So I've stopped telling people my age. If they ask I try to ignore their question or deflect it or make them guess my age and then say oh that's about right or sometimes I just straight out lie. HA! I can't do this with everyone. Some people I've known for awhile already know how old I am, but with everyone else they just ain't gonna find out unless I want them to.
So why do I care, why am I age concious? I think first of all I don't want people to judge me based on my age. I don't want them to make conclusions about me because of how old I am. I don't want them to wonder why I'm not at a certain point in my life, why I'm not married or what not. I just don't want them to think I'm old. This is especially true since I've gone back to college. I have a class with lots of underclassmen. They know I'm a master's student, but I don't want these 19-20 year olds thinking I'm an old foggie. Maybe they don't really care or maybe they've guessed my true age. But I'd like to pretend they think I'm younger than I am.
I wish I could embrace my age and shout it out to the world, "I'm ** years old and I don't care who knows it!!!!", but I'm not at that point yet. Maybe I'm embarassed, maybe I'm judging myself to harshly. But it's not like I'm alone in this, I mean women are famous for lying about their age the older they get. I mean what woman wants to tell people their age. I know several girls like me. It's sad that society does reward us for the years of experience and wisdom we have gained. Why is the media so youth obsessed? I want to go spend time in a culture that loves the aged, that thinks you're not in the prime of life until your older than 30 or so, not a culture that thinks you've peaked at 23. What do you think ladies? Doesn't anyone out there really not care who knows their age?
4 comments:
I love the new look, especially the snappy banner!
While I was in my twenties, I was really looking forward to the day when I could tell people was thirty. I'll be 33 this summer, which I think is a fun number. Remember the movie 13 Going on 30? She just wants to be "Thirty and flirty and thriving." My age has never bothered me.
30 is so the new 20. I'm sure I'll find it a little nerve-wracking the closer I get to the big three oh, but life only seems to be getting better and better the older I get.
The best thing about revealing your age is finding out that your younger peers think you're around their age. It's always flattering. I'm still finishing up my BA, so I have tons of early 20s aged students in classes with me. I had one guy hit on me -he was oh so adorable, but only 21... I probably would have hit that, except he wasn't LDS, of course. He was SHOCKED when I told him I was five years older than him. And yet, it only seemed to make him even more intrigued with me.
But on that note, I've decided that I'll be marrying someone that is younger than I am. And in the past when I've dated guys who were younger in age, they always seemed to make up for it in adoration. Younger guys love "experienced" women.
I don't really understand the whole lying about one's age, but a lot of ladies seem to do it. I think I don't favor it since I believe by being proud of your age, the greater the fight against ageism, in all its forms. By lying about it, I think it does produce some sort of sense of shame. Being ashamed of the inevitable, one might only reinforce ageist stereotypes. I think it's important that we try to change the whole notion that 23 was our "prime." I'm a helluva lot more awesome now than I was almost four years ago. Ha!
I just stopped at 30. If I am asked how old I am I just answer 30.
In the first part of this post, you write you don't want people to judge you on your age and your statous. It's true some do, but not everyone. The most important; you won't always be able to prevent poeple from judging you if they want to, you just can't help it.
I'm in high school; I don't know why, but untill not long ago, I always had the impression eveyone was judging me. And one day, while watching TV, I saw a famous actress saying that whatever things poeple could say about her, she didn't care because she new what she had done right and wrong. It was like a "wooow" for me. Now the impression at high school is less important, because I realised it a little, and I focus more on what I do. I guess you're afraid somewhere that bad things could follow poeple's judging, but I can tell you if poeple behave with you just because they take their bases on your age or something like that, you're missing something. Poeple you will share something deep and happy with, they won't judge you on your age or your statous but will look at who you really are.
So don't be afraid, go on in life, because you've got a lot of possibilities, and furthermore you will never be alone.
Post a Comment