I’m still in my 20s, but as of a few years ago I started forgetting what’s my exact age. I always have to stop and recalculate it each time someone asks me. I get asked fairly infrequently, but when I do it’s a bit weird/embarrassing that I have to say “wait, let me calculate”. (I know when I was born, of course.)
It seems as if there’s no good reason I’d remember it, since it changes all the time and it is rarely mentioned in practice. But others, including people much older than myself, know their own age immediately.
I’m also terrible at remembering people’s names, I don’t know if that could be related?
My birthday never changes, but my age changes every year. I forget it for like 9 months of the year.
I have an august birthday and I keep forgetting sometimes until like January or something of next year then I just go have another and the cycle repeats
This is normal. As a kid, you’re asked about your age much more often, and you’re often thinking about it as you look forward to hitting milestones - reaching a certain grade, your next birthday, legal age for driving, voting, drinking, and so on. Once you’re in your mid to late 20s it starts to matter a lot less, and people tend to have to do math, or if you’re like me, just ask your spouse.
After about 26 it doesn’t matter much any more.
Normal once you enter adulthood. In your childhood and teen years there are lots of things that change about your life on your birthday (drinking age, age of majority, being allowed to drive a car, etc), no longer a thing in adulthood unless you want to run for president or something like that.
The especially incompetent (like me) managed in their teens too…
Not unusual at all. Everyone I know does this. Nothing wrong with you it’s just that age (and birthdays) becomes less important. Also once past a certain age you actively want to forget that you’re old, so you need to consciously think about it.
But don’t worry, once you get into your 80s it becomes a badge of honour and the older you get the more you’ll think about it.
once you get into your 80s
Thank you for being so optimistic :)
Normal.
I spend th3 first half of being 35, being 36.
I was never 35. Thought I was 36 until my 36th birthday when I realized I had been wrong for the previous year.
Now I’m curious, what age were you before you thought you turned 36?
I thought I turned 36 on my 35th birthday, so i imagine towards the end of being 34 I must have forgotten my age
As someone with adhd it’s completely normal for me. When you’re a kid you have good reason to keep track of your age because at that time of your life you change dramatically between ages as you develop as a person, plus it’s important when asserting your identity to other as that too develops. When we’re older it’s just a number that only comes up once a year and is not that much different from the previous number, and so it’s easier to lose track of especially for people who have an affected working memory and time blindness like me. Idk if you have adhd or how often people without adhd experience this sort of thing but I can speak for my own experience. I forget how old I am, and other people’s names, all the damn time lol.
I have ADHD too. Most of the time I recalculate my age based on my BF’s that I usually have an easier time remembering.
I thought I was 43 for probably close to a year, and even told everyone that asked I was until I had to get my own health insurance and found out I was actually 44.
I’ve been getting it wrong since I was around 23. It’s often a case of “hang on, am I 23 or 24?” where I’m off by one year. It was easier during university because I knew of my peers’ ages and that made my age mean something relative to them. Now, age doesn’t come up regularly at all, so I’m more likely to forget and have to work it out as you describe
Yes,I have had to do math. It doesn’t really matter.
If the question is “am I the only one who …”. The answer is always no.
You’re right, but they did ask if it’s normal.
Something that only happens to 1 in a million people is not normal, but one of those people asking would not be the only one.
I was 27 for three years
When nobody, not even yourself, make a big deal about your birthday yeah. Happens to me all the time. I just turned 39, 2 weeks ago and before that I wasn’t sure if I was going to be 39 or 40 without doing some math.
You’re not alone, I started not really remembering around that time too… Birthdays just weren’t a big deal anymore and there was so little call to bring it up once I was old enough to legally buy alcohol.
Eventually, you get to the point where you’d like to forget, and you may ask yourself, how did I get here?
No it’s not weird, it happened to me at times. It’s good that you’re not thinking about your age so much that it’s so familiar if that makes sense. I don’t make a big deal of birthdays and my age isn’t a big deal to me.
You’ll likely remember better in those years when you hit a 0 though.
People may misunderstand what you’re saying too. For me it’d be “wait am I 27 or 28 this year?” And have to do a quick calculation. Not “I can’t remember how old I am at all”.
