Peter Panning

I was having this text conversation with my sister the other day and we were chatting about this and that and she asked me what I was up to. I replied that I was catching up on some YouTube videos. Her reply? Your niece is doing that too.

I should at this point tell you that my niece is 12...

...does this make me 12 too?

Fast forward a few days later and I started to think back to that conversation, and to the general idea of what it means to get older. When I was actually 12, I had no concept of what it would be like to be 41 (my actual age) but if anyone had asked me I would probably have said that I would be looking after all my children and flicking through the catalogue to pick out the latest furniture for my home (anyone else do that when they were kids...?) As things have worked out, my life is nothing like that (can we have a hallelujah!) and at 41 I don't feel old, older, or more mature than I did when I was 19. Am I stuck in a time-warp, forever trying to recreate my much missed youth? Nope, but I now know the thing that adults never tell you when you are kids - no-one ever grows up! Seriously, that feeling older thing is a total urban myth.

I can back this up with further evidence from two very important people in my life. First up is Dave. Dave is quite a lot older than me and people have this ridiculous notion that I live with an adult. Let me stop you for a moment there while I have a good belly laugh first, and then secondly say HA! Don't be fooled by the age thing, there are basically two big kids living in this house with the over-sized dog/horse. The second is my Pops. In actual years, he will be 70 this year, but believe me when I say that in his head he is still 25. He still throws engines around at work, he still throws himself around in cars with no doors doing hill challenges and rallying, and he likes nothing better than to cause mischief. Adults - nil, Big Kids - high five!

Obviously in actual terms I am an adult, doing adult things: I go to work, I pay the bills, I do the food shop and boring housework-y things that are definitely the worst aspect of adulting, but believe me, in my head I am still the same as I was when I was 19. (This was a big age for me, it was when I finally finally realised that I was okay to just be me, my true self, and be all the things that go with being me).

But turning 40 doesn't mean that you have to stop time, cease all fun, and start wearing beige (I seriously read an article once that recommended you should start wearing neutral tones past 35 - as if!), nor does it mean that you have to go around saying that you don't understand Snapchat and don't have time to watch that YouTube nonsense. I'm here to put you right kids! Snapchat is hilarious and YouTube can be anything you want it to be. Ner-ner-ner.

The general concept of being "too old" is bullshizz - people are doing some amazing stuff now at all ages. And just because the numbers increase each year doesn't mean that you have to lose some sense of self with them. Do what makes you happy! If that means watching videos and vlogs from the crazy world of YouTube then go right ahead, no matter how old you are. I fully plan on remaining the same way as I am now until I'm at least 65, when I will retire to the country, let my hair go grey, invest in some crackin' good nighties* which I will match with my wellies, and stomp about my country house looking after my pigs. In my spare time I will still be listening to new music, dancing around the kitchen, and checking in on my YouTube peeps.  

*Sidenote: it's highly unlikely that anyone will want to visit me as, hello, crazy woman who keeps pigs, which is why it'll be okay for me to be stomping about in my nightwear, in case you were wondering.