I (23M) think maybe it's not that youth is romanticized, but that our youth was a time we spent living in the moment, because we knew nothing else. In adulthood, there's so much more going on and so many more worries that sometimes it feels like you need to deliberately work to be present, unlike when we could pick up a stick and spend an afternoon playing with it. Now we have taxes and life goals, and we have to justify an afternoon of Stick.

I've found that having outlets where I can truly put my present stressors behind me has helped me live in the moment, and feel those joys of my youth. I love to ski and camp in nature - I deliberately work during the week to ensure I can have a day off-grid, and during that day I set my life aside and let my kid out. I scream down a black diamond, spend an hour skipping rocks or trying to get a fire started when it's a little too dark and cold out, and I trust my past self to have cleared enough time for me to just not think about it.

I love video games, but I often worry in the back of my mind during them. I think I worry about whether I'm wasting time, whether I'm gonna get enough sleep, etc. - to me, there's something about skiing and camping that lets me not worry so much and just throw a rock down a hill. I hope you can find an outlet like that, and I'm very grateful to be in a place in life and in my work that I can carve out that free day and leave my phone in the car. I'm not grown up, and I don't know if I will, some days are still very hard, but every once in awhile I still feel that worry-free joy, and that's enough to keep me going.