Getting Older

[eaglest]

It has finally struck me.

My work went out to lunch yesterday, and during that time a lot of them were talking about normal people adulting stuff that I sort of tune out, but politely nod to here and there (catch me in a conversation about Sci-Fi, Germany, art, trains, and I am totally into it). One of my coworkers said something along the lines of

"I'm 38....I don't know if I want to do that now." 

I remember thinking to myself, gosh, when I turn that age, I hope I'm not a total adult! I'm not ready yet! Then I froze. 

I am 37 years old.

Thirty-fucking-seven.

When she said 38, it felt like a decade from now.

Once I hit 30, I've never felt my actual age and have always had the pleasure of working with Millennials and Baby Boomers (working Baby Boomers are nice people, btw. They tend to relive their younger years). Why I never worked with vast sums of Generation X, aside from my military days when we were all in our early 20s, I don't know. It's like as soon as they hit 25, they all disappeared. 

My current job is full of Generation X (they are wonderful people; they just love normal adulting stuff), so now my age and the fact that I'm getting older is in my face. I can't even relate to current fashion anymore. I'm sorry, but spandex and bland croptops are ugly. 

I don't know the point of this post, to be honest. I guess it's finally hit me that I am 37, not 25. 

Fellow Generation Xers, how do you feel?

Comments

[mr_picard]

34-year-old here. I feel either like 80 or 20, but never like 34. I have extreme nostalgia (I cling to my Game Boy, my SNES, my teenage days, 90s music, etc) and at the same time I'm like "kids these days, get off my lawn". I don't even know. I think of my school days and am like "ah, that was like 5 years ago" and then reality hits me and tells me it was more like TWENTY years ago.

I can absolutely relate to not being able to relate to others my age, though. They all have kids and families of their own and do adult stuff and here I am with my part time job in IT and my Playstation 4 and my love for a fictional character. It's like they all grew up at some point while I did not.

[eaglest]

YES. THIS.
I think of my school days like they were 5 years ago too. And to me, the 1950s are still 30 years ago, not 60. The 80s were 10 years ago, not 30!

I like my coworkers. They are all wonderful people, but I feel like I'm 20 compared to them! I will never grow out of video games, action figures, legos, and fannish things. When they bring their toddlers into the office, I am suddenly working hard in my office with the door closed (lol)!

I feel like Generation X is leaps and bounds ahead of me, but I have no desire to have kids (I'd be a terrible mother, for one thing).

Now this is a coincidence! I work part time in IT too! (I have no desire to work full time so long as I can afford it). I am so thankful for my job.

[mr_picard]

Exactly. The 80s were ten years ago! It's like as if I'm stuck in time somewhere, frozen, while everyone else moves on and becomes more and more adult.

I don't even LIKE kids. I'd close my office door as well if someone brought in a toddler, that's for sure. I also have no desire to work full time. I want to have some time left to actually enjoy life, so, if I can afford working part time, I do just that.

[eaglest]

Same. I see people I grew up with on FB getting divorces and shit. GROSS

I feel like I have nothing in common with people my age unless they happen to like a show or something else I'm into, which is rare because GenX is so preoccupied with KIDS, BORING STUFF, and I don't even know because this is how bad I can't relate! ha ha!

And even the fashion I cannot relate to anymore. It's all spandex and croptops for women, and in the winter it's spandex and long sleeve crop tops with a scarf. Yeah, no. Ugly. I feel like I'm stuck in the early 2000s in that regard!

My worst fear is that someone will bring their toddler to my office for me to meet it, and it goes to my shelf of model cars and touches them. I have zero chill with people touching my shit as it is.