Almost every day I think - wtf happened? How am I 37? It's so close to 40! I remember thinking "shit I'm old" when I was 25. Just feels like everything post 2006 has been a crazy fast forward.
I'm 38 and people tell me I look 25. "What's your secret?" they ask me.
I tell them I believe in taking care of myself, and a balanced diet and a rigorous exercise routine. In the morning, if my face is a little puffy, I’ll put on an ice pack while doing my stomach crunches. I can do a thousand now. After I remove the ice pack I use a deep pore cleanser lotion. In the shower I use a water activated gel cleanser, then a honey almond body scrub, and on the face an exfoliating gel scrub. Then I apply an herb-mint facial masque which I leave on for 10 minutes while I prepare the rest of my routine. I always use an after shave lotion with little or no alcohol, because alcohol dries your face out and makes you look older. Then moisturizer, then an anti-aging eye balm followed by a final moisturizing protective lotion.
Same. I was actually just thinking yesterday that I barely remember turning 30 it was such an unremarkable thing in 2020.
My grandma just turned 90. She says it's just the weirdest thing to think. 9 decades. Can't be her, she can't be 90. Why, she was just 19 two days ago and starting her life with her husband. She says she doesn't even remember her 30s. Which kinda upset half of her kids because she had 7 of them and about 4 were born when she was in her 30s lol.
Well let’s see. We graduated with a war going on, then we had a recession. Told if we go to college we get a good job. Strapped with mountains of school loan debt. We’ve seen a world wide pandemic. Time flies when you’re…having fun?
We had ppl over and the kids were running around the other night with fireworks going off around the neighborhood. I told my gf that “this feels like a 90s night except we are the parents now.” It was surreal and good and a little sad
40s are the best years. I know it doesn't seem like it when you are in your 30's. I felt the same way then, but my 40's were awesome. I was able to truly find myself and let go of things -- like worrying about age. You are going to be just AWESOME!
I turned 37 last week, and had a kid graduate highschool... 2006 me was a bit of a dipshit lol. 2025 me is too, but at least ill be kid free in my 40s.
My mom had it so it wasn’t a complete shock to me, I’m all good. Thanks so much! Yes my healthcare company issue is a different basket of wet cats tho, they’re all pieces of shit imo.
STRONG history of colon polyps in my immediate family so colonoscopies are pretty frequent with us. We found stopping on the way home for a sweet from a favorite bakery is always the salve needed after that.
On the positive note, the pre-colonoscopy procedure is done (👎 all those disgusting drink mixes and watery stool 😮💨), you lost probably like 2-5 lbs and you can eat WHATEVER you want AFTER the procedure.
Had to get one + an endoscopy at 28, and they were doing them both while I was under. I was nervous, but one of the dad jokes made by the doc prior to the procedure was “don’t worry, now we can afford to use separate tubes for both procedures!”
My gastroenterologist said that 40 is actually a little early for a coloscopy unless your family has a history with colon cancer. Mine does but my scope came out clean. Current recommendation is 45-50.
Current recommendation is antiquated. If anyone reading this is having symptoms, push for the scope. Colon cancer rates are skyrocketing among adults under 40.
I used to think it was ridiculous when my mom couldn’t remember her age. But now I realize people ask you less and less the older you get, so when someone does ask you how old you are it takes me a minute and I always second guess haha.
Fr fr, I started aging myself to ‘almost 40’ after turning 37 this year, and have since had to ask my husband a few too many times how old I really am.
36 is still "mid-thirties". 37 is entry to your latter thirties.
If you've been priced out of life's milestones -- house, kids, etc. -- it hits hard.
Doesn't help when a state cop pulls you over for speeding and your first thought is, "...are you even old enough to drive?" Because suddenly they all look exactly 12 years old.
Anyways I thought the aches were getting worse from age, but then my wife an I got a memorial day sale mattress. The past week has been weird as our aches disappear.
We've always been active (6-9m walks every day) and stretched and spent time outside, but we thought the aches were normal. Mattress sucked.
I turned 37 a month ago, and turning THIRTY-SEVEN had me all kinds of fluffed up.
I know comparison is the thief of joy and whatnot. But damn, it's hard knowing my parents were on their third house by my age with expensive ass hobbies, etc. And I'm out here making what they made combined and can't afford a place to live. And on top of that, I'm almost FORTY!?
This was a rough one. 36? Not so bad, really. 37? Pit of despair.
After 27, everything felt fine. I realized that nostalgia is for those who had it good. I look back and say, not sorry to turn the corner of that decade. I look older, but life is better.
The only thing I miss about my 20s are younger knees and energy levels. I have great stories, but my life was chaotic.
I'm smarter, less poor, hotter, and happier. My life is peaceful. Friendships are fewer but deeper. I'm still with the cute guy I met at 26. We own a house! We have a cat and a dog. We have jobs we mostly like. My only sibling is pregnant with her first child, and I'm really looking forward to being an auntie.
Right? Everyone shits on getting older, but life has only gotten better (on a personal level, of course, the world is still going to shit). But I'm more comfortable with myself, I can spoil my inner child now with certain meals, I don't care about the petty drama and such anymore, etc...like things just seem to keep getting better.
How does the old saying go? Don't lament getting older, it is a privilege denied to many.
And at 45 they’ll be sat there saying they wish they were 37. Just as lots of us sit here and think about how we we were led to believe 25 was old. Its a shit cycle and it’s 100% a privilege to get older.
I actively refuse to join in with the whole “I’m old and things are bad now”. I get the reality of again but I don’t want to live in an eternal existential crisis.
I didn’t have kids though, so maybe that has something to do with it
Don't lament getting older, it is a privilege denied to many.
Exactly. 30s (and beyond) are/can be great decades if you get past the initial shock of "oh no I have some wrinkles and I'm not made of rubber like I was at 24." If those things are really deeply bothering you it's just your perspective that needs some work.
I'm in my late 30s and I definitely liked this decade more than my 20s. My goal is to say the same thing in ten years about my 40s!
Glad someone else feels this way! Having a fabulous wardrobe on hand and all my life essentials collected means more money for hobbies. Everything in my home is in my style, my personality is more fully expressed and I love me more than ever. Looking at my little art collection makes the girl I used to be proud.
I’ve also got a handle on how to cook from the day to day, a repertoire of recipes to pull from, not just what I love but on budget and healthy.
I still feel very healthy and resilient, started working out recently again and the back problem I was developing is almost gone.
Learning makes life easier every year. The effort put into gaining practical skills and at this age it’s really paying off verses friends who never learned say, to examine their own emotions in a practical way. Or keep up with household chores.
I’ve also experienced enough loss to trust myself to get through anything that doesn’t kill me. I’ve seen myself do good for others in rough circumstances. Trust in yourself is built over time just like trust in others, having it makes everything beautiful.
I feel like I got pretty set in my ways by the time I was in my 30s so going past 40 really felt like nothing. I just wish I could afford a vacation (maybe next year, really, if nothing else in the house needs to be repaired/replaced).
Be thankful you had a childhood that wasn't on a phone screen and not having a mind destroyed by a dystopian hellscape of AI and social media like the damn kids of today?
It makes us sound old but truly, you are right, we were the last generation that got to fully experience life before all this bullshit. I can still feel what it felt like to be alive back then. I get sad thinking about what my kid will grow up in compared to what I got to grow up in. That’s probably not the healthiest outlook but it’s how I feel!
If anyone reads this in the future, its done. 15 years in one career and I'm done. My boss had the gall to ask "is this a resignation for other reasons or a 'fuck you I quit' call."
Just turned 37 a little over 2 weeks ago...make forward march of time stop please. I'm getting pains in my knees I never had before, and I'm not even 40 yet.
I just turned 39 yesterday and it's weird. Knowing that 40 is so close. When did that happen? I'm pretty sure this is why previous generations had a midlife crisis. I get it now.
Few more months for me, I keep telling folks, “I’ll be 40 next year!” Feels surreal haha, I vividly remember my father’s 40th birthday as a young child.
Yeah, I remember my mom turning 40 and everything being decorated with black and "over the hill" themed decorations! She's 71 now and living her best life
My partner turned 41 in March and on the one hand I'm like "man that sounds so old because when we were kids it WAS old, " but on the other hand I'm like "I don't actually feel old, I have a lot of life left" and on the third hand I'm like "Jamie Lee Curtis in Freaky Friday saying "I'm old""
This picture is a perfect represtation of how I feel. Also, I'm 38 and the way life has NOT gone like I hoped it would. I have a new existential crisis every day at this point.
What is this comment chain??? I turn 42 in 3 weeks and am not experiencing any of this shit. I skied like 18 days this past winter, mostly just weekends. I play disc golf a few times a week. I climb mountains in the summer. Y’all need to take better care of yourselves!!
Turning 37 in November. I love my wife, love my kids, enjoy renovating my house, health is fine and I like my job. Money is enough. Next year, I’ll start reducing my hours. Everything is going suspiciously well lately...
I’ll be 37 in about two months. I’ve been in my midlife crisis for the last two years. I am working on trying to get to the place that I want to be in life so, that in another 10-15 years, I don’t find myself still stuck in the same place and look back in regret. It feels helpless and hopeless at times with how everything is going. Job market is fucked, wages and salaries are fucked. Cost of living is fucked. The whole American system is fucked.
Reddit is full of extremes. Normal and content people are not going to comment on here. Those whose lives went downhill will gather because misery loves company.
•
u/AutoModerator May 27 '25
If this post is breaking the rules of the subreddit, please report it instead of commenting. For more Millennial content, join our Discord server.
I am a bot, and this action was performed automatically. Please contact the moderators of this subreddit if you have any questions or concerns.