[Redway]

I say general terms because obviously we all have our unique backgrounds and experiences that are more personal to us - e.g., as a person of colour who knows what racial bias feels like, much more-so than a white person, however old; a person with an invisible condition like misophonia who has to self-advocate just to get anything close to a loosely-corresponding diagnosis and some sort of treatment; a 17-year-old orphan-girl who’s experienced more grief than some people will in a lifetime. Anything. Anything that you’re naturally going to be far more experienced in than the average person (whether it’s by route of self-advocacy or just direct experience, just ones that are more personal/possibly niche). But at what point do you consider someone generally experienced in general life terms (working, paying bills/a mortgage, raising kids, etc., etc.) that do tend to increase in amount with age, no matter how intellectually seasoned you are from jump/perceiving the timeless intuitive undercurrents of life from a young age?

I say all I say in low-key waffle up there to account for intellectual nuance and draw the line between personal, unique experience (e.g., racial bias, cultural/ethnic background, niche medical conditions) and broader, archetypal life-experience (work, parenting, paying taxes, ageing, etc.). So, whether you’re an intuitive INFJ with the reading-capacity of people twice your age and more insight into the metaphysical undercurrents of life to boot but very little in the way of “I’m paying £80 more in taxes this year while I juggle looking after my poor 1-year-old” (who’s probably just adorable) or someone who’s coasted through life not particularly intelligent or “deep” but has walked the circle of broad experience with bills, kids and beef with HR a trillion times, this thread is calling both types of people, and everyone in-between. Both types of experience are incredibly valuable but not interchangeable.

[Glenn.]

Honestly, I don’t think there’s a set age where someone suddenly becomes “life experienced.” Some people get thrown into the deep end early—losing parents, raising siblings, working full time as teenagers—while others float through their 20s without much real pressure. But if we’re talking general life stuff like bills, rent/mortgage, juggling work, relationships, and maybe raising kids, I’d say people usually start gaining that kind of experience properly in their late 20s to mid-30s.

That’s when life tends to stop playing on easy mode (if it ever was), and responsibilities stack up. But even then, it’s not about age as much as it is what you’ve had to handle. Some 50-year-olds haven’t had to face half the sh*t a 25-year-old might’ve gone through. So yeah—age helps, but it’s not the whole story. Life experience is more about what’s hit you and how you’ve had to respond.

[Mystic Mock]

Originally Posted by Glenn.

Honestly, I don’t think there’s a set age where someone suddenly becomes “life experienced.” Some people get thrown into the deep end early—losing parents, raising siblings, working full time as teenagers—while others float through their 20s without much real pressure. But if we’re talking general life stuff like bills, rent/mortgage, juggling work, relationships, and maybe raising kids, I’d say people usually start gaining that kind of experience properly in their late 20s to mid-30s.

That’s when life tends to stop playing on easy mode (if it ever was), and responsibilities stack up. But even then, it’s not about age as much as it is what you’ve had to handle. Some 50-year-olds haven’t had to face half the sh*t a 25-year-old might’ve gone through. So yeah—age helps, but it’s not the whole story. Life experience is more about what’s hit you and how you’ve had to respond.

That's fair.

[Redway]

Originally Posted by Mystic Mock

That's fair.

It is.

I think above many other things, you’ve got to hone into your individual light that makes you unique, whatever that is, otherwise you’ll always be in someone-else’s shadow. There’ll always be someone older than you who feels like they’ve experienced more of general-life circumstances and that may be true (and she gives you the perspective of having lived through different political landscapes and generational changes, even wars, which adds a certain kind of texture that you can’t fully intuit or theorise without having lived directly in it, no-matter how smart, insightful, imaginative or intellectually seasoned you are), but every soul is at-least a little unique. And that can take you far.

[Ammi]

Originally Posted by Glenn.

Honestly, I don’t think there’s a set age where someone suddenly becomes “life experienced.” Some people get thrown into the deep end early—losing parents, raising siblings, working full time as teenagers—while others float through their 20s without much real pressure. But if we’re talking general life stuff like bills, rent/mortgage, juggling work, relationships, and maybe raising kids, I’d say people usually start gaining that kind of experience properly in their late 20s to mid-30s.

That’s when life tends to stop playing on easy mode (if it ever was), and responsibilities stack up. But even then, it’s not about age as much as it is what you’ve had to handle. Some 50-year-olds haven’t had to face half the sh*t a 25-year-old might’ve gone through. So yeah—age helps, but it’s not the whole story. Life experience is more about what’s hit you and how you’ve had to respond.

…I think that Glenn said it perfectly in that it’s less about an age and more, the life experience that’s been had in some areas of life …but then those specifics might in some way, prevent them from life experiences in other areas…for instance losing parents/raising siblings and supporting families from teenage years, as he mentioned…?…that could prevent from travelling experiences …?…because ‘life’ in its experience and what we gain from it has so many learning dimensions …


…at what age is someone truly experienced in general life terms …?…probably, on their death…/…that’s when all sides possible for their own life have been experienced…and even then, those all sides won’t be the same as others so are limited to each of us…