My 30s
Aug 19th, 2005 by Accidental Thinker
A coworker of mine turned 30 not so long ago. It was a remarkably uneventful milestone given his attitude three years earlier. At the time, he was quite morose about turning 27 because it was close to 30, which was old. I, being 31 myself then, wasn’t so sympathetic. I jokingly asked him to remind me when the big 3-0 approached, so I could take the day off to avoid his depression.
Well, that birthday came and went for him without incident or fanfare, but it reminded me of the advice I gave him three years ago. I guess it wasn’t advice so much as my own perspective on turning 30. You see, my 20s were great for me. I accomplished a lot and had much to be proud of and thankful for. During my 20s I finished college, found a wonderful man, bought a home, started a family, and was gainfully employed in a job I loved. I didn’t look at my 20s as being over. Instead, I looked forward to my 30s as being even better. Maybe I’m too young to be musing about growing old, but I saw my 30s, and still do, as an opportunity to build on what I had already done. (Plus, it’s a lot easier to establish a professional reputation when you aren’t still wet behind the ears.) Why dwell on what is behind you, especially at such a young age, when there is still so much to look forward to? Naturally milestone birthdays are a time of self-reflection, but why worry about what you can’t change? Namely, the passage of time. Change what you have the power to control and accept the rest. I know that’s easier said than done, but I’d rather make the most of my life instead of solemnly marking the fact that it marches on.
I hope I still hold this opinion down the road, but don’t hold me to it. I reserve the right to change my mind. I am a female, after all. Talk to me again when I turn 40, or 50, or 75, or 102, and we’ll see if this outlook of mine still holds water. For now, I’m still just a young whippersnapper.
Fair warning! At 40, the warranty expires and your knees start going bad, your back hurts all the time and you start forgetting things.When I turned 39, I was really hung up about it, because I’d actually thought I was turning 40. I said something about it to my wife about two weeks before my birthday and she said, “What are you talking about? You’re only turning 39.” I was in a great mood for the next two weeks, but the additional benefit I gained is that I’d already mourned 40, so it wasn’t so bad when it actually got here.
good luck– it seems by your blog you are already in a nursing home– let your hair down baby!!!
I don’t know whay, but 33 was my hardest birthday. Maybe it’s because I relaized I was far enough past 30 there was no turning back.Hard to think THAT birthday was 13 years ago…
If a lifetime was one year, I’m about the third week in September. I see, hear and read a lot of wha-wha-wha. I frequently think of the quote that espoused, “Most people are pretty much where they deserve to be.”Regardless of fortune or misfortune, attitude is everything. Life is rich and fertile at every age. Speed bumps and barriers are always there, but we can prevail. I used to crap in my pants … but, I learned better. Carpe diem – everyday is a gift!
PS/ Go to haloscan.com and use that for your comments … then you’ll know who the “anonymous” freaks/ cowards are. Also, click on “warning” on my website to access a site who tracks these weirdos down. Oh, and then shoot me an email!
Mike sent me for positive reinforcement. I hear you’ve had an incident with an anonymous commenter? Well, honey, consider yourself hazed into the unpopular sorority of the Blogger world. Everyone gets them, some more often than others. I had two in a row that were not only insulting but profane to say the least. THe thing to remember is that A)You are better than them and B) they are obviously involved in a deep psychological crisis, otherwise what would motivate a person to spew such filth and hatred? So hold your head up high and remember who you are and why you write. Great blog.Come see me sometime.PS Go to no anonymous comments, too. It weeds them out as courage isn’t on the mind of such cowards in the anonymous world of jerks.
Well now, seems like I have stumbled into good company here; Mike, Tish, et al. 🙂 You seem to have your priorities straight, unlike some who are hittin’ their eighties and wondering what the heck happened to their lives. They figure they wasted it somehow (maybe they spent it leaving anonymous comments on blogs, who knows..), and wish they had prioritized things when they were, oh say 30 or o.Great place you have here young lady. Keep up the good work and the good thoughts.God bless!Oh.. and haloscan’s a good thing; so is shuttin’ off the ability for the anonymous to comment.
Lewis, thanks for the warning! Now I know what I have to look forward to. Except for the forgetting things. That started with my first pregnancy. I’m convinced that having kids kills brain cells.Mike, I agree completely that attitude is everything. Life is what you make of it. My dad and husband are especially good at not sweating the small stuff. I try to be that way too but they are better at it than I am.Everyone else, thanks for the positive thoughts!Regarding the anonymous comments, I can handle differences of opinion. I’ll probably keep the anonymous feature on for now and delete the ones that are too offensive or blatant spam (what’s with the spam lately anyway? I’ve deleted a ton of those this week!). The reason for that is that I have some family and friends who read this blog but are not bloggers themselves. I hate to preclude them from leaving comments if they wanted to. If someone could help me figure out a way block anonymous comments without requiring commenters to have a Blogger account, I’d be grateful! Mike, does Haloscan allow for that?
Hey Monique, just got back into town and got online to check everyone out. Mike suggested to drop by and I appreciate his opinion of good sites. I’m a old great-grandmother who is jumping through life like a
trampoline, up and down, up and down…;)I’ve found several young mothers blogs, particularly the soldier’s wives and have added them to my “favorite females”, I will be adding you to my list, so I can drop back by and check on you and family. Life is mostly miserable for “trolls” who post ugly/rude comments, and I thank Mike
for pointing me to Haloscan so I can control their return and learn their locations. Blogs are wonderful journals for us all to share our knowledge, experiences, and make new friends. I invite you to drop by mine sometime, the wine is always chilled.