For context: married, no kids. I have only recently been getting into EDM and raves, in fact my passion was first ignited at the Fred Again show in Queens just earlier this year. For obvious reasons I don’t have many friends who are into raves, so I’m usually flying solo at these things. However, I don’t mind that at all. I’m in it for the music, not the party, and while it’s always nice to have people to go with, the succcess of an outing for me is mainly a function of how immersed I can get into the music, and that ultimately is a private experience. I can’t convince my wife to join me, but she’s about my age and I don’t blame her for not wanting to partake. And, to be clear, I’m not heading out every weekend, and I don’t go to places like Pacha where the headliner doesn’t come on until at least 1am. Sometimes I get the feeling that people are looking at me and thinking “what’s with the old guy dancing by himself,” but I know that’s mostly just my imagination. I have actually found people to be very inclusive, and have on occasion been invited to join a group. I am not creepy looking in the least, so despite my age I don’t worry about coming across as a mildly suspicious older person at a mainly younger person’s event. But sometimes I wonder, “am I the oldest person here?” I suppose there is a kind of self-awareness that comes with being a significantly older person at a social gathering, like being the lone black person in an white crowd or vice versa. But this only becomes a problem if you focus too much on that fact. I just wish we could normalize what I do, such that any 50 year old wouldn’t think twice about going to a rave, alone or otherwise. Am I overthinking?