Fuck I’m in my mid 50’s and it’ll be at least another decade before I feel like an adult.
I was 33 when i realized we never grow up, but a lot of us like to pretend.
It’s funny and a little sad. I have a few friends that waddle around now and go “I’ve got reshponsibility. I don’t have time to be fussing about with ‘fun’”
Meanwhile I’m sitting here holding down a good job, getting my bills paid, and saving money while having fun, confused.
I’m still scared shitless that I’m too immature for life and I’m not ready (and I’ll never be good enough for my crush) I’m almost 32 :(
I remember going through this and realizing that the “adults” in charge, were in fact just like me and still not knowing what was going on.
Yeah, I started teaching 19 year olds when I was in my early thirties, and holy shit. Nothing makes you feel older (in a good way and a bad way)
First: they were culturally distinct from me, which I hadn’t noticed before with Gen Z, but being in a group of them made it noticeable. Second: they don’t know how to drink, but lord do they try- my students pregamed a night at a beer bar with vodka and red wine. Third: I learned a lot in my 20s.
What about tracking the people that were born the year you graduated highschool? That’s a classic way to feel old.
I think I was mid-30s and referred to myself as a “young man” and my spouse went “not anymore” that I finally realized “oh yea, I guess I’m an actual adult now”
Hint: never
You’re an adult when you realize that no one above you actually has the answers. They’re just as clueless as you are, they’re just clueless on a larger scale. Once you get to the point where you find the person who actually knows the answer, it’s always “I’m the problem and I’m not going to fix it.”