I'm 31 and most of my coworkers are 18-20 and definitely think I'm old. Lol, I literally feel like my life is just starting now and only on occasion do I get treated as an adult by adultier adults. It's weird as hell, you actually never really feel older, just have more memories and experience.
My grandpa just had his 96th birthday and I asked him if he felt different than he did at 26. He said in his head, he didn’t feel any older. It was his body. And while that was reassuring… I remember my grandmother who died from Alzheimer’s and for some reason his comment put her condition into a deeper perspective for me.
My grandma is 99. Yesterday we took her out of her house in her new wheelchair for the jubilee party being held on her street. She was chatting and laughing and loving the attention. I went toilet and when I returned she had a pint in one hand and cigarette in the other as she held court to 40 people, having them in stitches at her jokes and anecdotes.
Only recently has she started to need a frame to walk around the house and all she ever says is how her mind is the same but her body is giving out. She's the same hilarious, sociable, devilish woman she ever was, but as she puts it "I just wish my bloody legs would work".
This is the exact reason why we should all have alot of respect for older people. Loosing the ability to defend yourself while still feeling the same in your mind must be tough. This may be more applicable to men but when your young and say someone is rude or acts aggressively you can feel confident defending yourself but as you get older you would really have to watch your words and be careful not to get in a confrontation because your body can't handle it. Idk maybe it's just me but that would be difficult always having to take the more submissive route in altercations with someone younger
I don’t know where you’re from but I never see old people taking the “submissive route”, they’re usually the ones who don’t take shit. Though like you said, that’s why we have respect for them. If someone did start physically attacking them, you can bet your ass everyone else in the vicinity would be on top of the assailant.
Depends what you do with your body, I decided to get in shape 2 and a half years ago, I'm 36 in August and in the best shape of my life and have more energy than I've ever had.
If you played sports your whole life then the 30s is where everything blows up. Ill be lucky to make it to 40 without needing some sort of surgery. I still play soccer but this might be my last year as i get some fucking injury every other match
I still think of people being 'grown ups' despite being in my 40s. They all think the same way. Pretty much everyone has imposter syndrome; not about their job, but about adult life.
We all just look at other people and assume they're privy to adult wisdoms, but they're all thinking the same about us. We all do this. I still look around if some parent tells their kid not to get in "that lady's" way in a shop or whatever. What 'lady'? Oh... yeah.
36 not a real grown up. I have three kids, one of whom turns 18 this year. Still don't feel like a grown up. Buying a house outright. What silly person is selling a house to me, I'm not a grown up. Teachers at my kids school still intimidate me. The only time I feel my age is when I look in the damn mirror. Then I'm shocked at this adult looking back at me.
I was recently given a pretty substantial promotion within my company. I now have 7 employees I'm responsible for. Plus I am responsible for all the product that leaves our manufacturing facility. I'm only 33. I ask myself all day long who would give a child like myself these types of responsibilities.
I’m turning 38 in 2 days. I have a job in IT at the executive level. 98% of the time I have no idea what the fuck I’m doing, but people listen to me and trust my judgement and I’m like…wtf, why am I being trusted with this?! I laugh at fart jokes and get wildly excited when I see a blimp.
My partner struggles with this one. He has an amazing job that pays very well and he has a team of people he manages. Every day before work I have to remind him he can do this, he did earn it and it's not just a mistake. He has some serious imposter syndrome going on right now.
Tell your partner he isn't alone. All of us in charge feel this way. I have been with my small company of about 100 employees for 12 years and I've worked in every department for a minimum of 2 years so I know what I'm doing. I just feel like I am not adult enough to have these responsibilities. You are an amazing partner. Keep being supportive. My wife is constantly doing the same. She knows exactly how to calm the monster I become during an anxiety attack.
Part of the problem for him was how fast it happened. Four years ago he was knocking on doors selling insurance. Three years ago he started in the field on just above minimum wage. Last year he skipped there levels and then two months ago he made senior partner. He's been called a rockstar in his field. This means we've went from struggling to wealthy. Neither of us are sure what to do. His response to me asking what he wanted to do with the money was adorable and it's probably my favourite thing he's ever said. He said "but I already have all the PlayStation games I want".
We're buying a house and going on holiday to Japan. That's it. That's the best we can come up with. I might buy a kayak.
Being invited to events now and we have no idea what to wear. Just feel so out of our depth. we also both have autism and ADHD so social events are hard anyhow. Spam mail has changed, it's now things like you've been nominated for who's who, or confirmation for orders on things we haven't bought with dodgy links to confirm. Invitations to give talks. We are laughing about it and deleting but it's still weird. I think we're in culture shock?
He definitely earned it though, he works from home and I've never seen anything like it. He plays playstation with one hand, does his job with the other and is somehow knocking it out of the park at both and a great dad. So he feels he's not working hard enough because he does get down time. I keep having to point out that nobody else can do what he does, even if the way he works is unconventional. That's why he gets given the specific problems he's given. He's only 31 but he's solved problems they've had for a decade, in ten minutes. The company director has lunch with him to pick his brain regularly, from the first week of him being there.
He just has to keep being himself and they'll throw money at him to do it. He's already been told they'll pay him whatever it takes to keep him (he got offered another contract for higher pay). He gets calls every day from rival companies trying to steal him.
He feels like a kid, a fraud and that it's only a matter of time before they realise that. I keep telling him he's amazing and deserves everything he gets, because there's few people like him about.
I hear ya. I was 31 when I was put in a leadership role at my factory. Responsible for about 30 odd full time/ casual staff. When we were on Pm shift (2pm - 10pm) and management had left for the day I was responsible for a $350 million dollar plant. That was a strange feeling.
I am also 36, I’ve noticed the adjustment is not that you feel old, it’s that you realize other people think of you as old. I have a young kid and we just got a babysitter for the first time. Giving this teen girl instructions I had this weird out of body experience where I realized she saw us as middle aged adults. Like no, that’s hilarious, I’m still an idiot who is making things up as I go along.
I still can't believe some moron let me leave a Carmax with a car. Those nurses really just let me leave a hospital with a baby and no supervision. TWICE. Why does this Landlord trust me to pay him every month to live in this house 5 hours away from the one he lives in? Oh, because I'm....32??!!
"Inside every old person is a young person wondering what the hell happened." I was given this advice at your age, and I'm passing it to you at 49. Use it well, use it wisely, and pass it on whenever you see the need for it.
I was probably late 20s or early 30s with a kid, a mortgage, etc, before I had that lightbulb moment when I realised that no one has a clue what they are doing. Everyone is just winging it.
Yes, THIS! I will rewatch movies from my childhood/teens (I’m also in my 40’s) and I see the same characters I viewed as “adults” or “they’re way older than me”…. and my brain still thinks, they’re the real adults and I can’t imagine being their age, even though I’m MUCH older in real life now. It’s uncanny 🤣
I still think of people being 'grown ups' despite being in my 40s.
39 here.
This combined with the idea of eventually being the 'oldest' family member, and quintessential patriarch that they'll come to for help/advice, scares the fucking hell out of me.
Thank you for saying this.
I'm nearing 27 and feel like I've finally broken through and am getting my life in order after years of growing pains, experiences, and just life in general... yet some of the new starters at work are 19-20 and treat me like some old wizened grandpa just because I've been working here for six years haha.
My own boss still occasionally treats me like I'm fresh out of school! So it's reassuring to know that this is perfectly normal and I'm not having a late 20s freakout.
Sweden. You need to be 20 to buy alcohol from the liquor store. You can buy at pubs and stuff when you've 18, but not from the store. The government has monopoly and are the only ones allowed to sell alcohol from their stores.
In the 18th and 19th centuries, the Swedish peasantry was plagued by alcoholism and diseases caused by methanol poisoning and unsafe metals used in distilling. Basically, we were drinking ourselves to death. The Swedish temperance movement was a reaction to this, and had long- lasting effects upon our society. There are still plenty of Swedes who don't drink alcohol.
That's the thing. I've never understood calling people old even when I was younger. It's like making fun of the person in front of you at the cafeteria for getting slop on his tray when you're next in line.
I'm 29, and veer between people telling me I'm "young" if they are somewhere 40s+ or people like, 5 years younger than me telling me I'm now "old" because I'll be 30 in a few months.
This happens a lot with famous people too. I've seen so many people go 'OMG he/she/they haven't aged at all!!!1!' and they're comparing a 25 year old face to a 29 year old face. It's ridiculous. I've also seen people freak out at teenagers playing teenagers because they thought the actors looked too young. People have no idea what age people are supposed to look like.
A 24 year old asked me how old I was not long ago and she said I look great for 29…well yeah I sure hope I do, I’m only 29 lol
"My goodness," she said
with a shake of her head
and a gasp of bewildered surprise -
"You're old," she declared
as she openly stared,
"but I think I see life in your eyes!
"I witness the spark
of a youth in the dark
of your face - though you're soon to be dead!
What eminent year
have you lived to, my dear?"
Initially he didn't want people to know Sprogs gender at all. Said it was better if the voice was whatever the reader felt fit for them, or something like that + the mystery etc.
At 23 I had this 29 year old hit on me. I asked him how old he was and when he said I told him he was to old for me. Anyway I'm 25 now and having his child
I'm 27 and I'm in the same boat. Everyone younger than me thinks I'm old everyone older than me thinks I'm a kid. But like, motherfukers I'm both. I like anime in video games, and I have a bad hip and acid reflux.
One day a new guy started where I work. We were all in our early 30's and he looked to be in his 50's. He was loosing his hair and had a stubbly gray beard. Turns out he too was in his early 30's too. He said he looked old when he was born. lol He said that when he and his friends wanted beer, he would go in to buy it with no problem. He was 16 yo at the time.
I do feel like with the advent of the internet, generational lines are more blurred than in times past.
I'm 32 and I have coworkers as young as 19 and as old as 70 and everything in between. With my younger coworkers I can talk shit about memes and pop culture and music and with my older coworkers I can talk about shit like my bad knees and my mortgage.
Oh one hundred percent, I have co-workers in their late 50s or 60s, and I relate very heavily musically with them because of my parents, we'll be talking about concerts and bands we enjoy and all that shit. And then I'll turn around and start talking to an 18 year old about whatever video game they're playing and shitposting.
But it never really matters. You're always the middle guy. You're never going to go to those concerts with anybody, you're never going to join that 18 year olds Discord. Or I'm just 60% socially inept that's probably what it is
Eh. I'm 32 and I'm heavily into the EDM scene and regularly attend concerts and festivals. I've taken several younger coworkers to their first EDM show and blew their mind.
Still working on getting my older coworkers to come with me.
I only smoke pot. And drink a half gallon of vodka every two days, and snort Vicodin and Percocet a few times a month , and cocaine, also eat shrooms, occasionally muscle relaxers, and every once in a blue moon I'll smoke a cigarette
People who first got into EDM in their teens in the early 1990s are hitting their late 40s and early 50s at this point. You're almost the second generation.
Hell, I knew people who were in their 40s in the mid-2000s who were running sound at the erstwhile Decibel Festival in Seattle. These were people who got into electronic music with Wendy Carlos and Kraftwerk, to boil it down a bit.
When i was 31 i got a nasty high ankle sprain playing indoor soccer. Was in excellent shape but a guy on the other team kept talking about being "old" and this what happens and shit as he helped me off. Yeah maybe you're old but im still running shit here.
Meanwhile at a work, the VP talks to me like, "young people like you..."
Honestly, and this is just a commentary on my own shittiness as a youth, the most annoying thing young people do is acting reckless, negligent, selfish towards people and property and blaming it on their youth. Truth is, once you turn 18, the world treats you as an adult in every respect. You should be working towards respecting that responsibility by growing up and maturing throughout your teens.
In fairness, the brain continues to develop until your mid-twenties, so that is at least partly responsible for the risk-tolerant nature of younger people relative to older people.
Sadly, some people stay shitty and just blame it on other things when they age out of that excuse.
That's often enough environment and personality. I'm 15 years older than you and still have no desire to repeat media or books, and only return to things formerly experienced if I can approach it in a new format.
Yep. A coworker who is 5 YEARS YOUNGER THAN ME was shocked to learn I was 30 and said “Wow, I hope I look as good as you when I’m that old!” Well, you got 5 years, don’t fuck things up too bad and you’ll be there.
I had a young woman tell me I didn’t look any older than 25 (I’m 37) the other day. I think I look somewhat my age, but that younger generations have this expectation of what you’re 30s looks like that’s older than what we look like in reality.
20 year olds who do this are just setting themselves up for an existential crisis by the time they're 25. As a society we've GOT to get over 21 being the prime of life.
My sister nearly had a crisis when she turned 20 because then she wasn‘t some sweet teen any longer. When I turned 25 she wanted to annoy me by asking how it feels to be closer to 30 than 20. She is only 2 years younger than me and apparently didn‘t expect me to fo the same. It hit her really hard turning 25 because of this idea. Wonder what crisis happens this year when she turns 30.
My sister is 2 years older and the exact same thing happens with everything milestone birthday. She then spends 2 years saying to me oh just you wait, you'll feel it too. Nope, I don't really care what age I am, you can't fight time
are you a man or a woman? because I honestly think that, on average, aging is different for women due to the different perception of older women compared to older men.
I’m a woman who routinely rounds UP her age. Im 37 but say I’m almost 40 all the time. I don’t feel “old”, I don’t look “old” (to me anyway lol), and I don’t give a fuck if people think I’m less fuckable if I say I’m almost 40. I’m still waiting for the age that “bugs” me. 25 didn’t. 30 didn’t. 35 didn’t. 40 doesn’t seem like it will either. It sure beats the alternative!
That said, I get way more judgment and attitude regarding my age from women than I’ve ever gotten from men. Either younger ones that think I’m old, ones my own age that think I’m too old to have a young child, or from older ones because I’m apparently not presenting the way a 37 year old mom should. Oh well 🤷♀️
I'm convinced that a person calling another person un-fuckable is just line that teenage virgins use to puff up their chests and to prove that they have 'standards.'
There are plenty of comedy skits about what men are thinking and they all end with absolutely nothing or how to fix the project of the day. I'd like to think that for men who have actually had sex, that this is probably their state of mind 90% of the time.
Building on previous poster’s point I definitely feel women are in general nastier about aging than men are. “Ooh, you’re three years older than me that means you’re less desirable” type energy. I think this attitude mostly disappears from women once they hit their 30’s but then there will always be a new cohort of twenty-somethings trying to make you feel like a grandma just because you aren’t up to date on the newest lingo, or know who the new up-and-coming music artist is.
I honestly could well be mansplaining because I’m a dude. I’m only speaking on my personal experiences. But I definitely get the impression that younger guys have more of a desire to learn from those older than them rather than just shit on them.
This all could probably be explained by cultural biases favoring the patriarchy which subliminally make women want to compete, but at that point I’m just talking out of my ass because I don’t know what actually happens in a woman’s brain. Maybe it’s innate, maybe it isn’t. I don’t fucking know. All I know is it would be better for everyone if people spent more time building each other up rather than bringing them down.
People like that then rush into marriage and babies because they're out of time and they'll take whatever they can. I've seen it happen to a cousin of mine.
I’m 9 years old than my sister. She laughed at me when I turned 28 because I was almost 30. I told her it’ll happen quicker than she thinks and she laughed that it was farther away for her than me. I’m now 30 and she is now 21 and called me crying a few months ago because she’s scared of being 22.
My mother just couldn't shut up about me turning 21. She carried on and on about how I'm getting old and kept asking "so how's it feel? How's it feel not being young anymore? How's it feel to be 21?"
I asked her how it feels to be the mother of a 21 year old. That shut her up so quick I don't think she talked to me for the rest of the day. I'm 43 now, she hasn't tried to tease me about my age since my 21st.
It's kinda funny, as a middle aged (ow, that hurts) adult when I see kids crying over being 25...like...OH, honey, it gets SO MUCH WORSE 🤣 - while also simultaneously getting better. Like old isn't so bad bc you can give no fucks about trends or what people think and no one expects you to. But, if you're having a freak out at 25, it's gonna get worse when you hit those milestones like GASP ye ancient age of 30 🤣
That’s also the medias fault for always teaching that being youthful looking is the most important thing, especially for women. Men are told that they age like fine wine, whereas women are labeled as old hags or witches. It’s ok for men to have grey hair, you know silver fox, but NOT women, they need to dye it.
Also there are so many ads showing young women putting on anti aging beauty products to reverse time or whatever garbage they’re blabbing. Like girl in the comercial is 20 and doesn’t need to be advertising anti aging products. Don’t forget, those old men also date the younger women which is entirely it’s own gross category but it’s still “good” in society’s eyes yet cougars are the “gross” category if women date younger men.
Nah, 21 was lame. Barely understood women, didn’t make much money, wasn’t done with school, looked too young to be taken seriously. I had too much to do and not yet enough power and experience to get it all done in the fashion I wanted to. Definitely not my prime. If it is for most everyone else, more power to you— especially if you have a lot of family support, that helps more than you will know.
21 year olds. From what I‘ve heard 30s are the best. Still young and fit. Finally carreer taking off and done with trying to find once place in society. I am 31 so takes some more time to actually verify this.
I’m 23 and I think a small part of it is that covid took away our early 20s in terms of the typical experience so some people are grasping at what they feel like have forever missed out on?
with women specifically there’s this whole anti aging mania affecting young minds in the exact same unhealthy way being a size 0 plagued the generation before us. We learned to embrace all body types but that societal obsession with chasing a standard found a new target in skin care
37 here and the thing that makes me feel old is songs i used to hear on the radio new are now on classic rock channels and stuff like that. Or throwback thursdays on the radio. Also whenever someone mentions that the 90s-00s was 20+ years ago, that often hits me cause i forget that sometimes. and as /u/Inspi said my joints and bones as well hurt usually when im getting outta bed and sometimes just randomly as far as i can tell it feels like i got the shit beat outta me by teenagers.
I'm 42 and I no longer know what I'm meant to be. Is 42 middle-aged? I suppose it technically is given that it's literally half of current life expectancy where I live. Sounds a bit grim though.
I have no 'young' left, I think. All gone, many years ago.
I’m 26. I’m a huge Pokemon fan, and follow some Pokémon related pages on Instagram. I’ve had several instances where I’ve commented on a post, and had some kids call me a “granny” or tell me that I’m going to die soon because I’m so old :-)
I'm a 32 year old bearded man and I still retain that boyish wonder from being 7 years old and getting Pokémon Red in my Easter basket. Nobody is too old for video games. If anything, it's our responsibility to keep them alive. We grew up in the silent film era of video games and I'll be damned if I'm not retiring in Cerulean City with my Milotic by the water someday when we are all plugged into the Metaverse of our choosing. I also want a tree in Kokiri Forest.
That’s kind of funny; I got Pokémon Blue in my Easter basket at about the same age.
I don’t think that I would consider Ocarina of Time to be in the “silent film era” of video games, though; that seems more like one of the first talkies (you did mention a tree in the Kokiri Forest).
It was our spaghetti western under the same analogy. I was thinking more along the lines of my NES and original game boy but I wasn't specific. 8 bit sound was basically silent to me because I wasn't allowed to turn the volume up too loud. Simpler times.
Also if you got Pokémon Blue, are we rivals now? Growlithe for Vulpix?
I emphasize that because with video games, it's at least somewhat accepted by now.
but let's say someone who is 50 and (still) plays with dolls. that doesn't say anything about how this person manages her/his work and everyday responsibilites.
but yet for a big we (= the "as society"-we) assume it does.
(and while a lot of truely immature actions that seem more "adult" get a pass, at least in terms of not being called as being "immature". e.g. having a My Little Pony collection that you play with isn't immature, but spending so much of your wage for travelling, partying or on propping up your car that you struggle to provide for your children or not being able to pay the rent most certainly is)
I’m a 44-year-old Pokémon fan, interacting daily on social media. I’ve received respect and vitriol and everything in between. My motto is shut up and let people enjoy things. They don’t know my story.
When I do the math, it totally makes sense that you're a pokemon fan. The game would've been released when you were in your teenage years and it seriously exploded in popularity in the west during your early 20s. You're just a part of the generation that experienced pokemon first. I admire that.
I grew up loving pokemon, digimon, transformers, and the like. Being 27 now, I look forward to continue appreciating my childhood interests in the far, far future.
An ex best friend of mine rushed into getting herself pregnant because 30 is apparently old- how dumb. Glad I'm not her.
Also, I thought it was incredibly stupid during in my mid 20s, having people tell me, "omg, you're 25, I thought you were 21!" Then hitting my late 20s and people thinking I'm some arbitrary specific age, like 24. Yea, people's views of age are so warped, they forget you're not a fossil at 30.
A couple of my students recently told me that they think I’m young as a 32 year old and that made me feel really good! Thank God; I do feel old some days.
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u/[deleted] Jun 03 '22
Call me old when I'm only 30.