“They Look Ten Years Older”: 30 Things About Aging That Folks In Their 20s Never Think About

Can be a VERY difficult lesson to learn "when to walk away" when we're also conflictingly told to hang in there, don't quit and persevere.

Potentially saves a lot of anguish later.

🎶 know when to run

Yep. Prioritize yourself.

I've hired and let go so many employees in my professional life. Burnout is real. It's better to walk away than be upset and making other also come down. I've told them that, of you find yourself regularly pulling up to work and sigh before you go in, it may be time to speak up or move on. I always recommend speaking up first unless you really just hate what you do. Employers take advantage of good employees.

Unfortunately, when I was pregnant, all the calcium was leached out of my teeth and at 49 I ended up getting dentures. It isn't always about care it is sometimes about circumstances

My friend is dealing with this now. She grew up in another country. Her family didn’t go to dentist, push brushing and floss. She started going to dentist and flossing regularly in her 20s. By the time she it was kind of too late. Shes had to have several root canals. She had some bad gingivitis that caused bad bone recession had exposed roots that was beyond what bone grafts could fixe. She goes to the dentist 3 times a year and has deep cleaning regularly. She has impeccable dental habits now. Flossing twice a day and brushing after every meal. But even still, now in her mid 40’s, her teeth are still problematic. She just needed a 3rd implant to replace one that fell out. (She surprised the dentist by keeping 15 years longer than he estimated.) Implants are no substitute for the real thing. They are insanely expensive and harder to clean. You have to floss under them, not just between them.

Teeth bottle opener is way more expensive than one in gold.

Oh, yes. Lost some teeth because of stupidity.

Using a WaterPik is so much easier than flossing and helped give me a gold star check up last month. Highly recommend one for those who hate flossing or have a permanent retainer or teeth too close together.

Once I started just doing these things when I thought of them instead of procrastinating I increased my downtime hugely. It's not downtime if something is niggling at you constantly. Sometimes you can give it a 20 min. lick and a promise, that's fine.

Tell that to my ADHD 😭

Efficiently...funny. Most of the people I know, myself included, have to drag themselves to the cleaning.

Cleaning a mucky floor in bare feet? Nice...

This! And it must be a hobby that you don't monatize in any way. Because making it into another job can rob you of your joy for it and it might not help relax anymore. And you don't have to become an expert at it. Sing badly, write poorly, draw sketchy, it doesn't matter as long as it brings you joy.

Basically, have a life outside of work.

On the other hand, my wife picked up painting at 55, and she is really good at it. Gives her peace of mind. Meaning - whenever in life you need to pick up a hobby, or an interest, go for it. It is never too late.

If you can afford savings...and I'm not talking about avocado toast and Starbucks but eating rice for a week.

Don't want to brag; it's just that I'm happy. My son started investing four years ago when he was in Law School. Now, he was able to sell part of his shares to pay off the entirety of his student loans! We're so happy he can start life without this cloud of debt hanging over his head. Yes, save and/or invest, look into financial planning: it can make all the difference!

It is either savings, mortgage, kid, or car. Pick one.

One of the good things, which I didn't have when I was in my 20s-30s, is the ability to transfer a 401k. Did that a few times once pensions were no longer a thing. If you initially, upon hire, set up even a 5% 401, you will never miss it.

Although what you're supposed to look like for your age shifts with society's expectations, I guess. I remember what people my age used to look like thirty years ago; sunscreen is only part of it. To keep up nowadays you'd need at least retinoids at night, vitamin c during the day, and a moisturizer. And yes, sunscreen.

Say hello to your little friend skin cancer.

Not to mention the skin cancers later.

If you don't protect your skin from the sun, looking older will be the least of your problems

I work in Dermatology. This is the best advice! The real damage is done in youth.

Problem is that finding high quality products are getting much harder than before.

Shoes and bed. If you're not in one you'll be in the other.

Taking notes

I had no choice but to take out a government loan for uni because my parents couldn't pay for it either. It took me 20+ years to finally pay it all back. Now I'm debt free and saving like crazy to put my own boys through uni.

I was morbidly obese for large parts of my 20s. I was lucky I didn't develop serious health issues then. I got on the right track 5 years ago, lost half of my weight with sports and a healthy diet. And now, with 37, I feel better than in my 20s.

It's really much easier in your 20s, and you will have decades more of an easier life. And it CAN be super difficult, I know. I've been there. Try. Just for yourself. Because you are so freakin' worth the effort! ♥

To this day, I thank an older colleague who told me about that fact when I was 26. Thanks to her, I stopped tweezing the shît out of my eyebrows!

For women after menopause, I can vouch that I never tweezed my eyebrows and they're still disappearing. Just a natural part of aging.

My mother already said that to me, she hadn't much of her eyebrows left due to plucking snd she always drew them on. I have the same modest and light-coloured eyebrows. I did pluck them for a while when I was younger, now I leave them alone.

We used to shave them off back in my day (1980s) then draw them back on with an eyebrow pencil. I'm now 56 and have had sparse, patchy eyebrows for some time.

I knew a guy who had a massive back injury and successfully rehabilitated by literally taking six months off. I've also known people who've hurt their back permanently. Protect your back. Don't just lift with your legs. Lift with friends.

I cannot stress this enough. I popped a disc 20 years ago, was able to manage it with a combination of exercise, resting and pain killers until this year, when it shifted. 4 and a half weeks in hospital, ending in a spinal operation, and still recuperating 4 months on. Take care of your back!

Note, it may not be uncomfortable to you TODAY to not lift properly. It may not be uncomfortable to you for some time, but one day it will be and a little lightbulb will go off.

And strengthen your core!

This is so very true.