How to Make Up for Lost Youth

Aging is inevitable but the way people approach it sometimes depends on how they spent their youth. Someone who feels, for example, that her youth was a time of lost opportunities and unfulfilled potential may want to make up for it in her middle or later years. You can make up for your lost youth by learning to enjoy the present.

Instructions

• 1

  Banish ageism from your internal vocabulary. People sometimes feel they are too old to do things that interest them, such as going back to school or pursuing a new career. You'll be surprised at what you can achieve if you don't let advancing years get in the way.

• 2

  Pursue your passions. Taking part in activities that inspire and motivate fill you with youthful enthusiasm and add meaning to life. The dramatist and wit Oscar Wilde once said, "One can live for years sometimes without living at all,

  and then all life comes crowding into one single hour." Every single hour spent on an activity that fills you with joy, whether it's creating a Zen flower garden or painting watercolors, helps you to live in the moment and it enriches other aspects of your life.

• 3

  Fall in love. Research by anthropologist Dr. Helen Fisher reveals that falling in love leads to changes in brain chemistry. The love-struck brain contains a high level of dopamine, resulting in increased energy, feelings of exquisite delight and less need for food and sleep. Falling in love won't make you a teenager, but it will make you forget your lost youth and you may feel like a teenager again.

• 4

  Take a gap year. American author Marc Freedman in his book, "The Big Shift: Navigating the New Stage Beyond Midlife," recommends a gap year for adults. Taking a gap year may help you to take stock and think about your future. The time out could be used for education, travel or retraining. Traveling is educational, relaxing and enjoyable and helps to make up for a lost youth doing things you didn't enjoy.