How old are you?
My s/o and I were born on the same year, and we exchanged fun birthday cards last year that congratulated us on being all of 6! LOL! This year I guess, I will be all of 7.
It could appear that the median age is 24 because the giant gang of us who are over a certain age aren't having our ages factored in. Sometimes I think I should just put my age right in my profile and be done with it, but - honestly - the number is so bad
I don't want everyone 35 and under thinking I'm ancient. 
(and they will )- \Brenda Scullyposted 15 years ago
0So we have a 51 year old wise lady over here.
i'm finally 21
Even when I am eighty I will never be ashamed of admitting my age. Not that others have to share, but I never understood why people are so reticent to share their true age. I remember talking to several Japanese foreign exchange students and they told me it was perfectly acceptable to ask a person's age upon the first meeting, whereas some people in other cultures would probably would balk at that. Oh well, I will always be happy to say my real age
.I'm not at all ashamed of telling my age, and other people I know who aren't really in a hurry to state their own "actual number" aren't ashamed either. What you discover when you get to "a certain age", though, is that you can be, say, out working with people and relating to them without any "weirdness". You may not look your age. People can tell you're 20, but your exact age isn't always easy for people to know. What can happen is if you say your exact age, some people will suddenly get "their brain stuck on that" and start to see only your "number" when they're relating to you. The number can kind of drive home to someone younger, "Wow - she's only a year younger than my grandmother!" (I don't happen to be any working person's grandmother's age, by the way.
) They can start to see you differently than they did. It's not that they didn't know you were quite a bit older than they before, but that number really helps it gel. Then too, if you look a lot younger than you really are that becomes a "shock" and people who were comfortable thinking they were relating to a 35 year old can get to feel "more weird" if they know you're, say, 48. (I was once working with someone 20 years younger than I. She thought I was ten years younger than I am, and even THEN all I heard about was, "...and you're a whole lot older than I am!" 
If I had told her exactly how MUCH older than she I really was there would have been no "relating" at all. Not that HubPages is "the work world" for me; but in the work world ageism is alive and well. As a result, a lot of us "middle-years" folks make the strategic decision not to use any exact number.
I'm 33, but I look younger than that. People think I'm much younger.
But I get hit on by young girls.
I'm old enough to know better but still too young to resist.
I read that on a beer kooly.Rochelle,
Mine is available to friends and family.
I have a friend who was my mother's friend when my mother was alive. She was about 15 years younger than my mother, and she's about 15 years older than I am. I've known this lady since around 1966 (used to babysit for her when I was a kid). To this day she will not say her "number". I never understand why she was "weird about it". Now I do. I'm still young at heart
.The advantage you have is that we have all been 18 once, so we know what it's like to be 18. For people who are (eh hem) "36" (for several years in a row), those who are younger cannot know what it's like to be that age. The older we get, the fewer other people there are who know what it's like to be us.
Fortunately, The Baby Boom Generation is a big one and sticks together.
In April this year, I had a landmark birthday. I celebrated my twenty-first birthday for the twentieth time!
Is that all? I just got back from visiting my grand dad - he has 21 years on you.
He was rather heavy pushing him up the hill from the river in his cast iron wheelchair though.......
SweetiePie, I don't mean to second-guess what you say and to seem like someone who thinks I'm a "wise, old, sage" "just because I'm older". I do think, though, that 20 years from now you may feel differently.
I spent the first 40-X years of my life pretty much broadcasting my age. I looked young, and I lived with people always seeming to forget how old I really was. It's a problem for a lot of people, because we don't get the gray hair and fine lines anywhere near as early as the cosmetics industry would have us believe. I mean, it was as if I had never outgrown the need to "assert my independence" once I got out of my teens. It was ridiculous.
Things changed when I was in my forties and looking for work. In some work settings, or for some people, it isn't too bad; but for people looking for work or projects in many work settings, one of the biggest obstacles can be being over 40 (and it only gets worse as people get yet that much older). There are human resources agencies "spreading the word" about why "older workers" aren't always the best candidate. I have a over-50 professional friend who had to interview with 30-year-olds he'd be working with; and, of course, they all thought he "wasn't a good fit" because they didn't really relate to him. It isn't until you "get here" that you start to see all the small ways in which telling your exact age only "confirms" for others what they had only suspected (or hadn't even considered) until then. (I'm inspired to write a Hub about this, by the way. ) We can be very much the same people we've always been, and we can think very much the same when it comes to the big things. Getting older, though, does show us a lot about human nature, a lot of the smaller things in life, and some circumstances. Those are the kinds of things on which we very often think differently once we've had a few experiences/hard knocks. Now I know how I can't assume I'll be thinking the same when I'm 80, because I've experienced some of those shifts in thinking that occur as we get older. - deeli82posted 15 years ago0
Lisa,
Actually I know I will feel the same way in twenty years because I have been surrounded by people that feel this way all my life. I am the type of person when people tell me I will feel a certain way in x about of years that I usually do not. Call me stubborn, but when I make up my mind I just know.
My mom even tells people her age, and so do other people that I have interacted with. My grandma was also pretty open about sharing her age with people, so I guess in the circles I have been in this is the norm. I know it is not the norm for everyone, but some people just divergent.
When it comes to relating to people at work or other environments I can to some extent, but being an introvert means I will never be in the loop. I see some people that are in their fifties get along with people that in their twenties because they actually have more in common, whereas I tend to hold back a little bit more.
Even though I can talk up a storm when needed in social situations, I have learned along the way I am just not worried of other people's perception of me. Being severely teased early on in life helped me to quickly get over what other people thought of me. I am not saying that their perception of me might not hurt from time to time, but I am going to continue to be who I am anyway irregardless of what they think.
I am glad you feel the way you do, so that is great.SweetiePie, it's not for me to think I know how you'll be thinking in 20 years.
I only know how I thought 20 years ago.
I know the teasing must be "ancient history" for you now, but I still find it awful to hear about children who have been through severe teasing. I know you don't need me to back up what you said about your learning to toughen up to what others think; but you're right - you did gain something (including some wisdom) from that rotten experience.Teasing is the most horrible thing children can go through, and I do not think parents are overreacting when they put their kids in private school because of it. Thanks for sharing the concern about this because it concerns me when people make light about teasing. I can tell you are a very concerned and good mom
.
- Crazdwriterposted 15 years ago0
I just turned 26 on July 26th
Related Discussions
- 42
FORUM THREADS IN ALL CAPS ARE ANNOYING!
I don't get why it is necessary. Doesn't mean they will get any more attention.
- 51
I have a fan that's being too friendly
I've never had this happen, someone contact me on my email through hubpages and asking me for more pics, and an inappropriate advance towards me.Is this the price of fandom?Ughhh!!!!!!!!!!!
- 7
Why do some hubbers get loads of attention from fellow hubbers?
Why do some hubbers get loads of attention from fellow hubbers?
- 31
Generalize about Drunks
-Make a generalized statement about drunks. What do all drunks have in common?
- 7142
Banned Because?
Awake in the wrong hours of the 24 hour clock, I was on a forum I drop by now and then. They run a really funny forum game whereby you dream up a very silly reason to ban the person above you.As we sometimes see bans and folks don't get the why - let's make our own up. But - no nastiness, it really...
- 43
Share your most embarassing moment - BE BRAVE!
You go first!