutely no sense, but maybe someone will understand.


----------



## Always been shy

I have this same issue. I think it's because passage of time reminds me that I am missing out opportunities to live life to the fullest because of SAD. Carpe Diem.


----------



## Rixy

I've got the same problem and I'm only 17 :/


----------



## markx

I understand completely. The worst time for me is always New Years Eve - I can never understand people celebrating the end of another year. Surely that's a *bad *thing?! Many people say that time seems to pass faster the older you get and I'd have to agree with that. I occasionally think about making a fresh start and going to university, something I should have done when I was 18, but then I think that it's pointless starting something like that at my age. I know that in a few years I'll look back and wish that I _had_ done it back in 2009.

When I was young, I didn't have those same feelings though. Up until I was about 30, I was convinced that advances in medical science would allow me to live forever. I still think it's possible, but it's much more likely if you're the "right" side of 30.


----------



## ShyViolet

I feel that way too. I'll be 30 in June and the thought of it is just frightening and sad. Something about that number just makes me feel like youth is over. It's especially sad due to the fact that I am nowhere near where a 30-year-old should be in life.

I also get depressed watching several seasons of a TV show and seeing everyone age. Or I'll watch a movie with a certain actor in it and then watch another movie they were in several years later, noticing how much they aged. *sigh*


----------



## Raptors

I'm 16 and I feel the same way. I feel I've missed out so much compared to other 16-year-olds.


----------



## Havalina

I am 23, turning 24 next month, in my last year of university. Every month that goes by, makes me feel worse and worse. I feel like my life is over and things will only get worse from here. The thought of time depresses me as well....a lot. It may seem like I am writing in an overly-dramatic way, but I'm not, this is how I really feel. I wish I could do more.


----------



## nubly

yea it sucks. in 2-3 generations, unless youre famous, no one will have known you existed. its a huge bummer. i wish i could live on forever


----------



## Neptunus

Yep, once you hit the big 30, it's all down hill. 

Well, if it's any consolation, everybody's in the same boat. A 'lil something I try to think about when my knees ache.


----------



## Halcyon Daze

I am conscious of this every day. It's soooo annoying. Every b'day is not a day to celebrate imo. I keep getting older, and yet not progressing. I compare myself to my peers and that does not help at all. Everyone is so judged based on where they should be for their age, and it's just a stupid number!
Another way to categorize people, or the major way I should say. I feel jealous of those that are younger than me, and wish I could be younger. The months creep by relentlessly... I'm a bit of a Debbie Downer today


----------



## layitontheline

I think about that a lot too. It makes me really depressed when I'm already feeling sad and start thinking of the years that keep passing by while I get no where in life and see everyone around me moving on.


----------



## Canadian Brotha

When the thought that my B-Day is coming around soon spontaneously sprang to mind I suddenly felt old & unaccomplished in life, I'll be turning 22. It was the realization of how much of nothing I've done over the last 3 years. I think of it too often but when it hits me it hits fairly hard


----------



## JMX

I feel the same way you do. At the age of 23, I feel like I went through college without doing anything productive...didn't make friends, didn't join clubs, didn't do any research projects.


----------



## shadowmask

Canadian Brotha said:


> When the thought that my B-Day is coming around soon spontaneously sprang to mind I suddenly felt old & unaccomplished in life, I'll be turning 22. It was the realization of how much of nothing I've done over the last 3 years. I think of it too often but when it hits me it hits fairly hard


It's the same with me, except I'll be turning 24  All we can do now is make the most of the future and try to stop dwelling on the past. Much easier said than done, I know, but I'm working on it.


----------



## Princesspoopla

I feel like time is just passing by too fast and every year it gets alot harder, and I feel like I'm just wasting my life away and I'm just not being able to enjoy it like how I want to. It's so hard when everyday is like a challenge and the future seems so hopeless to me.


----------



## djr86

I have the exact same issue. It's really strange that all these other people can relate too...I thought it was just some wierd aspect of depression that only I have. I will be 23 next week and I feel like I should be turning 50 (I feel really old!). Like everyone else said, I guess people with depression and SA are troubled by the passing of time, yet it seems those of us with SA always stay the same and miss out on fun in life.


----------



## ArtisaRica

Thank goodness for that post!
I have always felt like this! Always. And when I turned 22 in May of this year I was in a really bad mood. It might be hard for you when you turn 22... as the "novelty" of being 21 is gone and you really do feel like "damn! I _am_ older!"
But something that I have found to ease the fear of aging is to remember how awesome it is that you're a little bit wiser... and that wisdom can be really soothing. I am not sure if that does anything for you or if it even makes sense but it works for me. There is something about the comfort of going "ahhh! I am so glad that I know to never do _that_ again!".

Anyway, I'm really glad you posted that. It sounded like my brain was talking to me when I read it!


----------



## gaz

I'm 28 and i'll be 30 before i know it. It feels like only yesterday when i was turning 20, and it depresses me to think how my life is being wasted in front of my computer. I remember my parents being 30 and i thought that was such a long way away!

I find New years eve to be the most depressing time of the year, i just don't understand why people celebrate it.


----------



## epril

chris87 said:


> I know this probably sounds so weird, but for some reason, the passing of time makes me really depressed. It started to get much worse when I turned 20, because I felt like I was so old (even though I know I'm still young). Now that I'll be 22 next month, I feel even worse. It's not like I'm 90, so I shouldn't be so unhappy. I just started my senior year in college, and I can't stop thinking about how fast time seems to have flown. I wish I could go back to my freshman year, but that's obviously not possible.
> 
> I'm not sure how this relates, but a couple of months ago, I watched The Sopranos from the beginning. Just seeing everyone change/age from Season 1-6 made me feel so unhappy. It's sad to me to think about all the time that elapsed between the 6 seasons (and to see visually how everyone aged slightly). I guess it made me think back to 1999 when I was so much younger. It's like that year is so close, but at the same time, it's becoming further away.
> 
> I attach an element of sadness to the progression of time, which is really a terrible way to live. I have no idea why I'm like this. Most people that I know don't really get upset about this type of issue.
> 
> I'm making absolutely no sense, but maybe someone will understand.


It helps to live in the present. Enjoy what you have now, and don't dwell in the past. Things are always changing, just try to condition yourself to seek out, appreciate, embrace new phases of your life and new experiences.

As a mom, I get melancholy and sentimental about my kids getting older, and then I tell myself, hey, they're still here! Those children are with me, right in front of me, the same people, just in a new phase of life!


----------



## Prakas

I have the same problem...going on 22...haven't done anything with my life that i'm proud of. seems like everyone is living their life and doing their thing, while i'm stuck and not moving on.


----------



## Pam

I can relate to this dreaded feeling too. Now, at 41, and back when I was in my early 20s (when it first started). Maybe it's an age/becoming an adult thing...

Or, I see a lot of you are having a birthday coming up soon, so maybe it's a Scorpio thing! (I'm Scorpio rising and we can be very negative and morbid, too serious, and have more intense feelings than most other people). :blank


----------



## wineandcheese

Yeah I have the same problem. I'm going to be 30 soon. That's REALLY scary. I already feel like I'm aging too, especially when I look at older pictures. But I remember stressing out about turning 25 too. And now I'm like, what the hell was I worrying about back then? In 10 years I'm going to be asking myself why the hell I worried about 30 because 30 will be young to me then.


----------



## wineandcheese

Pam said:


> I can relate to this dreaded feeling too. Now, at 41, and back when I was in my early 20s (when it first started). Maybe it's an age/becoming an adult thing...
> 
> Or, I see a lot of you are having a birthday coming up soon, so maybe it's a Scorpio thing! (I'm Scorpio rising and we can be very negative and morbid, too serious, and have more intense feelings than most other people). :blank


Yes Scorpio here. :no


----------



## hopena

I've been having the same problem! I've been driving my mother nuts with my talking about it. I think most people feel some sadness over this, as they grow older, but it can be more difficult for some like us, because a lot of us haven't felt as though we've really been living (at least, that's part of my problem). :heart


----------



## Fuzzy Logic

I feel this way too. It seems that most people build up their friendships and careers when they are young and I have made zero progress in those areas. Perhaps I should break free and move abroad? Here, everywhere I go reminds me of the past. If I moved somewhere else I would be able to focus on the future more.

It's depressing that I am nearing the end of my early twenties too, because you know you have reached your prime and from now all you have to look forward to is slow degradation over the coming decades.


----------



## Jayne311

Me too. Time passed so much slower as a kid. The first ten years of my life crawled by, but that was a good thing. The second set of ten years flew by, and sometimes that was good, but overall I wish it had been slower. I feel like I belong somewhere back in 1999 and all of the sudden I woke up here after watching my life speed by in a dream. But I also think about time a lot, so if I did that less, I probably wouldn't be so sad.

I also do the TV show thing. I see what people looked like at a certain point in the show, and it's sad that they don't look that way anymore. It makes me want to cry sometimes.

I sometimes wish I could go back and revisit random moments in my life that I liked the best, but be able to stay in a five minute time period for a few hours. I wish I could go back 9 or 10 years and read one of those teenager magazines I used to get in the mail, while my friends came over and we danced to NSYNC and Backstreet Boys and Britney Spears. Those were some of the best times of my life, and to think of them as gone, or at least a lot different, is heartbreaking.


----------



## sublimit

I'm afraid of aging in general. Once I turned 20 I started thinking I was "old" even though I look and physically feel young. I can't believe I'm turning 22 in a month; it makes me want to cry!


----------



## quietriverrunsdeep

Everytime I'm alone and don't have anything to occupy myself with, I always start to think of the impermanence of life and I start to panic. I'm only 15 and I have so many years ahead of me, yet I think of what happens when I die, what it will be like to never feel anything again. Will be just like sleeping, where we don't even know it? Will it just be black? Then my heart starts to beat really fast and I get lightheaded. I start making unrealistic promises like to try to do anything I can to live forever. It's horrible. I hate feeling like that.


----------



## Lumiere

This has been on my mind a lot lately.
I'm 28 and I'll be 30 in just over 18 months time. I have absolutely nothing to show for the last 15 years of my life. No friends, no family, no partners, no money, no job or employment history, no experience. Nothing.


----------



## m0n0XidE

Im the same way. I look as time passes thinking, "Damn... there is so much I could have and should have done if it wasn't for this damn SA."


----------



## SnarlPatrick

I'm turning 24 soon and feeling the same way. I was pretty much always miserable in highschool, 2 years of college, but at least I was generating stories. Time had landmarks. But now that I've got 4 years of being alone under my belt... its all a blur. The notion that one day I'm just going to up and grow the balls the take life by storm is laughable. If I had it in me, I would have done it already. Something's gotta happen but what? My family can't support me. Therapy has gone nowhere....

What if I just curl up in a ball and wait for Obama to save me?


----------



## lenny4

I'm 33 and think about time going by all the time! I also feel like I have wasted time because of my anxiety. I have been on again off again for 4 years trying to do my nursing degree. I feel that if I was normal, I could have been a nurse by now, earning money and meeting new people, but instead I am too scared to do it - always too scared to do anything involving new people.


----------



## rachelynn

I know! Just recently I was thinking how I feel so old, Im 20....TWENTY  nearly 21. I want to be 9 again. Time goes by too fast!!! I always worry/think I don't have much time left...and I just HOPE I can be as old as my mom someday (53).....it almost seems like impossible. :blank But I don't really want to get old.

I feel so old.
I feel so weak. 
I feel so tired.
I barely speak. 
I do not know.
Which way to go.
Around in circles. 
Is all I know.

A "poem" I thought of one early morning as I lay in bed about to sleep.


----------



## Havalina

I am also glad this thread was started...I thought I was being silly since technically I am still young, but I guess it is common for people in the early 20s range to experience quarter-life crisises.


----------



## crayzyMed

chris87 said:


> I know this probably sounds so weird, but for some reason, the passing of time makes me really depressed. It started to get much worse when I turned 20, because I felt like I was so old (even though I know I'm still young). Now that I'll be 22 next month, I feel even worse. It's not like I'm 90, so I shouldn't be so unhappy. I just started my senior year in college, and I can't stop thinking about how fast time seems to have flown. I wish I could go back to my freshman year, but that's obviously not possible.
> 
> I'm not sure how this relates, but a couple of months ago, I watched The Sopranos from the beginning. Just seeing everyone change/age from Season 1-6 made me feel so unhappy. It's sad to me to think about all the time that elapsed between the 6 seasons (and to see visually how everyone aged slightly). I guess it made me think back to 1999 when I was so much younger. It's like that year is so close, but at the same time, it's becoming further away.
> 
> I attach an element of sadness to the progression of time, which is really a terrible way to live. I have no idea why I'm like this. Most people that I know don't really get upset about this type of issue.
> 
> I'm making absolutely no sense, but maybe someone will understand.


I have the exact same issue!!!!!!!!! Very interesting i'm not alone.

I'm 21.. I'm scared of turning 22 and i feel like that my life would be over after 25, the "old" life doesnt seem interesting to me and it scares me.


----------



## Pam

rachelynn said:


> I know! Just recently I was thinking how I feel so old, Im 20....TWENTY  nearly 21. I want to be 9 again. Time goes by too fast!!! I always worry/think I don't have much time left...and I just HOPE I can be as old as my mom someday (53).....it almost seems like impossible. :blank But I don't really want to get old.
> 
> I feel so old.
> I feel so weak.
> I feel so tired.
> I barely speak.
> I do not know.
> Which way to go.
> Around in circles.
> Is all I know.
> 
> A "poem" I thought of one early morning as I lay in bed about to sleep.


I like your poem. Sounds like song lyrics to me.
And I'm sure practiacally everyone on this site can realte to it!


----------



## Half_A_Person

I feel the same. The way time passes just seems so unfair. You only have a limited amount of time to do or experience certain things and if you don't do those things, well, then that's it, you don't get a second chance or extra time or anything. Many times I just wish things would slow down a little.


----------



## contranigma

Just to put a different perspective on things, I can't wait for time to pass most of the time, and that's not a good outlook either. I am a senior in college, too, and I wouldn't want to be a freshman again for anything. Time seems to move in slow motion for me, because I have ideals that I want to achieve, and I feel like I am so far away from them, so I am like the opposite of you. The present still kind of sucks for me because I want it to be my ideal future. But I love thinking that I have classes out of the way that I will never have to take again. Also, New Years is probably my favorite holiday. The passage of time makes me happy. I feel like a part of history in a good way.


----------



## FlickeringHope

chris87 said:


> I know this probably sounds so weird, but for some reason, the passing of time makes me really depressed. It started to get much worse when I turned 20, because I felt like I was so old (even though I know I'm still young). Now that I'll be 22 next month, I feel even worse. It's not like I'm 90, so I shouldn't be so unhappy. I just started my senior year in college, and I can't stop thinking about how fast time seems to have flown. I wish I could go back to my freshman year, but that's obviously not possible.
> 
> I'm not sure how this relates, but a couple of months ago, I watched The Sopranos from the beginning. Just seeing everyone change/age from Season 1-6 made me feel so unhappy. It's sad to me to think about all the time that elapsed between the 6 seasons (and to see visually how everyone aged slightly). I guess it made me think back to 1999 when I was so much younger. It's like that year is so close, but at the same time, it's becoming further away.
> 
> I attach an element of sadness to the progression of time, which is really a terrible way to live. I have no idea why I'm like this. Most people that I know don't really get upset about this type of issue.
> 
> I'm making absolutely no sense, but maybe someone will understand.


I feel EXACTLY the same way about the passage of time. Really. And I feel weird for it, too. In terms of nostalgia I feel like I'm 60+, though in terms of experience I feel like I'm 13, a teenager. I feel anything but my real age of 22.

Part of it is what everyone else said...regretting things, reflecting back on certain "happy times" and wishing I could relive those times...

But I think, for me at least, there's another part of it....not just regretting things, not just wanting to relive a moment...

Like you said, I also get sad in watching _others_ age, too. It's really amazing how fast time goes by...kind of a mixture of scary and sad...It sets my head spinning...like what is all this for? What's life really about?

About a year ago now, I think it was around Christmas...my mom's brother sent her a copy of a video montage of old pictures and film footage of them from the 60s/70s...oh man, oh man...I just wanted to bawl my eyes out! To see my mother, esp., so young, vibrant...and my grandparents, too! My gosh! Inside I was just aching...my eyes were glued to the screen, and I wondered if anyone else was choking up inside as much as I was. Maybe I should have asked. :/ But yeah...watching old films esp. are like bringing the person back to life in a weird way, like as if that person is still alive, the young, vibrant self...except than you realize they're not. That time is gone. And time just keeps ticking away...

Yeah, sorry this is depressing...but I fully relate. :/

Also, just wanted to say...good pick with The Sopranos, I watched it all within the past couple of years. It's a great show! Excellent writing. Funny in a dark way at points, incredibly sad in others, and really makes you think about stuff/life if you let it.

One last thought...as for New Year's, though...it's a mixture of good and bad for me. In one way, I'm glad to be done with another rotten, miserable year in my life. And ready, hoping the next year will be great. But in the other sense, I'm depressed another year has gone by and I'm still the same with nothing accomplished. Mostly though, I think of a new year in a hopeful way. Birthdays are always more depressing to me than New Year's. Not that that makes any sense at all. :S

I don't think I look back on a certain year with nostalgia, though, until several/many years have gone by and I've forgotten everything bad that happened that particular year. 

Anyway, interesting thread.


----------



## Phibes

OMFG! I thought I was the only one. 
Whenever my 22 month old nephew comes over to stay with us I feel so depressed just looking at him and looking at how happy and content he is playing with toys and how I used to be like that and how time has flown by. 

Dude. it's for real!


----------



## blank_mind

I can definitely relate to this. I spend way too much time thinking about the passage of time in general and life, death and all the memories i have that i can never get back. I always feel a bit sad about anything like this... even the times of my life that weren't particularly good, i would still love to be able to revisit. I also rue how much of my life i have wasted... Most of my teen years were spent completely isolated (no friends, no gf's, no parties, hardly any fun), and it's only in the last couple of years that i've started to gain some sort of normal social life. 

I sometimes find it hard to believe that i'm in my 3rd and final year of university now, and that this time next year nearly 20 years of education will be completely over! It just frightens me so much to think about what i'm going to do with my life once my education is over.

:afr


----------



## hopena

*edited.


----------



## softspoken

I feel just like that all the time! Especially when seasons change. It always makes me want to cry. And then I think about how I'm 25 and time is just flying by too quickly. I've had SA since I was 14, so then I start thinking about how much of my life I've missed out on because of it. Or I'll hear a song that came out a year ago, and realizing that a year has passed makes me sad. Actually, just about anything can trigger it. It's really depressing.


----------



## secretlyshecries

Wow, I can relate so much. And it only makes me feel worse when those older than me say "you're young. You've got your whole life ahead of you."

I feel like I've wasted so many years already. Who's to say I won't waste more? Obviously it's up to me but that's what scares me. It's up to _me_. How can I do this alone?

Yeah, now I'm just rambling, lol. :um


----------



## Fuzzy Logic

Sometimes I feel like my anxiety is actually worse than it was this time last year, but then that's only because I no longer avoid situations as much as I used to and am put into anxiety inducing encounters more often. I guess I need to stay focused on the progress I've made rather than bemoan wasted time. I can't expect to totally change my behaviour in just a few months, and I've already made some progress even in that time so at least I am not wasting time as I used to do.


----------



## semiserious

Yeah, every birthday for me feels like a funeral. I get especially depressed dwelling on how old my family and pets are getting and a helpless feeling of time running out. I think having a family of my own would solve a lot of this, but that's not foreseeable in the near future.


----------



## illlaymedown

Yeah, I get miserable thinking about how much I've missed out on as well, but I also find myself wishing time would hurry up to at times....what a glorious contradiction...I want to both slow down and speed up time :/ SA blows  Also, I'm surprised to see people saying they want to live forever....not me!!! Life is the suck for the most part and even people without SA go through tons of hell. Sometimes I feel like I wish it would hurry up, but then a part of me really wants to experience something great out of life before it is the end of time. I want so many things, that seem so far away *sigh*


----------



## littleblacckcat

yes, i too have the same problem. facebook, tv shows etc all highlight for me that time has lapsed, people have gone and had a life and i have done nothing. i find that thinking about my age or time lapsed makes me sad about the possibilities and opportunities i have let slip by because im too scared.

im glad to know im not the only one who feels like this !:high5


----------



## pollster

Neptunus said:


> Yep, once you hit the big 30, it's all down hill. .





ShyViolet said:


> I feel that way too. I'll be 30 in June and the thought of it is just frightening and sad. Something about that number just makes me feel like youth is over.


Hey! :mum Oh wait... I agree.  I have found it incredible how fast the years are flying by, especially now that I'm in my 30s. Wasn't I just 25 the other day?! Sometimes when I say/see my age I am doing a double-take.

Now, really, I don't think I'm an old hag at 33, relatively speaking. I just can't believe that I'm 33 already.



Fuzzy Logic said:


> I feel this way too. It seems that most people build up their friendships and careers when they are young and I have made zero progress in those areas. Perhaps I should break free and move abroad? Here, everywhere I go reminds me of the past. If I moved somewhere else I would be able to focus on the future more.


Me too. Due to my SA and depression, I held myself back from so many life experiences in my teens and 20s -- exactly when it's probably the easiest. And each year I would think to myself, "well maybe things will be better next year." But they weren't. And now I'm 33 and, as if I didn't have enough to be depressed and anxious about, now I'm depressed and anxious about the fact that I might as well have dropped off the earth 15 years ago for what I've got to show for it. It's depressing.

Career-wise I'm not doing bad. It's just everything else. I cut myself off from making or keeping close friends, and in having meaningful relationships. And the older I get, the harder it is to do those things. I'm now at an age where everyone around me is getting married or already married, and having kids. Two things I have no interest in, for what it's worth, but at the same time it makes it harder in the relationship development department. I swear every guy I like is always married. :roll

I also have periodic thoughts about moving somewhere else (even just in my country), in the hopes that it might change my situation and create the opportunity for me to start anew. But then I think that it's just wishful thinking, and that really I need to try and "fix" myself no matter where I am. And also because my immediate family is my only saving grace, and it would be hard for me to move away from them. Plus my job -I make a decent income, and it would be hard for me to try and just move myself at this point in my life. Unless I had some good reason to.

(Totally off-topic: I have a bunch of family in Northern Ireland - Newry to be exact.)



illlaymedown said:


> Yeah, I get miserable thinking about how much I've missed out on as well, but I also find myself wishing time would hurry up to at times....what a glorious contradiction...I want to both slow down and speed up time :/ SA blows  Also, I'm surprised to see people saying they want to live forever....not me!!! Life is the suck for the most part and even people without SA go through tons of hell. Sometimes I feel like I wish it would hurry up, but then a part of me really wants to experience something great out of life before it is the end of time. I want so many things, that seem so far away *sigh*


Yeah. It's like - okay let's get this over with already and put me out of my misery, because I just can't bring myself to do it. But then also, hey slow down! I still have so much to do! It sucks. I've had moments in the past where suicidal ideation was at a peak - basically because I just couldn't stand the thought of this being it for me in life. And the pain is too much to bear. But then on the other side of that coin, I don't want to give up. I just haven't quite figured out how to get out of the rut.

Wow. I've been thinking about all of this a lot. Next up, 2010. Ugh. 10 years ago I totally thought my life would be different by now.

Whatever. :blank


----------



## My911GT2993

at 16 that's when you start noticing, everyone is either getting girlfriends, getting drunk, goin parties, then at 18-20 lose more friends, people get houses n flats, and jobs or college, then at 23 im like...."hmmmm, everyones gone, Im unaable to walk to the shops, yet i have reasonably good intelligence and art skills" Like the 2nd or 3rd post said, it's the missed opportunities, and the passing of time, another number added every year and im still here.


----------



## spacebound_rocketship

I sometimes feel like that and i'm 15!!
Like I remember when I was 5 years old, and then I think, it's been 10 whole years since then...a whole decade...it all went so fast, one more decade and i'll be 25.


----------



## march_hare

I feel that way too!!
I turn 22 in August and I still feel 15 inside. 
A few years ago I asked my family to stop attempting to celebrating my birthday for exactly this reason.. but it didn't really work :/ I'd rather just forget that time passes tbh.


----------



## retropat

I have the same problem. I'll be 22 in March and I feel like I've wasted my best years and that's it's going to be downhill from here. I hate to hear of others suffering, but it is a small comfort to know I'm not the only one.


----------



## Havalina

semiserious said:


> Yeah, every birthday for me feels like a funeral. I get especially depressed dwelling on how old my family and pets are getting and a helpless feeling of time running out.


I feel the same way. Basically all the meaningful social contact I have is with my immediate and extended family. The idea that in a few decades most will be gone is so upsetting. I will be so alone. Wow if I type anymore, I'll end up in tears.


----------



## UltraShy

The years pass quickly. I noticed in the Sunday paper that Christina Applegate who I once deemed the hottest girl alive will turn 38 in just two days. I remember when she was the empty-headed teen bimbo on "Married with Children" and now she's old. Which kind of makes me old since she's only 16 months my senior.


----------



## Amelia

chris87 said:


> I just started my senior year in college, and I can't stop thinking about how fast time seems to have flown.


I know what you mean. The passage of time really hit me when I passed my last final exam at college. I wanted to go back and do it all over again (except the exam part, obviously!), and sometimes wish that I had extended my studies and explored my own interests on my own terms for as long as possible instead of getting sucked into the routine of work. Perhaps we are more prone to brood about the passage of time when we feel that we have come to a dead end or when we don't have goals to achieve. That applies to me, at least.


----------



## work_in_progress

yes. i understand completely. i find the passing of tie to be horribly depressing. i just turned 23 & i feel apathetic about everything. i find the seasons changing to be difficult as well...the same thing, over and over....another year passing makes me reflect on what i've done in the past 12 months - and of course, it never amounts to much...


----------



## sitbr

I feel really bad for everyone who feels this way about the passage of time. You know, one way to move past this type of feeling is to think in the 'third person.' In other words, remove yourself from the situation. 

If you had a friend who was telling you exactly what you've just explained, "...(t)he past makes me sad, depressed, and really down...I feel bad when I think about the end of my life..." What would you tell your friend? Likely, you'd be supportive and tell your friend to cheer up, that things will get better, and that they're not alone. Well, you should tell yourself that.

Thinking about problems that we have in the 'third person' allows us to be more objective about our feelings. It allows us to be 'easier' on ourselves and not feel so bad about the fact that we're only human; we ALL have emotions. It's ok that you feel this way. But, try to make yourself feel better by thinking about how you would give advice to someone else who is feeling the same way.  Feel free to send me a message if you ever need someone to chat with. And, cheer up, you have the GIFT of LIFE and you get to live and do whatever you want!


----------



## Jayne311

When I was trying to make myself feel better about this topic, I thought of this:

When I was really little, we lived in a house that I can barely remember, but on video and in my few memories seems precious because of the age I was that we lived there. But when we moved out, I was still young enough to not be sad and to be happy we were getting a new house. The next house we moved into turned out to emcompass the absolute best years of my life. If I woke up tomorrow in my old room at that house, it would feel absolutely normal, and just like home. So my point is that as special as my first house was, it was lucky I didn't dwell on it because my second house turned out to be an even more beautiful time of my life. 

Now that I'm older and a lot more cynical about things, it's harder to see that sort of thing. I can remember a lot of great things about the house we live in now, and in terms of growing into an adult and learning about me, it's meant the most. So even though it gets harder as more time goes by, I try to look at how special I'll see the place I'm in now when I look back in another ten years.


----------



## LALoner

This whole business of life passing you by is why I hate birthdays. I once got into a huge fight with a friend because I told her not to send me anything for my birthday and she did anyway. She sent an email with an audio clip of her singing happy birthday. It was so frustrating. No matter how hard I tried to explain it to her she just wouldn't understand. Anyway, that friendship ended up dyeing and the birthday thing was part of it.


----------



## ScorpioGirl

I feel the same way.


----------



## kleewyck

Recently a lot of people who come into my circumference are younger, early-mid twenties. Some are depressed, some anxious, others full of life. It feels that it is my responsibility to make sure they enjoy this time of their life. 

Having missed a lot of these young adult years and still missing out on a lot of life due to various issues I can only thank the people who help me enjoy the little things.


----------



## vn4life

*I thought i was the only one affected by this*

Yesterday, while at work, i had some free time, so since i was in the neighborhood of my childhood, (Which i have not seed for over 30 years), i decided to stop by an visit with the mother of my childhood friend (she is the same age as my mother), when i arrived at her home, there was a sales sign. the house has large picture glass windows and from the sidewalk i could see that the interior has been totally rennovated. there was no trace of the large family who once lived there.

I walked a few houses down the street to my old childhood home and it also had been rennovated. i looked around and felt an overwhelming sense of depression, thinking that there is no trace of the neighborhood filled with us kids playing kickball in the street and roller hockey (Nothing), was i wierd for feeling this way? why was i always depressed when i saw a neighborhood store close or my old highschool bull dozed and replaced with an IKEA

Progress is suppose to be a good thing, right? then why am I always filled with depression with the passage of time? If anyone has the answer, please tell me


----------



## ohionick

I used to really be like this, im still kinda like that, i would cry when a month would pass because i just realized another month just flew by and i didn't do anything with myself or i would get depressed after a party or family outing because i would realize that would be the last 'fun" thing i would do for a while, i still cry when looking at family pictures, seeing how much i have grown up, how much my siblings and cousins have grown up and how much my parents and grandparents and aunts and uncles have aged, maybe it's a sympton of depression or just GAD


----------



## sadworld

Sometimes i like to listen to bands i used to like for nostalgia and all that, and i listen to some of their new stuff. They look and sound different because it's been a few years obviously, and i see that they look so much older. I feel sad for them. I realize that that will happen to me eventually. I get scared at the thought. I'm gonna look and sound different in a year. I don't want to, and maybe it's just a fear of change, but there's nothing i can do about it. Ironic that the one thing that doesn't change is change.


----------



## iAmCodeMonkey

It sure does!


----------



## sad1231234

Thats just the way life is. Just go with the flow, roll with the motions of life. Life is a journey, a journey that we dont have much control over. No point trying to fight it, so just go along with it like its a ride or something. Forget all your negative emotions and bad feelings and problems, just live life.


----------



## SFC01

ohionick said:


> maybe it's a sympton of depression or just GAD


I think its a sign of depression. When I was depressed I couldnt face things that reminded me of good times gone by - i remember goig to the office one day (usually work from home) and i was walking round the site and it reminded me of a time when I worked there and so did some good friends of mine, we used have a good laugh, go out to the office parties, pub at lunchtime, a few work romances etc and then all the other good times in younger days came flooding back - I couldn't handle it and had to rush home in tears.

I am no longer depressed and those happy days are even further away but now I can smile at them, reminisce about them, and more importantly enjoy the great times now and look forward to the ones to come.


----------



## Captainmycaptain

I wonder if people who enjoyed their high school years, feel sadder when thinking about than people like me who were ghosts trying to avoid people even noticing me. I feel this incredible sadness when I think about my high school years.


----------



## shyguy07

ohionick said:


> I used to really be like this, im still kinda like that, i would cry when a month would pass because i just realized another month just flew by and i didn't do anything with myself or i would get depressed after a party or family outing because i would realize that would be the last 'fun" thing i would do for a while, i still cry when looking at family pictures, seeing how much i have grown up, how much my siblings and cousins have grown up and how much my parents and grandparents and aunts and uncles have aged, maybe it's a sympton of depression or just GAD





sadworld said:


> Sometimes i like to listen to bands i used to like for nostalgia and all that, and i listen to some of their new stuff. They look and sound different because it's been a few years obviously, and i see that they look so much older. I feel sad for them. I realize that that will happen to me eventually. I get scared at the thought. I'm gonna look and sound different in a year. I don't want to, and maybe it's just a fear of change, but there's nothing i can do about it. Ironic that the one thing that doesn't change is change.


I'm the same way, it seems like months fly by and I'm the same person and I get that too about knowing you're not doing anything fun for awhile.

And bands too, I do the same, I look at their old pictures and realized how much they changed. And also realize how long ago they were. I mean, 2009 to me doesn't seem that long ago but it's already 8 years. Before you know it the years add up, and to me 1997 in 2007 seemed a lot longer ago than 2007 seems to now.


----------



## shyguy07

vn4life said:


> Yesterday, while at work, i had some free time, so since i was in the neighborhood of my childhood, (Which i have not seed for over 30 years), i decided to stop by an visit with the mother of my childhood friend (she is the same age as my mother), when i arrived at her home, there was a sales sign. the house has large picture glass windows and from the sidewalk i could see that the interior has been totally rennovated. there was no trace of the large family who once lived there.
> 
> I walked a few houses down the street to my old childhood home and it also had been rennovated. i looked around and felt an overwhelming sense of depression, thinking that there is no trace of the neighborhood filled with us kids playing kickball in the street and roller hockey (Nothing), was i wierd for feeling this way? why was i always depressed when i saw a neighborhood store close or my old highschool bull dozed and replaced with an IKEA
> 
> Progress is suppose to be a good thing, right? then why am I always filled with depression with the passage of time? If anyone has the answer, please tell me


I remember when I was in college, I went over to my uncle's old house that I had not been to in several years. They were getting ready to sell it and my grandparents lived closer by so they were keeping watch on it. Anyway, it hadn't changed but the weird thing is how much smaller it seemed. It was a very small house, but as a kid it didn't seem nearly as small as it did now that I was grown. It was the same place but it felt so different.

There have been a lot of changes in my area over the last year with stores closing, getting replaced, and places getting torn down, and it is so weird to see all of those memories going away all at once.


----------



## sgervase

*This has been on my mind*

I turned 22 back in September, and time passing has been on my mind a lot lately. When I search around online, it's crazy to see how many people were going through the same thing at my age years ago. Many of you are 30+ now, and I wonder how things have turned out for you, and if you feel better about all of this then you did when you were younger. I realize it's not likely I'll get a reply since this was so long ago, but I wanted to share.


----------



## Paul

The passage of time bothered me a lot more in my teens and 20s (back when this thread started) than it does now. I think that's because when you're really young each year comes with expectations, things you're supposed to get done. Graduation, job, etc. In the middle of your life, there's no need to watch the clock -- I'm probably going to meander through another 40 years in unknown ways and then croak, so there's no hurry about anything.


----------



## Blue Dino

This feeling is normal for many people as you get older, especially if you don't feel fulfilled and accomplished with life. 

I am always bewildered how some people are able to pin down and exhume some very very old threads.


----------

