South Korea passed a law that has aged its citizens in reverse. The country previously had two age systems. The most common started each person’s life at one-year-old from the time of birth and on January 1st of each year added to that number. The other began from age zero at birth and also added a year every January 1st. As of last week, South Koreans will adhere to the international age system, which puts most a year or two younger than their traditional age calculator.
I have this thing when I’m one or two months from my birthday—I start thinking of myself as that upcoming age. I will be 35 next week. So, instead of thinking of myself as 34, I’m already 35 mentally. It’s a self-protective mind game I came up with when I was about to turn 30 so that I wouldn’t go into a state of shock at crossing the milestone. It’s a kind of early acceptance to avoid future despair. I accept something that is not reality in order to more easily accept reality down the road.