There was a recent TikTok video I saw that cut me to my core. In a video posted by @jzez21, the creator reacts to a sound clip of someone saying, “To the older generation on TikTok, meaning, like, people born in the late 90’s.”

I was born in 1990, so I’m sure you could imagine the shock I experienced when I heard this. If late 90’s is old, that must make me antique, and I just want to point out the audacity.

So, my joints hurt for days if I sleep wrong. That doesn’t make me old. I just have bad joints.

I might need a nap in the middle of the day, but so does my three-year-old. And honestly, I wish my 11-year-old would take one too.

I may say things like “I’m getting too old for this,” but I don’t actually mean it.

I might walk into a room and have to retrace my steps, because “what did I come in here for?” But I’ve always been like that, that’s not a new thing.

My music, the good music, plays on a radio station that may have once played “top hits from the 80’s, 90’s and today.” Y2K was ten years ago, right?

It’s not like I go around saying things like “that’s whack,” or “cool beans.” I’m up to date on the slang terms. I think.

I don’t take 10 prescription medications. Yet. I only have five, thank you very much.

I could probably, maybe, drink a 21-year-old under the table. I’d seriously regret it for the next three days, but I could do it.

I might be repeating my 30th birthday this year, but that’s only because the world decided to shut down and I want to go get day-drunk with my besties at the annual downtown fall wine walk wearing a tiara and a badge of honor that says “dirty thirty” on it.

I don’t have to get eight hours of sleep in order to function properly the next day. Okay, that one’s a bald face lie, but who has time to get eight hours of sleep?

So, I have to worry about missing a day of my skincare routine. I might have little patience for nonsensical situations. I might fall asleep watching TV or reading a book.

But, I’m too young to run for presidency. I would still be a resident if I had gone to medical school straight out of high school like I had planned.

I’ve still got two-thirds of my life to live. I won’t be able to retire for another 35 years.

I’m not part of an older generation. The younger generation just hasn’t lived long enough to realize that yet.

Well, shit. I might be old.

Photo by José Antonio Morcillo Valenciano / CC BY 2.0