What do you miss from your youth?

Now, when you ask somebody "What do you do?", they almost always answer with what their job is. It used to be when you asked that, people would say something other than just how they earned their money. People seemed less inclined to be defined merely by their jobs; you'd hear what they were into.
I miss that.

 

Being the age that thinking I had all the time in the world was real.

 

Ah man!!

 

I agree. I feel bad for kids, teens, adults in their 20s or 30s as they take everything and themselves way too seriously.

I experimented with drugs as a teen and university student. The drug scene today is crazy a high school classmate’s younger brother died from pot that had fentanyl on it. I do not know if it was put there on purpose or if the dealer had somehow accidentally contaminated it. He lived in a state where pot is decriminalized or legal. I think he went to a dealer to save money and since he could get it 24 hours whenever he wanted it, and not when a store was open.

Teens and people in their 20s and 30s do not dance in clubs as they worry about people filming them and putting it online. They are also this way in K-12 schools and college/university classes. They don’t talk or ask questions as they worry about being beyond embarrassed, or filmed.

 

I just use the phone for texting and email, and sometimes work, and the laptop for everything else. I do take breaks and turn the phone off and keep it off.

 

Yes everything is super high tech. I bought a new car and the large screen is a distraction and I just use it to listen to the radio, control the heat or air conditioning, or to use the alerts or cameras when driving. Sometimes I turn it off. I don’t use it with my phone as that is just a major distraction while driving.

 

Same. I don’t really like to talk about work. I guess it is from being very German, Dutch, and Scandinavian? Work and home/family life are seen as separate and you are not supposed to brag or think you are better than anyone else.

I also miss how before people did not make everything into a contest, as they tend to do now and have for the last decade or so. I know there was always this underlying pressure to do well, excel, be the best, etc. only now with social media especially people with kids tend to do a lot of bragging and there’s lots of conformity.

 

The feeling that I had years of life in front of me. And lots of time to do things. I remember in the 60's thinking that the year 20001 (as in space odyssey) was really way, way in the future. Now it' holy moly. It's already 2026 and a lot fewer years in front of me.

 

After crawling out from under my desk at school around 1961, I figured we'd all be dead by the year 2000. Surprise!!!

I don't miss a whole lot from my NYC days.

I do miss living in Laguna Beach and hanging out with the poets at the Fahrenheit bookstore there.

But then again, I miss NZ, Bali, India, Amsterdam, Greek Islands, and especially Maui!

 

Obviously miss family members who have left the Physical Plane. There's always questions you sure wished asked them or more time you spent with them. I miss pets that have passed to.
I've just noticed it recently how my body is doing less and less. So I miss the energy of my youth.
I miss opportunities I never took at the time.
And I miss the camaraderie of those days where life was an adventure. And I miss the communities which have been lost and a way of life which was safer and less technical.

This is a great question on the forum. As even our own personal history should be one we look back on and learn from. And I guess the motto is make the most and appreciate what we cherish today, because tomorrow it may not be there any more.