If you know me outside of the site, you’ve probably heard me mention roughly 342,000 times that I am turning 30 next week. I’ve been jokey about it, but the truth is I am terrified.
Things are puckering and sinking a little. I wake up feeling not-quite-so-spry. And maybe it’s just because the big day coincides with other major life events, but everything ends in a question mark these days: Should I have started a family by now? Will I lose any competitive career advantages (lolz)? Am I destined for spinsterhood? IS THERE A CUTOFF AGE FOR KARAOKE?
I don’t want to think about my 30 anymore. I want to hear about your 30. Did anything change for you? Any major life events? Monumental discoveries? Hemorrhoid cream recs?
If you’re not there yet, tell me what 30 looks like to you. Or go play with your My Little Ponies and get off my lawn.
Honestly, 30s in general were awesome. You’re smarter from all those painful lessons you learned from your 20s…you SHOULD have a little spending money by now…you should still be in great shape and if not, get off your butt…and if you’re lucky, you should be able to relate to your parents, finally. Plenty of time left for kids and your alcohol tolerance should be at its peak!
30 was when I first really felt legitimately able to call myself an adult.
Any of the milestones you experienced are opportunities to reflect on the most recent phase, assess lessons learned, and prepare to take on more/new/different roles/experiences/adventures during the next phase.
You don’t have to BE where you want to go by 30, but you should now have a better idea of where it IS at least. 20-30 may have been spent discovering that answer.
Everything up to 30 is an undergraduate degree in Life. 30-40 or maybe even 30-55 is a graduate degree.
There was a surprise party and after that pretty much nothing. The aging feeling started before 30 and didn’t change at all. Having a kid was a much bigger change.
I am in my mid 50s, and the on North side of that. I have survived 2 heart attacks, many surgeries, 2 ex wives (wife #3 appears to be a keeper) and a bunch of other stuff. I really can’t remember my 30th birthday. Does that help at all?
In my 30’s, I got married to the most wonderful guy, had a baby girl, bought and lived in two houses, made lots of new friends, life was good. I worked nights so that I could be home with my daughter for the first 5 years. So many wonderful memories - 20’s were not so good.
As someone who just celebrated his 30th birthday last week, I can safely say that I feel no different than I did at 29. Of course I am married and have a baby, so your mileage may vary.
The big difference is I realize at this point in my life, I’m too young to be old and too old to be young.
The odd things started happening at twenty nine and a half. So you’re past that.
It’s all gravy from here on out.
Did you know that you share your birthday with Jar Jar Binks (edited to repeal that last one. Jar Jar Binks was not born on such a great day. But Anna Kournikova was, so there!)? And Pope Gregory XIII, who invented the calendar that we use to this day? And Famous Canadians Alanis Morrisette AND Michael Cera (well, he’s half Canadian, but it still counts!)
Probably you have one of the bestest birthday days ever. And you’re rounding the odometer to a round number this year. That’s cool.
Start hanging out with ugly old fat people and you’ll always be their skinny young pretty friend and they’ll be insanely jealous of you and you’ll feel great!
I’m more than twice that and there’s nothing to be afraid of. Just keep doing all the things you like to do. You’ll find you don’t like doing some of the stuff you used to do, but that’s okay, too.
[QUOTE=PemberDucky, post:1, topic:355178]
If you know me outside of the site, you’ve probably heard me mention roughly 342,000 times that I am turning 30 next week. I’ve been jokey about it, but the truth is I am terrified.
Been there, done there and lived to tell about it. Really was not that big a deal. At the time I was living away from my family and generally my sibs forget my birthday, but on the big 3-0, the phone calls started at 6 am. It was a hoot. My thirties and up to around 45 were great. Yes, I did slow down a tiny bit, but you adapt. It’s been the best for me careerwise but not so much with marriage. But I have to admit that I have never been actively seeking a lifetime partner and my uterus does not have a “for rent” sign on it.
I think it depends on your lifestyle. If you are a party girl or guy then 30 may be a difficult transition. Seriously going out on a bender beyond the age of 30 to 35 is well just not sexy or cute anymore (& probably never was). To be honest with you, I don’t miss my twenties. I liked the lessons that I learned and I was happy to move on.
I had quite a few major life events in my 30s but the worst was the death of my fiance. Yeah I was actually on the way to altar in spite of not being overly marriage minded…life is full of contradictions in that way. Pretty much knocked me to my knees. What I learned from that is that I really just have to live in the moment because tomorrow is definitely not a given or what you expect it will be.
Now as I approach 50, the only thing that I hate is fricking HOT FLASHES!!! Sheesh, Icarus would have problems flying too close to me
Bottom line, quit worrying about it and just enjoy your life…
