What age is officially 'old' (as in no longer young)?!?

Question

Please help my worrying mind - seriously! I am 26 in 2 months (some might still consider that young) but looking ahead, in 4 years time I will be 30! In 14 I will be 40!!

'Getting old' has never been an issue before but all of a sudden I am starting to panic. Now I appreciate that this might p*ss some people off (you probably think 'oh shut up you moaning a$$hole!') but I am starting to worry.

My youth is over for good now, I am at the *** end of my twenties.. so I am genuinely wondering how long of 'being young' I have left. 4 years? I feel like life has flown by and I haven't done as much as I should have done - so I gotta make the most of what I've 'got left'.

So... at what age do you officially stop being 'young' in societies eyes?

And please no 'your only as old as you feel' crap. Be realistic.

Thanks.

Answer 1

You're officially no longer young when you have to stop and work it out from from your date of birth whenever someone asks how old you are.

Once you really do stop counting and just don't care anymore, that's it, you're there. It's not worth worrying about. When it happens, you don't care anyway.

Answer 2

Your panic is warranted!
Turning 30 was scary for me. You can no longer have the excuse of being ignorant because you're young and if you don't have your crap together it does look bad.

Strange things happen as you age, you still feel the same, but hair changes color or falls out, you really have to work to keep in shape, you have hair that decides to sprout from odd places and you find that maybe power napping is a good habit to start. Joints become tender after small incline hikes and you become aware of other people your age that are not aging well and wonder if you're one of them.

On the lighter side......you have the young that suddenly look to you to share your infinite wisdom. You actually appreciate the little things that at one time you were in too big of a hurry to appreciate. Your parents realize that it's pointless to direct you anymore. You discover that YOU are your best friend and it's a good thing. The pressure of excelling diminishes with each year and the pressure for survival increases.

So far....it's still an interesting adventure and you realize there is so much more to come. It IS a GOOD thing!

Answer 3

When you are a teenager anyone over 30 is old. When you get past 21 and more mature it's people over 40 or 50. When you get to 40 or 50 teenagers are kids and a bloody nuisance and old is 70 or 80. I know people who are 70 and 80 and expect to live until they are 100. I remember when 50 year olds would expect to live until their 3 score years and 10 were up - 70. But now they are talking about putting the retirement age up to 70 for some people and women who used to retire at 60 and tend to live longer they want to retire at 65! I think we should all be treated like robots and allowed to retire at 16 or in the case of people who have been well looked after 21. Make the bloody robots work until they are 80 instead! You know it makes sense!

Answer 4

Why worry about what is "young in society's eyes? If you worry this much about what others think you may as well hobble over to your rocking chair right now. However, you're right, time does fly. Start making the most of it today. Make a list. Not of what you feel you "should have done", but what you WANT to do... and then get started on it.

"Society's" perceptions are often wrong. I overheard my son and a couple of his friends talking about one of their mother's birthday. When asked how old she was the kid frowned and said "I'm not sure, but she's way older than your mom." The lady in question is actually six years younger than I am. I think she looks younger than I, but I suspect it's all an illusion for the kids because I act younger than she... I ride bikes and clown around on scooters and skateboards with them so they perceive me as young.

Do what you want and enjoy and try to put less emphasis on what other people think. If you can apply that sort of attitude to your life you'll be miles ahead of a lot of forty-year-olds that I know! Good luck to you. *smile*

Answer 5

When you're 16, 24 is ancient. When you're 24 you don't want to be 30. etc.
In my late 40's a friend, who's about 6 years older than me said,'I don't want to be 57.' (An acquaintance had just died at that age.)
I said, 'Tell me that when you're 56.' She's now approaching 70 and still working as a photo model. You may think it's crap, but you really are as old as you feel. Sometimes I feel like 90, but most days I'm round about 45. Nil desperandum.

Answer 6

Nah - you are sooo definitely well past it. It's all downhill from now, and it gets worse by the year.

I can prove this - I went to university aged 30, and being in class with undergrads was definitely the oldest I've ever felt. Like being on a different planet.

Wait till you get kids, mortgage & fully sign up to the rat race and what with all the sleepless nights and worry, you will start to LOOK old as well as feel it.

Answer 7

No age. Don't divide you life phases into 'young' and 'old.' Divide them into times when you have either felt 'positive' or 'negative.' You can feel positive, fun, lively and life-affirming at ANY time in your life - it doesn't matter about your age. I will be 28 in a couple of weeks, and I don't feel 'older' or at the '**** end of my twenties' at all. I feel more hip and life-affirming now than I ever did when I was a 'youth.' I feel that I am on an UPWARD TREND and have been for some time now. That will continue.

You can feel...

...vibrant and energetic
...hip, fun and funky
...happy and healthy
...prosperous and abundant
...excited and stimulated
...sexy and attractive

at ANY time in your life (and these qualities are all deemed as 'young' in society's eyes).

I know you've asked people not to say this, but it really IS a state of mind. You only feel old because you have been lead to believe that the onset of time makes you less attractive, less happy and less healthy than when you were younger. But it's bullsh!t.

The way to change these feelings is to feed your mind with life-affirming thoughts: * I feel great * I am alive * I love life * Life loves me * These are very exciting times * I am healthy and happy. There are so many of them you can use. Keep your mind busy with thoughts of fun, happiness and the expectation of the best. It's not cheap talk, I do this all the time and it works. Do it often and your mind will pick up your new 'messages' and make them true for you. It will recycle them as new feelings and behaviours.

I know people who are in their 60s but feel much happier now than when they were in their 20s. I know a girl who is 34 but full of life (and she's very beautiful too). She's not bogged down with so-called '30-something sh!t.'

And as for achieving things, well you can be active and be accomplishing great things until your last day on the planet. Just keep yourself fit and healthy. It's your conscious choice. Keep your mind and imagination busy and your creativity and sense of fun will flow (and your libido will also be maintained). People achieve so much RIGHT THROUGH their lives, no just in the first couple of decades. Look at the life story of Thomas Jefferson for inspiration.

Nowadays we live into our 80s and 90s, so you have at least 50 years worth of 'blank canvas' to fill. Do you want to fill it with complaining and decline, or with fun and flourish?

That too is your conscious choice.

Answer 8

It's all relative.

When you're at school, the next year up is old.

When you're 18, 25-30 is old.

When you're 30, 40 is old.

And so it continues I would imagine.

There is no official definition of old, but I believe that people feel old when they stop saying "I'm ** years old", and start saying "I'm ** years young".

The closest approximation to a decent answer is probably that "society" views you as old when you reach pensionable age and retire.

Answer 9

It changes the older you get. In my 20s I thought 30 was, not old, but getting nearer middle age. In my 30s I thought 40s were quite old. I'm 45 now and do not consider myself old. I now think mid 50s and 60s to be oldish but when I reach my 50s I will think 60s and 70s as old. So there is no official 'old' as far as I'm concerned.

Answer 10

I'm 34 and don't feel any different than I did at 25.

My wife is only 25 sand she keeps me 'young'.

I have friends of all diferrent ages from mid twenties to mid forties and some of the 40 somethings are younger in their attitude to life than those in the 20's.

I couldn't give a rat's *** what anyone else thinks about my age becuase they don't matter.

Answer 11

I'm 24 next week and I'm getting the same feeling, I think maybe around 35-45 you'd not be classed as young any more. Saying that i wouldn't particularly call someone at 34 "young" or someone at "35" old. Think thats where middle age comes in!