I have to say - with no disrespect for anyone who started these threads or participated on them - cause surely I have on some…but I noticed that the current active threads are dealing with…well, AGE or AGING!!! Retirement. Colonoscopies. Health issues. MORE retirement.
I get it. Parents of college kids and beyond aren’t getting younger. Or are you???
I had a great conversation with someone in the neighborhood tonight who I know from seeing around, but don’t really “know”. Long story short, she made me feel GREAT. Young! She was complimenting my exercise habits and describing women “like me” as strong, determined, SEXY (seriously, she said this!!!) I promise it was complementary and not weird. 
Anyway, got me to thinking. What do we do as individuals to make ourselves feel young?
Running and other exercise aside, I’d say these interests or activities make me feel young(er) than my age, 58.
- Music. Spotify and playlists made off of Spotify of current music.
- Dancing to that music when I’m home!
- Social media and being up on trends.
- The way I dress. Stamp of approval from my two 20-something girls! Appropriate but fun clothes in my closet.
That’s a start. How about you? I hope that everyone has at least one thing that comes to mind. Life is too short - stay young!
Social media and clothes- ditto.
For me, being interested in sports (mainly college basketball) and having friends of all ages who share that interest.
My job- I have to be mentally agile and be able to relate to people of all ages. I have to have energy, which means I have to forget that i’m getting a lot older!
Running.
Going to the opera! Good god there are a lot of old opera goers. Surely I’m not as old as they are…right???
Skiing.
Staying in funky cheap hotels while traveling in off-the-beaten-path places and exchanging money-saving travel tips with 20-somethings.
Feeling nervous about a new job I just started: it’s a totally different field, requiring totally different skills, and resulting in feeling like I’m 20 and know nothing!!!
^^^Excellent examples and really thought provoking! I like the “cheap funky hotels”! Not everyone is going to try that!
Also, sports - great example- even if you can’t or don’t participate, yes, having a favorite team that you actively support (more than just sitting in front of the tv watching them for hours on end) by going to games and being social around it.
Getting carded! I had a hat on in the grocery store after being out in our canoe. I was buying wine. The cashier carded me! I told him that I was probably old enough to be his grandmother, but that he made my day. We both had a good laugh. Felt good though.
Good topic.
The first thing that came to mind is wearing a rock band t-shirt when out and about. Add some Old Navy skinny jeans, stacked bracelets and silver hoop earrings. Converse or Doc Martins or Tevas. T-shirt = Red Hot Chili Peppers or Foo Fighters.
Part of me thinks I look foolish. Another part of me is just soooo happy. Another part recognizes that I just don’t care what others think.
^^^ @Midwest67, I’d go with “soooo happy”!!! You sound cool!
Trying to figure out with my kid what classes he will be taking for the fall and spring semesters as a college freshman, and figuring out all the different permutations and backup plans. This exercise certainly takes me back 35+ years. (I though myself never had to deal with classes more than 10 minutes apart from one another, nor did I ever have to deal with so many lectures, labs and discussions that were all on different days and times and locations. Nor did I ever think that a class with 1000 people max could fill up in a couple of hours and labs that would fill up in the blink of an eye if you weren’t quick enough with your mouse).
Zumba, baby! Dance, dance, dance.
DH and I dance more than most young people at every party we go to. Still hiking, though I have no interest in backpacking any more. Wearing t-shirts from metal band concerts (and still listening to them at the gym). Climbing ladders at work.
Also Spotify and hiking.
I share a family spotify account with my kids. I put together a non-explicit playlist of Drake songs (which is pretty short since most of his songs are explicit) and my kids shared it with their friends.
We go on national park vacations and do a lot of day hikes.
@abasket
I didn’t mention the ever present reading glasses hanging off the tip of my nose!
But that’s the part of my outfit that does NOT make me feel younger!
Yoga, Zumba, barre classes.
Wearing shorts and and my college tank top. Wearing sundresses.
Hiking.
Selfies with cute filters.
Doing fortnite dances.
Wearing Funky earrings or my go to JLo hoops.
Painting my nails a trendy color.
Getting my next belt in aikido
Definitely music. We don’t listen to a lot of mainstream radio stuff but try to stay current on new singer songwriter stuff. We brought our kids up listening to a lot of music and taking them to concerts and music festivals. Now, we learn more from them about new acts and musicians. We still go to concerts and music festivals a lot. It makes me feel a little younger being up on new stuff. So many people I know my age are stuck in a musical time warp.
Ditto on food trends. We like to try new foods, new trends a lot of which are funky, cheaper places.
I also spend a lot of time in local political circles which keeps me interacting with people younger than me, sometimes much younger. Hearing their opinions and witnessing their energy is refreshing.
Traveling makes me feel younger, too, because it takes me out of the day to day routine and familiarity.
I hope I never get too set in my ways. It’s nice to appreciate the old but keep exploring what is new as well.
After years of wondering (and coloring my grey roots to my former brown,) a few months ago I had a lot of blonde put in. Love it. Best is hanging with grad school bff. Decades of friendship but we’re the same two gals as back then. Our kids are amused. I also work, in part, with grad students. Most don’t treat me as older than their parents, which is pretty neat. It’s a context where there’s no time to share interests, but their potential is inspiring.
Now the problem is my doc is retiring and my option is a brand spanking new guy, who’ll be fresh out of residency. I wonder how I’ll feel about that, lol.,
Running.
Keeping my weight down.
Going to the gym.
Getting my hair cut.
Traveling.
Hiking. At the Cape of Good Hope, I was pleasantly surprised that I could hike up the equivalent of 50 flights of stairs without dying. And I managed to keep up pretty well with two young adults. The rest of the older folks stayed at the bottom!
Exercise is probably the #1 thing in keeping that youthful look and feel, including staving off or delaying the weakness that erodes quality of life as discussed in the “living to 100” thread. It can also reduce risk for many medical problems commonly associated with old age, resulting in fewer visits to the doctor and hence fewer reminders of being old.
Also, club or team (participatory) sports are good for social contact with others.
Traveling
Exploring new places, even in town
Learning new things
Not giving up things I did in my thirties. I felt old when I gave up things I did as a young adult and older teen and I will feel very old when I give up things I did in my thirties, forties and fifties.