I feel emotional whiplash from moving out of young adulthood into regular adulthood. It feels like I was robbed of the transition between the two. I wish we could have peacefully handed the baton off to the next generation, rather than waking up one day and finding it gone.
I’m maybe five years younger than you but I feel much the same way. Before lockdown I felt like I was just beginning adulthood — I’d been out of college for less than three years and graduated pretty young, so in most workplaces or social situations I was one of the youngest people around. The social scene I emerged into after lockdown was full of people who seemed a lot younger than me, like they were everywhere, and I felt older both because those people were looking up to ‘my generation’ and because I was jaded as fuck. I don’t feel like my best years are behind me or that I’m nearing the end of my life, but I do feel like those younger people are full of a hope and energy that feels incredibly distant to me.
I’m maybe five years younger than you but I feel much the same way. Before lockdown I felt like I was just beginning adulthood — I’d been out of college for less than three years and graduated pretty young, so in most workplaces or social situations I was one of the youngest people around. The social scene I emerged into after lockdown was full of people who seemed a lot younger than me, like they were everywhere, and I felt older both because those people were looking up to ‘my generation’ and because I was jaded as fuck. I don’t feel like my best years are behind me or that I’m nearing the end of my life, but I do feel like those younger people are full of a hope and energy that feels incredibly distant to me.