I know what you're going to tell me. Everybody knows that 60 is the new 40. Or 30. Or maybe the new 50. Definitely no one says that 60 is the new 16.
But I haven't made a typing error. Sixty definitely is the new 16, and just to prove it to you, here are 10 things that 60-year-olds and 16-year-olds have in common:
1. Your body is changing in unexpected ways. So much so that sometimes you don't recognize yourself. You watch your diet like you never did before, worry about your skin, and find a new interest in jogging (at least for a few weeks).
2. Your hormones are racing and sometimes neither you, nor those who love you, can handle your mood swings.
3. You stand on the cusp of a new world. You're about to end a long stretch of time spent working and you think that you've earned some freedom. Your whole life is changing, in ways that you don't even realize yet. You know that you'll have to make some tough decisions soon, choices that could determine the way the rest of your life plays out, but you're more excited to be nearly at that exhilarating moment when you would never again have to leave the house before 9 a.m.
4. You might not worry too much about money, but your spending habits over the next few years are likely to affect your financial options for the next few decades.
5. You think and talk with your friends a lot about sex, and secretly worry that you aren't getting enough of it.
6. You realize that there are hundreds of activities to try, skills to master and places to see, and that you've barely scratched the surface so far. In just a few years, you think, I could be backpacking my way through Thailand or volunteering in Africa. You resolve to learn to play a musical instrument, speak a new language, and visit five new countries in the next five years.
7. Your friends are your lifeline and your support system. You talk to them all the time and worry about what's going to happen if you go different ways after high school/retirement. You share strategies for dealing with the opposite sex, swap beauty and fashion tips, and brainstorm about how best to cope with your parents, who have totally unrealistic expectations of you and are driving you up the wall.
8. Your love life becomes more turbulent. You think about breaking up with your partner because you've just had enough of them. You might find yourself suddenly single against your will and feel scared about ever finding love again, or you might choose to live a single life so that you can travel light and party hard.
9. You love your family, but you're ready to move away from them a little. You can't wait to live alone, play the music that you want to listen to, and enjoy possession of the remote.
10. You dream of moving to a funky studio apartment in the city. Possibly with a cat.
Earlier on Huff/Post50:
