So I went to a family gathering recently and something felt really off.
Basically, all my cousins around my age were low-key lying about their ages. I’m turning 30 this August. One of my cousins who is literally just 2 months younger than me kept insisting he’s 28 and his mom was backing him up like it’s some official truth 😐 They just wouldn’t go above 28.
For context, I graduated engineering at 21, got married at 26, and now I have a 2.5-year-old son. I’ve always been a bit overweight since childhood, so I might look older compared to that same cousin who’s slim and just came back from Russia after MBBS. But the thing is he struggled a lot academically growing up (like repeating years), and even his official age was adjusted through NADRA at some point.
Then there’s another cousin she’s literally 8 days older than me but she was sitting there claiming she’s 26?? 😭 She also finished her degree at 21, just is not married yet. But her tone and body language toward me felt like she was younger than me, like I was somehow “older” in the group.
It just made me feel weird. Like are people really this uncomfortable with turning 30? Or is it some subtle comparison/judgment thing going on?
Because the way they were insisting on being younger and even their tone/body language with me it didn’t just feel like casual lying. It felt like they genuinely see themselves as younger than they are.
Am I being oversensitive or does this sound off to you guys too?