What age is not young anymore?

[waveafterwaveafterwave]

I am 28 and don't feel I qualify as 'young' anymore. Not just because of the grey hairs sprouting from my scalp, but the fact I've now been an adult for 10 years. I would look too old in a nightclub, a lot of the shops I used to buy from a few years ago are now too young for me, and I barely understand what 'the kids' are talking about these days.

I spoke to a friend about this and they said I'm being ridiculous, that I am still young but I don't feel it at all. When did you stop feeling young, or consider yourself not to be young anymore?

And also nightsweats when a bad dream wasn't involved...

Not carded = around 37.
Nightsweats = 12 years later.

I think as long as you have one living parent, someone in the world thinks you are young. And, if you have a child, there will always be someone who thinks you are ancient.

I'm 37 and would class 28 as young, I still feel young at times but then hear people of my age talking about going clubbing and I cringe at the thought of doing that myself, I remember being 18 and seeing people my age now in clubs and thinking why were the oldies out 🤣 I think how we feel about certain situations will determine if we are indeed old or young at heart

I'm 36. I never felt old until my husband left me for a 25year old. Now I feel ancient

Fuck off I'm nearly 46 and apart from my knees I'm like 21. But wiser.

I'm 41 and in the last year every teacher, nurse, doctor and police officer has disappeared only to be replaced by mere children. The moment I realised that had happened was the first time I felt old

When you move into the young grandparents zone, so around early to mid 40s.

I stopped feeling young at 31 when someone I taught A-level to in my first year of teaching became a teacher herself . I'm 34 and the weight of responsibility for my children, my job, my aging parents, and the fact that I don't like any modern music makes me feel firmly old! I don't think I look old though....

I felt I wasn't young anymore when I turned 30. At 40 I feel ancient sometimes!

30

I just turned 30, but I had my first child at 18 so I feel pretty old now. The turning point for me was about 28. That's when the reality of my own mortality really hit. In my head I still feel about 16, but the outer shell doesn't match and I wish it still looked like the 16 year old version 😂

Im 50 and still young at heart lol.

I felt young til was 45.

30? Young to me means no responsibilities, still making stupid mistakes because you haven't enough experience to learn from them yet, still choosing adventure over security, still full of dreams you haven't yet compromised on or given up.
Then 30-45 is the real measure of becoming a grown up - the usual career/marriage/kids/home-making/achieving some of the major things you wanted to do in life.
Then 45-60 is the slow decline, not noticable at first but a few pounds gained, a bit less energy, an acceptance that you might not get around to all of the things you meant to do in life. I'm in this bit and hate it. I wish I had the energy and self belief I had when I was young/young adult. Wish I had the body too.

I think age is more a state of mind than years on the planet. I'm in my 50's and still do all the things I did in my 20 and 30's...my back and hips might grumble a bit the morning after a gig but it doesn't stop me. I have a friend a good 10 years younger than me who has stopped doing things she enjoyed because as she puts it "it's not what someone of my age should be doing now" and she's thinking of moving to a ground floor flat or bungalow as she doesn't want to be coping with stairs when she's 50.

35

I'm 40 (4kids) and at 38 my back and knees went (I get injections now), around the same time hair started going greyer and I started putting on weight so much easier, the following year I started seeing fine lines etc and found a lot of foods were starting to make my stomach sensitive. Said it in a group setting to friends and all agreed that they were starting to feel middle aged and having to work harder at excercise etc. I was a bit disturbed recently to see the girl on the Olay Regenerist ad looks mid 30s(I'm about to turn 40 and was considering starting to use this ) Saying that I've started exercising more and eating better and feeling better but yes, I'm having conversations now I'd never ever have had at 35!!!!!

my recently deceased grandma still considered herself a bit of hottie at 94 and I hope I will be doing the same!

I don't think that clubbing and knowing and liking modern music are necessarily the signs of being young. I was never one for night clubs even at 20 and didn't enjoy all the pop music that my peers listened. I still was young though!

Gosh OP do not feel old at being a mere 28!

I'm 47 nearly. I had a break up at 26 and remember feeling like I was too old to meet somebody!

At 30 I joked about being past it.

Now, looking back I realise how young I was. Just like if I read this in 10 years I will wish I were 46 again.

It's all relative, but, as I'm old enough to be your mother, you are so young. Enjoy it.

I'm 31 and don't see myself as young. I think teens to late 20s in young, 30s is weird, sort of inbetween being young and middle aged, a grey area

When you’re out of your 30s

That's an interesting point a PP made about a hallmark of getting older is choosing adventure over security, when I was in my 20s all I wanted was to jet off to some far flung destination, make mistakes and sleep around. Now I'm in my 30s all I want is to settle down in a nice house, do some gardening and go to France a couple of times a year

I've not felt young for years, I think around 27 I started to find shopping for clothes really difficult, couldn't find a middle ground between fashion for teens and early twenties and grannies. I felt it was a funny age.
I had a bit of a crisis at 30 and didn't want to celebrate my birthday, I didn't want to be 30.
I'm 33 now and definitely feeling old, like pp said, I feel too old to have another baby at my age. My body feels knackered as it is.
I'm a mature student and it doesn't make me feel young,walking through uni makes me feel incredibly old.