Lying About Your Age

[Azariah]

i like the fact that people think im younger! i make people guess if they realy want to know. its funny answers range from 22-25 (im 28 lol)

 

[AmyTheTemperamental]

People assume I'm in my 30s. I don't get carded any more. Maybe they see grey hairs that I don't.

 

[AmyTheTemperamental]

Was asked today if I am sisters with my 50 something year old coworker. Better than being asked if I'm her daughter though.

 

[LostInLimbo]

i like the fact that people think im younger! i make people guess if they realy want to know. its funny answers range from 22-25 (im 28 lol)

Usually when chatting with people online they seem to think I'm in my early 20's too. I guess when I can actually feel like myself, and not be so depressed, I just act a lot younger than I actually am. I guess like with you it feels nice for people to think that I'm younger, though for them to think I'm THAT much younger seems a little weird especially when they assume that just from the way I say things in text. I feel and probably look older than I am, luckily no one has to look at me though. I think I'll just start telling people I meet online that I'm 22 and see what they say

 

[BadGuy]

I get told to stop acting like a teanager ,does that count ? LOL

 

[Case]

Since I see that this necropost resurrected itself, maybe an update is in order. I will be 52 tomorrow, so it is timely. I still work part-time at the same retail environment because it is fun. Aaaaaand, I still get the same rate of people thinking I am not the middle-aged man I am.

The last person to predict my age told me a couple weeks ago that I looked 31. I told him my true age, and I was actually older than he was. lol

Anyway, the frustration of my original post still happens but in fits and starts. I still don't like the attention it gets me, and I still get people telling me I should be thankful. I keep asking people to tell me how to capitalize on this youthful look, and I actually had ONE dear friend (such a sweetheart) tell me to go into acting. She said I could play roles far younger than myself, and she was right. It was the first logical answer I think I had ever been given, and I give her points for giving me an actual solution. Unfortunately, I have no interest in acting.

Also, I have grown my hair out lately out of boredom. (Think Kurt Cobain's hair in the "Smells Like a Teen Spirit" video but just a few inches longer.) So now, people see this long-haired "kid" with no receding hairline and with some almost indistinguishable grey hiding in my blond hair, and I look quite young to them.  

In my original post, I said I would start lying about my age, but I really couldn't do it. I pride myself on my honesty. My OP was at a low point in my frustrations to where I didn't care if I lied as long as I was believed without question. (Oh, if that were only attainable.) I also have come to realize that this is a major hangup of mine. It is a verifiable insecurity. It is a weakness of mine that has developed over the years to where it controls my reactions in many conversation with strangers.

My best guess at how to sove my insecurities is to meditate on all of the things people say to me, and to associate happiness, warmth, and positive feelings to each word and phrase. Because now I react to the shock of people knowing my age with internal anxiety, and I do my best to hide it. It becomes harder to deal with when customers call their friends over and point to me, saying, "Go on, Megan. Guess this guy's age." (That is a semi-common occurrence, by the way.)

So, somehow I need to make this into a positive emotion. I need to make my automatic response one that is thankful, cheerful, playful, and to turn an insecurity into a strength. (sigh) A tall order? Maybe. But it's better than wallowing in my own insecurities.

 

[Miriam1966]

I'm in my 50's and I do look a lot younger. I've been told I look as young as my early thirties. As a woman though, I really don't mind that at all. I used to hide my age, now I just don't care. When I tell people my age, they are shocked. I've been treated like I don't have enough life experience too, only based on my looks.

But then...I've even been treated like I'm inexperienced by YOUNGER people too....you know the "know it all" types.

People bother me! I try not to interact at all with anyone in my life, it's just easier.

 

[DeepTxWater]

I'm 57.  My kids and acquaintances have told me for years that I don't look my age. I don't know that I agreed but it was nice to hear.  A few weeks ago I was at a drive up window getting lunch. I pulled up to pay, the young lady reaches out to take my debit card then she leans out closer to me and asks that dreaded question.  "You want the senior citizen discount?".  I guess my youthful appearance evaporated the night before she and I crossed paths.  Or I've been getting lied to for a long time.
Point is it's probably too late to start lying about my age.

 

[IncolaVacui]

Not typically...not in person, at least. Online? A bit...More like, I got robbed a gunpoint by someone I met online once.  Even though it happened years ago, I had to go through some hoops to "disappear" off of the internet for a good long while (being a couple years). So in that time, after closing all of my social media accounts, I started to intentionally obscure some optional information about myself after that experience. I wasn't actually the target of the robbery, there was a mix-up and a language barrier. Though, having a gun pressed against the back of my head and detailed information about my personal life that I hadn't shared online read to me by someone I met online made me pretty paranoid for a while. These days, I just try to make it to where people can't search for me easily.

 

[bearcat22]

TL-DR: I am going to start lying about my age because I am tired of correcting people who get it wrong. 

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I just turned 50 yrs old. It was a quiet transition into my second half-century (if I last that long.) 

Now, if you go through my posting history, you will see that I have always had a problem with looking younger. 

I know. Why on earth would I call that a problem? Well, I can only speak for myself, but all my life I have struggled to be heard, to be recognized, to be believed,  and to have the weight of my accumulated knowledge impress upon others the fact that I know what I am talking about. 

Almost daily, I hear comments like this:

"Oh, you're nowhere near the age of my kids." (Both of her kids were under 45.)

"You must have been a toddler in 1976." (I was 10.)

"You couldn't possibly have seen 'All In the Family' when it was first on" (I actually watched it semi-regularly.)

These are examples of how people see me. I recently ate at the counter of a local diner, and started chatting with a guy around his late 60s. When he guessed my age, he said 25. When I told him I was 50, he was surprised. Shocked, even.

So, why has it been a problem for me? Simple. No one gives me any credit for having seen what I have seen, or lived the life I've lived. I am frequently dismissed because everyone thinks I'm too young to know any better.

So, I spend an inordinate amount of energy proving these people wrong. Trying alI can to gain the respect I have sought, despite my youthful features.

Now that I am 50, people are even more animated and shocked when I tell them how old I am.

But I recently wondered why I do it? Why do I try so hard to correct people who think I am young? Is it really that bad to be dismissed?

So, I have decided to try a new tack; I am going to go with the flow. If someone asks me how old I am, I will say 35 and see if anyone calls me on it. If someone claims I couldn't possibly have been alive in the Seventies, I will not correct them. 

Whatever age someone claims I am, I will say they are correct. Why? I am just tired of fighting. I am tired of having to constantly correct people about my age. So now, I'm not going to correct anyone. Maybe this way, I will relieve myself of the burden of looking younger.

Do you fib about your age for any reason whatsoever? If so, was it difficult for you? I have always been super honest and lying is hard for me. But if I don't correct people, that is omitting the truth, which isn't as bad. Right?

If someone wants to know your age, you could simply say, 

"What a charming question to ask!"    (translation: that is a rude thing to ask, you have no manners)

or simply,

"Why does that matter to you?"   (translation, you're an *******, and now you have to explain why you are an *******)

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