Another year, another birthday. At one point in life, every birthday just turns into a constant blur. One woman leading up to her 29th birthday realized how we might actually be older than we think we are.
Emma shared a video to TikTok and started the clip by saying to “keep scrolling” if they didn’t want her to “ruin their lives,” as the news was bound to be upsetting. She noted that she was turning 29 soon and needed to live her best life over the next year since it was the last year she would be in her twenties. But something came to her mind when thinking about her eventual 30th birthday.
Doing some quick math, she explained: “It’s my birthday next month and I started thinking, holy s**t, I’m 29 next month and it’s the last year of my twenties. And then I realized.
“Your first birthday is when you’ve completed that year. Your birthday is like a congratulation for all the work you’ve just done — the last 365 days, right?
“So, I’m turning 29 next month, which means I’ve actually completed the 29th year of my life. So on my birthday, I’m actually starting my 30th year of life.
“Now I’ve just lost a whole year because I hadn’t clocked that this year was actually the last year of my twenties and now it’s almost the first year of my thirties.”
Emma left people in the comments both worried and confused. One user said: “Well as if I wasn’t depressed enough, now I’m just closer to 30 than I thought I was.”
Another user commented: “Me, who has just turned 28, feeling sudden panic.”
Others explained that in different cultures this problem is solved by using a system which means a baby is thought of as being aged one when they are born. That way, every birthday dictates the year of life they are starting instead of looking at it from a pessimistic point of view.
Source: https://www.tiktok.com/@emmaflicc_/video/7075681322722675973?is_copy_url=1&is_from_webapp=v1