When I was in my twenties, and younger, I heard this a lot. People getting closer to 40 thinking they were suddenly going to feel old, and then when the day hits, they're all "turning 30 was a lot worse on the whole "feeling old" thing. When 30 was approaching, I thought maybe I'd feel different... somehow. I didn't. I celebrated by telling everyone on Facebook making a big deal about it to fuck off, and then set my birthdate to private so I no longer had to deal with this shit every year. As of 45ish minutes ago, I'm 40. Meh, I noticed. Mostly because I haven't renewed the plate on my car yet and Uber keeps sending me push notifications and texts to upload a new one. So yeah, I guess 30 does hit harder than 40, in the same way that a leaf falling on one's head hits harder than a feather. The last birthday I cared about was 21; seemed kind of pointless after that. I expect that when I hit 50 my response will be "What the fuck is a birthday?" Nobody say the H word and the B word, I don't care. Usually, I steadfastly refuse gifts on this day because I don't do culturally mandated gift-giving, and if people insist I say "If you absolutely have to, make a donation to Planned Parenthood." However, if anyone wants to Venmo me $81 to cover my plate renewal, I won't say no.
My car wash app just sent me a code for a free B-word Day wash... I have a membership. I pay the cost of 2.5 washes once a month, and I get unlimited washes. I talked to the owner, it really is unlimited. If I decide to spend literally the entire month, 24/7, running through the thing over and over, they won't stop me unless they have to shut it down for maintenance. I'm fine with this "gift."
Ooh. We should do a poll. I think the majority of posters here are now well into their 50s. Some younger still in their 40s. Then there’s us geezers over 60. …
I turn 45 in less than a month, I’m starting to feel my age. I’ve been really lucky with my health despite actively trying to destroy my body. Yes, turning 30 was devastating for me.
I've never really felt it. I continuously forget how old I am (42 in July. Or is it 43? Hold on, gotta do math...) I thought about it when I turned 40, then remembered my mom gave birth to me when she was 40 and now it doesn't feel so old. She's 82 or 83 and I have to coordinate when she'll be able to watch my kids for a weekend because she's usually out of town on a vacation. She went on an African safari when she was 77. My grandmother was still driving herself across the state to come visit us in her 90's. So I'm not really worried about age. Yeah, my knee hurts a lot, but my knee hasn't felt like it did in my 30's since I was in my 20's. Right now I just want to lose enough weight to go ziplining in Belize next year. That's where I'm feeling the age, actually. Ten years ago I could drop weight just by cutting my intake a bit. Now it requires more effort for less results.
I didn't care about 30 except that the next one would be 40. 40 was a bit annoying, but it's worse knowing the next one will be 50. I expect 50 will be a little bad, but knowing 60 is coming will be much worse.
Meh, you older folk have the luxury of being nearer to death. I mean, I'm trying with the drink, but if that don't work I might have ANOTHER fifty years of this shit.
44 here. The 4 year old wild child keeps me moving though, which is a good thing since my job is pretty sedentary.
As far as feeling old, in a lot of ways I feel like a kid, in other ways I feel like I've lived hundreds, if not thousands of years. I've more or less always felt this way. Although, I feel more experienced than I used to, and gain confidence as I age. Looking at a situation and thinking "I know what to do here" is something I've only begun experiencing in the past few years. Before recently, the best I could do was "I think I got this, let's see if I really do."
“Feeling old”, IMHO, isn’t about how much you’ve done or how in-shape or out-of-shape you are, it’s about realizing there are more years behind you than in front of you.
In your case, not to the people you think. Besides, no ginger is invincible. Except Karen Gillan. And you're no Karen Gillan. Sadly, because you're a lot easier.
When men hit puberty around 13-14, that's it. Mentally, they never mature past that age. It's a scientific fact.
I'll be 70 on Memorial Day. My brain still likes cartoons, pretty girls and video games. Married 45 years. Especially video games.
My mom tried to sneak onto my porch and drop off a gift. While she was in the process of sneaking, it appeared she noticed I now have security cameras and paused briefly to think about her actions. I think that makes us even. The gift was a small plastic flamingo lawn ornament, and a card with confetti in it. Not sure what the flamingo was about, but she knows I absolutely fucking hate cards with confetti in them. This feels like one of my boundaries being trampled upon. Seems minor, I know, but she knows she's on very thin ice with me.
I am the same age as Saturday Night live. Well, I will be this summer. I like to tell people what season I am in. I don't "feel old". People still think I'm in my 30's. When I turned 30, I was married and my husband didn't want to take off from his commitment for my birthday so my girlfriends took me out to a drag queen show. I got felt up by a drag queen and spanked on stage. It was great. (my marriage lasted 5 years) When I turned 40 I was single and getting my Associates in business. It was great too. I don't have anything planned for 50 yet. It feels too stressful to me to try to plan something big. All my friends are like "I'm goin to Vegas!"
I'm 43. I wish I was dead at least twice a week, I'm very insecure, and I feel awful all of the time. I have no friends and a job that doesn't challenge me intellectually (and bosses who look down on me for being too wordy/pretentious). But once you're past 40, what can you do? I feel like the best years of my life are far behind me now. It's all downhill from here, baby.
I'm surprised it took this long for someone to use that phrase. I specifically asked people not to, and this is the Red Room, I expected nothing but post after post of precisely that phrase. Shows what I know, I guess. Yes.
