Hello good people of the Internet, sorry that Friday Stories is running a little late this week due to a birthday. Mine! So, to commemorate the once-a-year event, this week we ask what triggers your sense of your age. Does the smell of rain bring back memories of playing in the afternoon rain as a child? Or when the feeling that you could go on forever mid-marathon inject you with a sense of youthfulness? Or that the weight of familial responsibilities reminds you of your station in the life cycle? And, what makes you lose track of all these age-triggers?

The Stories

I feel young when the sun shines, the air sparkles, and the grass is perfectly emerald.  That is when I can empty my mind and look at everything as though I was encountering it for the first time.

I feel old when I hear very young and sweetly naive people talking.  Their innocence and lack of experience make me feel silly and old.

I forget my age when I am with the people I love the best.  Then I am just myself, accreted age and all.

It’s not quite an external stimulus for me. On days where my mind can jump off ideas toward new ideas, I feel young. And alive. The agility of the mind doesn’t seem like something I have direct control over, but has tremendous impact on the way I feel day to day. It’s strange that it is sort of an internal stimulus, but not one that I can activate on demand. Obviously, then, it is on days where my mind drags through any material (the absolute inability to find interest within anything) that I feel old and stiff. On those days I worry about getting old and losing my groove.

The Experiment

Each week on Friday, I will post a random question on Design, Thunk. Tell us your personal story: what happened? what led to it? how did you feel? what struck you most about the incident? Your story can be as short as 2 paragraphs, or a long page. It’s your call. And, there isn’t an ideal answer. We just want to understand your world.