"I'm getting old."

Now here's a statement said by young people all the time. What does this really mean? Here's my take on it. I don't think "oldness" has anything to do with age. I think it has to do with what you've done by a certain age.

A person feels old when they are at an age where they haven't achieved something that many people at the same age around them have. And this "achievement" may not really be any type of accomplishment, so much as it is a check on a list of To Do's.

When we're young, still in school, we're on a fairly fixed course. Most of us graduate from highschool at 17 - 18, and go to university/college. The 20 year old who dropped out and needs to catch up at a community college feels old. Then we do our time in university - a steady 4 - 5 years for most. The one who takes 7 years looks around him and sees the freshmen... and feels old. But even then, all that seems to be on a guided track. In school, there's really not that much room for lefts and rights - there's just one main goal of graduating.

After you're done with academia, life becomes a circuit of highways each going in different directions and at different speeds. There's no one single goal. By that time, "oldness" just depends on what you're doing. The next big milestone that conjure feelings of oldness seems to be getting married. And 30's usually the age where that incling starts to grow quickly. By 30, if you're not on your way to getting married, you start to have worrisome thoughts. If you have a significant other of a few years, then it's just a matter of time. But if you've got a clean slate and you're still looking for "the one", there's a tickling anxiety always in the back of your mind. For females, the tickle is probably more of a clawing. When someone's married with a child or two at 30, you probably won't hear them say "I'm getting old." s/he seems to be on time.

At a time where a lot of my friends are getting married, it's hard to keep thinking that my timeline is just fine. Maybe I just need to hang around more single people.