Wednesday is my birthday and I can't help but think wow I'm old. Not really old for the current estimated life expectancy but in general. I've been trying to get my classes to understand that in the past and even in other parts of the world the life expectancy is so much shorter. Jeanne D'Arc was 17 when she got involved in the hundred years war and 19(approx) when she died. Granted she was either insane or high but life expectancy was 25 years during the Roman Empire, 33 years by the Middle Ages and only raised up to 55 years in the early 1900s. So I'm now older than most people throughout history ever had the luck to be and I'm only 30 minus a few days.
Although,I must say, it makes me wonder what I have to show for it. I suppose thats probably whiny, I mean I have a place to live and an ok job. I guess it's just this time of year, my birthday, then Thanksgiving, and then Christmas... It's all a bit depressing. Instead of enjoying any of it I just wait for it all to blow over. When you don't have people to spend holidays with it just kind of sucks.
Rant of nonsense complete.
My birthday is in December and I feel the same about the holidays: I just want it to be over.
Every single year is worth a celebration even when you are entirely alone.
I got Cancer at 45 - every year since - no complaints. It was eye opening. The idea that that year could actually have been my last? Yup.
Buy yourself a slice of cake - get a movie you want to see - whatever - but celebrate - go to a favorite location and take a fantastic photo - Birthdays commemorate another year you are here on this planet and not dead.
Birthdays are always a good thing. Trust me - I'm older.
Have a great one!
Hang in there and focus on the important stuff. Feeling old is a state of mind. I was mortified when I turned 30, thinking I was old, but I was unhappy. I'm now over 62 and happier than I've ever been, and feeling way younger than I did in my 30's. Happiness will do that to you - and the quality of life as well as our life expectancy has never been higher. If you are bothered by the holidays (as I am) just occupy yourself with other things and hopefully they'll be over soon enough. As far as age, the best is yet to come!
Take it from a 60 yr old, you're not old. I think it's normal to review your accomplishments when your birthday comes around. Just be careful to not let others or society in general define what is an accomplishment for you. It took me a long time and a brick wall (my wife's passing) falling on my head to figure this out.
Have a very happy birthday and be around people for the holidays. If friends and family aren't nearby, try volunteering.
"Just be careful to not let others or society in general define what is an accomplishment for you." ☝?????
Reality is shaped by you.. not others.
Okay, first of all, Happy Birthday. I hope you enjoy your birthday, you only turn 30 once, and I hope you do something fun to commemorate it.
That said, stop it.
You are NOT "old". You haven't even hit your prime yet. Hopefully, you have a long way to go.
Do NOT compare yourself to other people, of any time period.
Regardless of what many of us have been taught to believe, this is NOT a competition. If you don't feel like you've "accomplished" anything yet, then go
DO something about that. Finish school, and haul ass. Go somewhere else, outside your comfort zone and DO something you never expected to do.
Make your life what YOU want it to be. You're the only one standing in your way.
The ONLY expectations you have to live up to are your own. Keep them realistic, and attainable.
...you said what really matters! All the rest is extra...
First off let me say for most of my adult life I start getting depressed close to thanksgiving and it want let-up until after New Years! I don’t think it is only about not having someone to share this time with, I think the holidays for a lot of people does not deliver the limitless joy and jubilation! At least that is what I have found! I have much more joy and merriment all through the year, than I ever have with these holidays! Lol Have a great day, for your birthday and know that the best is happening all the time! Just be sure to find joy in all that you do...like teaching children, who may remember how you planted a spark that helped them along their life path! After a time you stop thinking about the numbers, as we are just going to be here, until it is time to go...my neighbor informed me last week that we are on borrowed time now, as both of us is 78, he thinks this is the current life expectancy! I think it is a little more for women, and I feel alive and well, so I will continue on...