Steve Buscemi as the Fellow Kids guy, holding a skateboard and wearing a backwards ball cap with his MUSIC BAND t-shirt

My generation is pretty bad about not wanting to grow up. We talk about how we “just can’t adult today,” or how our parents seemed so grown up when they were in their 30s but we still feel like kids.

Maybe it’s not just us millennials. We definitely coined obnoxious terms like “adulting” as if it’s this silly little thing we have to pretend we know how to do in serious situations, but a lot of people are embarrassed about aging. Impostor syndrome is real. You can overcome it if you acknowledge it.

People have this obsession with being cool. I promise you, as a millennial, gen Xer or boomer, you do not sound cool trying to keep up with gen z pop culture. Step out of the way and let the youth have their youth. We have our own stuff.

Embrace reality. You might be getting old, but you’re cool in your own ways. You gain wisdom and experience with age and there’s no substitute for that. We had a lot of cool shit back in our day, too. I still can’t get over the fact that my stepdaughter says there’s nothing wrong with Nickelback but now Weezer is cringe.

Our peers all look just like us, so you don’t have to try and hide anything that might reveal you’re not 20 years old anymore. You’re probably not fooling anyone. I like the way a person looks with a little grey and some crow’s feet anyway. Living in the past is literal depression.