My dad is turning 36 in April, and quite a few of my friends (I’m 18, for reference) say that he doesn’t “act his age.” By that, they mean he posts a lot on Instagram (especially daily Stories where he vlogs his life, lol), he’s trendy and very open-minded, works out and takes great care of himself so he looks hot, and he’s really into nightlife and partying. He’s also very adventurous and just a fun guy in general. They don’t think it’s a bad thing at all - in fact, they think it’s cool. But it got me wondering: how is a 36-year-old supposed to act? lol
That’s bullshit people in their ~30’s tell other people in their ~30’s. I’ve always been the same and done the same things. For example, in my late 20’s, 30’s, if someone saw me skateboarding, they’d tell me to act my age. In my 40’s it was a cool curiosity, and in my 50’s it’s inspirational.
When people put others down and tell them to act their age, its a “them” problem. It’s their hangups, insecurities, and jealousy showing, not the person living their life as best they can.
Yep. I’m almost 40 and still ride shopping carts through the parking lot. I climb on stuff, I jump around, I sit on the bare floor. People look at me funny and I smile and wave. I get visibly excited for things like riding the subway (not from an area with good public transit), or figuring out how novel things I see work. It’s fun. Life -should- be fun. Being a “mature adult” is boring and I don’t want to do it just because some crusty old shit says I should.
Social norms and stigmas for inconsequential behavior are silly. Are you happy? Are you hurting anyone? If yes and no respectively, you win life!
You can’t join the army, because your body aches and hurts. It’s pretty sad, but many doors close exactly at 30 years old. I watched my doors close while I was trapped surviving, unable to do anything about it. And the army was one of the things I wanted to go through (but I found that executive disfunction would make that rather hard).