What is it like to be 30-something?

It has been so long since I was thirty-something that it is rather hard to remember. However, near as I can recall, it didn’t feel much different from being twenty-something. I could still run 5 miles, still had no gray hair, and still got carded at the liquor store. I still felt 19 inside (just as I do now) and many folks still thought I was in my twenties. However, I was probably a bit smarter about some things, a bit more confident about others, and still able to eat pretty much what I wanted.

However, once you hit 50 things do change.

How to celebrate? Have a party if you want, take a vacation to someplace you’ve always wanted to go, or simply do something fun.

I was told that you should never trust anyone over thirty.

It’s not like all of a sudden things change. As you get older I think you discover more and more what you want, you stop putting up with other people’s BS, and usually really start to move in your career if you have been tracking on one career path. I think you becoe more aware of life and how there is a pattern of facing challenges and working through them. Hopefully one also starts to see that life is many shades of grey and not so black and white. Also, I think the 30’s you really start to feel like an adult. When I was in my 20’s I still found it strange for someone to call me a woman or Ms. Lastame.

We use the ages of 18 and 21 in our society, but really I think it is in your 30’s that you really feel you have moved onto a different level of maturity. I am generalizing here of course…some events force you to grow up faster. On that note, I think certain events are much more significant than your age. Like getting married, having children (children is the BIG life changer in my opinion), going through an illness, since these start to happen as you get older, we associate them with age, but if you have a baby at 23, probably many of your concerns and goals are similar to the 32 old who just had a baby also.

When I turned 29, I had my 30-age crisis. I looked at my life and did not like what I saw. I had not achieved some goals I had set for myself. By the time my 30th birthday came, I had ended a relationship that wasn’t working, changed my job for one I had long wanted and moved.

Your 20’s are for experimentation and figuring out who you are. They’re way fun, you can do things and get away with them, so enjoy it while it lasts. 30 is not as old as maybe it once was, but it definitely can be an eye-opener… you’re somewhat expected to start maturing and buckling down in life. I do think it’s good in a sense; I know myself and my limits WAY better than I did 5 years ago (I’m 32). I definitely mourned leaving my 20’s, especially since I still feel about 25 inside… not quite ready to move onto that next stage in life, which is buckling down and being serious and all that.

When I think about it logically, though, I do think of all the people I know and how useless numbers/ages are. I know some very mature 20-somethings, overly mature 30-somethings, some 30-year-olds that seem 20-something, 50-somethings that seem 30-something, and at least two totally immature 50-somethings, and people that generally run the gamut. So I guess you should just be yourself and if you shock people’s expectations (as I do), so be it. :P

I forgot to tell you that your eyesight goes.

There is no general answer to this. It will all depend upon what happens in your life.

I can only speak for myself, but after I got over the idea that 30 was old, I realized that I am pretty much the same as I was when I was 25. What that means to me is that age is relative. Your body might wear down, but you will always be who you have always been.

Well, I’m single, child-free, healthy (thank G-d), and I still get “carded.” So, at 33, I still feel pretty young. Furthermore, my occupation allows me to keep learning new things. I think that I would eventually like to “settle down,” but my other half is still hiding under a rock. So, you gotta live your life without feeling like you are just waiting for something. I was nervous about 30 before I turned 30, but I had a couple of bday parties (I threw one and a friend threw the other one) and found that I still felt pretty much the same after afterward.

It’s however you want it to be.

People look at you a little funny sometimes if you’re still working an entry-level job, are in college, or are not married yet (preferably with kids) in your 30s. I still am three of those, and didn’t get married until 35. People used to have a certain level of maturity by 30ish, like being the head of household or running a business, but not much anymore. 30 is the new 25. :)

On the other hand, much of what you said is pretty right-on, at least for me. I didn’t feel like I had to keep up with teenybopper fashion. I could dress comfortably. It’s definitely a wiser time, knowing more about the way the world works, but I assume that only gets more and more true the older you get.

One trippy thing about being 30ish is sometimes you have bosses that are younger than you. That’s weird, and not necessarily pleasing.

I’m Laureth, and I’m 37. Please to be getting offa my lawn. ;)

I loved being thirty. That is when I learned how to spell definitely correctly, and not a moment too soon.

Somewhere around 27–28, I gained a certain amount of wisdom about myself, and gained a little more control over my life and interests. I felt smarter.

My 30s were better than my 20s, and my 40s are looking better than my 30s!

Age is a state of mind .. up until about 65.. then gravity takes over.

I just turned 30, and it felt great. Although I enjoyed many aspects of my twenties, I knew that I was fully ready to move on. I agree with @PandoraBoxx, around the age of 27 or 28, there was a shift in the way that I thought about things. I did have a better understanding of myself, but more importantly an ability to have a better understanding of everything else. I think there is a shift in your early twenties, about 23 and one in your late twenties.

It is not like I feel like a different person, I just feel like a better equipped adult. Of course that came a bit before the day I turned 30, but I was definitely ready.

For me, it started out with a terrible disaster, and got better from there. I ended up meeting my current Hubby when I was 32.

@NaturalMineralWater: Gravity starts taking over in the 40s for women!

There wasn’t this huge moment, when I turned thirty. It’s just another number; however, throughout my thirties, I feel that I have starting coming into my own. I understand myself more, I’m more confident and I’ve let go of some of the things that used to bother me. I am more settled and really do appreciate the things in my life.

As a mom, I’m enjoying watching my children grow and as a wife, I’m enjoying the fact that my marriage is stronger than ever before.

Remember, though. I think it has a lot to do with the Baby Boomers – 40 is the new 30 and 50 is the new 40. 30 doesn’t have that same, “Oh God…you’re old” feelings, as it did many years, ago.

I’ll find out soon enough.

@hearkat Well I suppose it depends on the woman and her fitness routine. With no fitness routine I’m sure gravity could take over as a teenager. There are lots of 40 somethings who are in better shape than teenagers these days.. but yes.. I hear ya..

When you are under 30, you can’t trust anyone over 30. When you are over 30, you can’t trust anyone under 30. When you are just 30, well then you sigh and exclaim that you are glad you aren’t 50. At 50, in dog years, you are dead! =)

It’s the same as being 40-something except that you’re older and wiser.

I turned 31 this year and so far it’s a bit rubbish! Not so much the now being in my 30’s but the fact that life is getting a bit depressing at the moment, just lost my job, and no chances of getting another for a while, also just lost my uncle (aged 59), now my cousin (aged 29) and just found out his brother has just been robbed and the cd’s and ipod that belonged to the recently passed away have been stolen too :’(
I’m just wondering how to make my life improve and feel better about it, when things like this happen and you feel like you have been hit by the bad luck train!
Life is worse a lot worse for others out there and I keep trying to tell my self that but its so frustrating watching those around you, who you love so much, hurt.

Enough depressing thoughts, start to live your life for the moment and remember to not save things for best, or you’ll never use them, if you want that second piece of cake… go for it, I’d rather have that hole filled in my stomach than spend the rest of the day thinking I coul just do with another peice of cake, what a waste of thinking space!

Be 30 (+) and proud!!

Take your 30’s to work you ass off. Or when you start seeing that light at the end of the tunnel you would have wished you kicked ass in your 30’s.

Heading into the 40’s and beyond, are so much more a blast when you have cash in the bank.

@NaturalMineralWater: and it depends on the size/weight of the ‘rack’, I suppose, which exercise doesn’t change much.

@hearkat True. There are some gifted with enough… of that.. to have problems regardless of what they do. They are both blessed and cursed.

i don’t remember

Not much difference from being in your late 20s. (Except I got a few teasing here and there on my 30th birthday) You should celebrate turning 30. Every birthday is worth celebrating/being grateful for. =]

I didn’t feel or look much different when I was 20-something, 30-something, and 40-something. Now I am 56, and have to accept the fact that I am starting to look my age. You have a good 20 years left before you really change much..

I know that I feel like it’s too late to change. I’m turning 30 in 98 days (who’s counting). I know that’s ridiculous but still…

It’s just another year closer to dieing.

@tandra88: You can’t die until you spell “dying” correctly. That’s the cosmic rule.

@gailcalled: Good, I’ll live eternally.~