IF YOU know anyone in their twenties, you’ll have heard it.

“Oh my God, I’m so old!”

For some reason there’s an odd trend for anyone just out of their teens to insist their life is essentially over.

I was certainly prone to it myself in my earlier years but, now older and hopefully at least a little bit wiser, I can see just how silly it is.

To some extent it’s understandable – when you’re 20 the fact that your age now has a two in front of it does seem oddly grown-up.

There’s probably an element of entering the world of work and finding their own place to live which makes young people suddenly feel much older, but to claim they are suddenly geriatric is a bit rich.

Full disclosure – I recently celebrated my 29th birthday so the implications of turning 30 may be on my mind somewhat more than normal.

While my 20-year-old self probably would have claimed 30 was ‘basically elderly’, I feel quite the opposite. While I’ve noticed hangovers are lasting longer, walking up hill for too long has started to hurt my back and the odd grey hair has begun to sprout, I certainly wouldn’t consider myself old.

Maybe it has something to do with not having any children – I suspect many of my friends who have managed to reproduce would probably say they at least feel old – or the fact that getting on the housing ladder is little more than a distant fantasy.

But the mixed messages in the media and society as a whole don’t seem to help.

Every sitcom starring a cast of chirpy twentysomethings seems to feature a storyline in which a character reaching their 30th birthday laments their oh-so advanced age – I’m looking at you, Friends.

I’m well aware that the majority of people reading this will be older – some much older – than me and many probably consider 30 to be incredibly young.

The average life expectancy in the UK is 81 years – so at 30 it’s likely you are still well within the first half of your life.

I’m certainly not ready to start branding myself ‘old’.

Or maybe I’m having an early mid-life crisis.

Maybe I’ll buy a Jaguar.