I'm 26 but I feel older than my friends

[crystal_dance]

This topic may have been beaten to death but lemme explain things anyway and hopefully someone can give me perspective-

I'm a 26 year old guy (just turned 26 last week) and sometimes I feel much older. This is mainly because I no longer enjoy getting drunk with my buddies on weekends - infact I've barely drunk over the last several months and even when I do, I prefer to choose taste over the sole objective of getting sloshed. I no longer have the need to go to raves or clubs and party till 7 am like I did till even a year ago. I'd rather wake up at a reasonable hour on weekends and have the whole day ahead of me to do stuff rather than sleeping till 2:30 PM. Which doesn't mean that I'm a total party pooper :D , I still like to do the occasional wild night out, it's just not something I wanna do every weekend like back in college.

Unfortunately, my friends don't share the same views I do anymore. They're still in "entourage" mode and that's causing friction coz if our varying views on life. I'm sure alot of you have gone through it - how did you deal with it? I really like my friends and I wanna keep hanging out with em, but I don't know if I'm up to it anymore. Advice?

[travelin'on]

I am also 26 but I'm in the opposite boat. I like to still party and have fun but my friends are all married and settled. I can get them to come out but its a chore. And yes, that does make me feel old. I guess you can just drink in moderation and if you dont have fun w them anymore at the bars, maybe you can get them to do something else like frisbee golf or something that doesnt involve loud music and annoying drunks. I dont want to throw you the cliche of "you should find new friends" bc I dont think you should give up on them. People change but friends dont have to, unless you want it to.

[stephly21]

I think that you do need to try to throw out new ideas of things to do with your friends besides drinking and see what happens. If they don't want to do anything but go out and party then maybe you should look for some friends with the same interests that you have aqcuired. Keep the friends you have and just hang out with them when you are feeling interested in going out to party. I think it is nice to have several different friends who like to do different things and then depending on your mood you can choose which ones you hang out with.