The Decades Of A Person's Life, Ranked By People Who Have Lived Them
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Vote only on decades you've experienced - vote up the ones you remember fondly; vote down the ones you're glad to leave behind.
We are gathered here today to get through this thing called life - and said thing is a roller coaster of ups and downs. Some years we thrive; others we are just getting through. Although no two humans live the same life, people do experience similar milestones, achievements, emotions, and upsets during similar age ranges. So what are truly the best years of a person's life? If we can collectively answer that, then in a way, we might also, as The Office's Andy Bernard put it, be able to figure out we're in the good old days before we've actually left them.
Some might consider one's roaring 20s the best, full of ramen, romance, and possibility. Others might find their golden years to live up to the name, when they're comfortable in who, and where, they are. Every age has its pros and cons, and sometimes a decade you were dreading can end up being an exciting and unexpected life chapter.
Because we want this ranking to be based on lived experience, rather than societal expectations and stereotypes of certain ages, please vote only on age decades you have at least partially lived.
- 1
Childhood (0-9)
Pros: No job, minimal responsibilities, peak imagination
Cons: School/homework, lack of control over day-to-day matters such as food, sleep, and social life
- 2
Thirties (30-39)
Pros: Establishing your version of a family, peak physical condition, clearer priorities
Cons: Feeling like it's supposed to be figured out by now but it isn't figured out by now, first divorce wave
- 3
Twenties (20-29)
Pros: Gambling and drinking age (in the US), peak physical condition, college
Cons: Adult responsibilities, quarter-life crisis, messy dating scene
- 4
Forties (40-49)
Pros: Higher salaries, big career moves, home ownership, raising kids
Cons: Mortgage, always busy, midlife crisis, raising kids
- 5
Teens (10-19)
Pros: Driver's license, high school graduation, voting age
Cons: Hormones, social pressures, parents just don't understand
- 6
Fifties (50-59)
Pros: More financially comfortable, greater self-confidence, second marriages
Cons: Changing body, feeling like you're too young to be in your 50s, second divorce wave
- 7
Sixties (60-69)
Pros: Social Security benefits, common retirement age, finding new hobbies/passions
Cons: Retirement void, feeling out-of-touch, late-life crisis
- 8
Seventies (70-79)
Pros: Retirement communities, establishing new social circle, grandparenthood
Cons: Increased health concerns, body aches, being told your attitudes are outdated
- 9
Nineties And Beyond (90+)
Pros: Can boss most people around, peak wisdom/historical knowledge, multigenerational descendants
Cons: Decreased mobility, end-of-life blues, loss of freedoms, loneliness
- 10
Eighties (80-89)
Pros: Minimal responsibilities, unburdened by others' opinions, people give up their seats for you
Cons: Nursing homes, patronizing younger people, more frequent funerals
