People have been sharing the moments they thought ‘Oh god, I’m so old!’ – 23 traumatic times people felt time’s winged chariot hurrying near

Ageing is one of life’s inevitables. We’re all well aware it is happening to us every single day, and yet when we finally realise we aren’t 21 anymore it still comes as a shock. And it turns out the way in which the realisation comes can be surprising too. They’ve been discussing the tragic feeling of being past your prime on the AskUK subreddit after user ConstantDesmond posted this:

‘When was the first time you thought, “Oh god I’m so old!”? That first moment where you realised you were no spring chicken anymore’

Here are some tragic replies from people who suddenly recognised they are getting a bit long in the tooth.

1.

‘When I realised I worked with people that weren’t born when Hit Me Baby One More Time by Britney Spears came out.’
–asterallt

2.

‘Hit Me Baby One More Time is 27 this month. School’s Out (Alice Cooper), Vincent (Don McLean) and Puppy Love (Donny Osmond) are all UK number ones closer to the release of Baby One More Time than we are today.’
–icklepeach

3.

‘I said someone at work was like Paul Daniels. He said, who’s that?’
–PissedBadger

4.

‘When small children used to bump into me on the bus, their parent would say ‘Mind that girl!’. Now it’s ‘Mind that lady!’. Ooof, getting old.’
–GrumpyHeadmistress

5.

‘I asked a teenager if they remembered Michael Jackson dying and they informed me they were born that year.’
–idontlikemondays321

6.

‘Kurt Cobain too. As a teen in the 90s, the death of Hendrix seemed like ancient history to me (when it was actually about 25 years before). Now I’m the one remembering Kurt dying 31 years ago like it was pretty recent.’
–dobbynobson

7.

‘I worked with someone who was born in 1998. For context that’s when I started secondary school and first used the internet.’
–Additional-Nobody352

8.

‘A colleague saying, ‘I just found out that Robbie Williams was in Take That!”
–Inner_Farmer_4554

9.

‘When all the formerly separate muscles suddenly became interlinked: the wee, sneeze, fart, and cough control muscles are all now and henceforth entwined – if I need to do one while doing another, there’s no holding back!’
–Ahleanna-D

10.

‘The other day I watched some early episodes of the IT crowd and it looked like a period piece. The I realised the first series came out in 2006 which really is equivalent to watching something from the early eighties, right?’
–millerz72

11.

‘Went grey at 23, but more recently being unable to get out of a chair nowadays without a hearty ‘ooooh’ all the way up. Bonus points when something gives a real satisfying crack. I’m 37.’
–CatsCoffeeCurls

12.

‘Young men, even little boys, looking at me and then letting me get on the bus first. Oh my lord. It didn’t hit me for a while, after a few weeks I was like… wwwaaaitaminuttte!!!!’
–islaisla