No, it's not only you. I think most sensible people go through this at some point. Although, there are people (like celebrities or "social influencers") in a large majority, unfortunately, who try denying it, either by make-up/botox to look young, or pretending to act young and trendy. This influences the masses as well. It's not discussed enough because people don't have clear answers to questions like "what is the meaning of life" and such. So they'll ignore it and act immature and materialistic.

And yes, the world is a depressing place consumed by pathetic materialism. I largely blame the Western culture for this. They have zero value systems and are only focused on moving from one pleasure to the next. Unfortunately, their philosophy has caught on in other places as well and now everyone is the same.

It's not only the out and out influencers who are a problem, though. Even say, for instance, law students on LinkedIn who post about their every achievement or give pathetic gyan about wisdom and how to be successful (this website itself has mentioned the names of such folks before) which are intended to make others insecure in the name of "networking", are all part of the problem. This idea of trying to hide one's failures/shortcomings while blowing one's trumpet upon any kind of achievement is the real issue. If you're going to hide the former, then be humble and stop bragging as well.

Agree with everything except for the part blaming Western culture. The West is in itself such a massive world, with varied cultures amongst them. Culture in the USA is vastly different from that in Finland, Estonia, Belgium etc. Even in the European Union, the Baltics and Scandinavian countries have a different culture from places like France and Germany, Italy and the South has a different culture, and likewise for Romania, Bulgaria and Poland. But at least in a few European countries, there are those tiny courtesies like saying a hello, good morning, have a nice day, please, thank you etc., which at least makes one feel respected and somewhat cared for, in a certain way, no matter how small it may be. Compare that with the lives we lead in India, with how rude most people are here. And add to it the tendency to berate and deliberately humiliate someone on the basis of their looks, dressing sense, the car / motorcycle they drive, the places they eat from, how much money they are willing to throw. These aspects (referred to in the previous line) are very much part of modern Indian urban culture (prevalent in pretty much all major Indian metropolitan cities). It would do us good to shed light on that and come to terms with what we do, before we criticise Western culture.

Try reading Four Thousand Weeks, it gives a really good perspective on life and time. I would've loved to give you an elaborate overview of the misconception we have for time but I think it would be better if you read it yourself :)

I think b, it is believed that time seems to go by more quickly when someone is in their 40s, thus causing a panic because you failed to do all those things you once thought you would've already done by your current age and there isn't enough time left to do them all.