Fresh Feeling: i feel like a child am 22 yrs

rahulindia

Member
well i just want to share an feeling that i just went through. i just talked to one of my old friends from the college days. after talkin to her i just felt that i am such a child in comparison to most of my peers. they talk about relationships, girlfriends, marrige and i feel so awakward while dicussing these things i feel these are still alien to me and i just cant imagine myself to be in a relationship. i donno what to say but is it a sign of APD. i just cant relate to my peers. i also go through a very peculiar situation whenever i talk to people that i am still a small child and i dont feel like i am an adult. i always feel the need and support of some person while talkin to some elder person. i just cant sustain the conversation and always feel that i wont be able to talk like mature person. i always feel that the person i am talking to will be bored of what i talk about and will turn away. this is why i just dont talk to people. because of this reason also i feel that i cant speak out my mind and argue wid people.
it is very difficult to even form a friendship. i do go out wid some people but its very obligatory and i try to behave in a funny way and try to talk things which are supposed to be talked in an informal situation.
i do all this but its all so much forced and i just would prefer to be all alone.
i will tell u all exactly what i felt in the following situation...

A few days back i chatted on the internet wid one of my old female friend from college. i had not contacted her for almost a year.
we chatted a lot and she gave me her no and i decided to call her up.
i told her i will call her the day after in the evening but i didnt call due to fear of whether i will be able to talk appropriately or not.
then she send me a message online to remind me i had promised to call.
so reading that i just impulsively called her up.
the call lasted for 30 mins in which she talked for most of the time and i just listened to her.

My feelings
Before the call
1. i put a little thought and imagined how the call would go and how would we talk.

2. i imagined that my friend wud be really happy and wud express that. i thought there wud be a lot of humor involved.

my thoughts after the call.

1. highly dissatisfied wid the conversation.

2. i got a feeling that i am just one of her too many friends and talking to me was just a formality.

3. she mentioned about some of the other common friends and told how they were living on thier on and some of them getting engaged and all.

4. at that time i felt really inadequate and inferior to them especially her mentioning about her experiences when she independently handled a situation and she behaved like (in my thinking) an adult.

5. i thought i have never handled a situation where i have actually talked thru a situation like an adult and i just cud not convince other people.
the main reason for this is that i always feel i am at the recieving end of an situation and i just cant.

my common feelings

6. i have lived alone but in all these years i have never put myself in an situation where i never had to talk or negotiate or justify myself. i never talk in the college classes. never try and question proffessors even thought i want to ask them.

7. i dont try to make friends wid people because i feel that i wud not meet up to their level of maturity or intelligence and they wud reject me as an small child and wud not respond to me.

8. i dont know what to do of all these problems i really feel bad.

10. i dont contact people my friends relatives because of this reason that i will sound stupid or immature. i really feel that i wud not be able to talk to them in a manner which is expected of me.

11. i do connect wid someone by garnering some courage after the conversation i feel the person was really bored of what i said and was not at interested in what i said and behaved in an uninterested manner.
because of this i never call up that person again and after i long time when the circumstances i such that i have to call that person i dont call that person because he/she wud be angry for not contacting him/her all this time.

friends i am really sorry if i am boring u all wid my thoughts but this is the only place where i can let out my feelings.

pls help me wid myself ...........
 

moodygoo

Well-known member
I can definately relate to the feeling of being small and childish compared to people my same age that are so much more experienced and... mature.. well not necessarily mature... more adjusted to adult life?? I dunno. But as you can tell from this place you're really not alone if that helps.. it does me anyway.

It sounds like you've got a knack for analysing what you're feeling and why and its good to get it out but do you think the girl you spoke to really judged you that much? Chances are she really enjoyed getting to talk and be listened to uninterrupted, she wasn't expecting you to be really funny.

Don't be too hard on yourself, I doubt you're unintelligent or incapable in other areas of you're life where other people maybe are. I'm sure friends won't be mad if you don't get in touch for a while then do. It does work both ways.
 

scorpion

Well-known member
APD works that way you know, You are always analizing every response from others in all possible angles in order to find out if you are being rejected, what you need to interiorize is that it works that way, it is not because you are stupid or a child or retarded or something bad.
I really believe that the first step to have a few victories against APD is to know it the best way you can so you dont fall in her traps.
 

Sirius

New member
I experience these same feelings of seeming childish to your peers. It is extremely frustrating and I feel completely isolated. I feel like my daily thoughts and probably even priorities are just different from all my peers and I can't seem to fathom what their daily perceptions are. They seem so foreign to me and I'm honestly at a point where I wish someone would just knock me on the head and I would become a drone perfectly capable of social functioning. My brain is always on overdrive, the switch is never off. I feel very tense all the time and it seems like my heart is beating really fast and just wants to rip out of my chest. I sometimes think that I will eventually die of a heart attack because there is so much strain on it. Im 20 right now, and I feel like this gap of perception(i guess you would call it) is growing larger day by day. I can't imagine what life will be like in 10 years. Over the years I've become pretty cynical and pessamistic; I never used to be like that. I need therapy haha.
 

hartbrokenvirgo

Well-known member
i feel the same way .i think im immature and should think dffrently for someone my age,right now im working on my social behavior and im trying not too over analyze everything .i am learning just because someone make there face straight after talking to me does not mean they dont like me, i really over analyze
 

rahulindia

Member
ya virgo even i am tryin to understand some of this but u know its kinda tough because everytime we try to learn something we have to struggle wid our ingrained system that its really stressful but i guess we have to just keep workin maybe some day we will get better. tryin to over analyse has just become our way of life and we need to change our entire system of functioning in everyday life
 

hartbrokenvirgo

Well-known member
its so hard not to over anaylze every little thing, i hate that fact that i think everyone dislikes me so i stay away and avoid them, i know i hsve let so many potential friendships and relationships pass me by in my life :cry:
 

Jonesey

Member
I have the same problem with overanalyzing past social situations. I know it's not healthy, so whenever I realize I'm doing it, I just try and force my mind into thinking about something in my life that I enjoy. This is really hard, because sometimes it just feels like my head is a pinball machine (I know its a dumb analogy) and the same self-analytical thoughts just keep repeating themselves over and over.
 

Carstuar

Well-known member
I also feel immature and ashamed around other people. I just want to run away and hide because they're all so successful and confident, while I can't even get a job or finish my education.
If I have an appointment with "the outside world" I'll have problems sleeping for days in advance, and probably end up not showing up, because I'm so ashamed.
 

hartbrokenvirgo

Well-known member
Dont be ashamed castar.you cant compare yourself to others do what you feel you need to do for yourself.if you feel you want a better education go for it.you want a job go for it.but dont compare yourself to others in your age group.everyone should live at their own pace
 

lenb

Member
Join the club. I'm 23 and haven't had friends since I was 14. So basically I'm still 14.

It's basically impossible not to be a recluse... forever, or die.
 

Gone

Well-known member
lenb said:
Join the club. I'm 23 and haven't had friends since I was 14. So basically I'm still 14.

It's basically impossible not to be a recluse... forever, or die.

If its a comfort Lenb, most 23 year olds i know haven't aged one day since 14, infact i believe that most people with APD are more mature then others their own age, spending way too much self-reflecting and all that....
Unless being mature is about sosial skills and life experience, in that case im screwed haha.
 

lenb

Member
I do in some ways feel a lot more mature than 20-24 year olds I see on television documentaries or whatever (I'm pretty much homebound). But I don't want to be this mature - it's abnormal.
 

Carstuar

Well-known member
hartbrokenvirgo said:
Dont be ashamed castar.you cant compare yourself to others do what you feel you need to do for yourself.if you feel you want a better education go for it.you want a job go for it.but dont compare yourself to others in your age group.everyone should live at their own pace

If it was that simple, these forums would be dead.
 

Raveno

Member
I hear you too well, I just feel like I have alot of lame/immature thoughts. I think to myself, I gotta break this bad habit of being lame/immature! But its so hard. I also feel like I'm set back in maturity..I don't like being around other people, at all..but I want be 'normal' and be around people. So having a job is hard, especially when you are around lots of people all the time.
 

bleach

Banned
Carstuar said:
hartbrokenvirgo said:
Dont be ashamed castar.you cant compare yourself to others do what you feel you need to do for yourself.if you feel you want a better education go for it.you want a job go for it.but dont compare yourself to others in your age group.everyone should live at their own pace

If it was that simple, these forums would be dead.

Not necessarily. Just because the answer is simple doesn't mean that it is easy to do.
 
My first post, here we go. I also relate to feeling immature compared to my former peers that I bump into along the way. Being caught in this mold of fear and anxiety stops you from experiencing lifes...experiences which just does wonders for your feelings of inadequacey
 

VioletTears

Well-known member
I do and always have felt conflicted about this. I have never felt my age and perhaps I never will...

Part of me feels younger than I am... I just want to retreat from the realities of life and be cared for like a child... My responsibilities overwhelm me... I absolutely hate having to hold a job because it's so intimidating to me.

At the same time, part of me feels older, like I have experienced depths of emotions that most haven't and in some ways it gives me insights into things that others lack.
 

Lexmark

Well-known member
Maby you are forming your identity from you past Instead of living in the now. Just an idea
Im a bit imature 2 but I like being this way.
 

IBM

Well-known member
lenb said:
Join the club. I'm 23 and haven't had friends since I was 14. So basically I'm still 14.

It's basically impossible not to be a recluse... forever, or die.

I thoguht i was the only one. I have the exact same feeling. Its like my mind stopped at 14 years old thogh i've 28.
 
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