I'm having some trouble following your position, EBB. I think we would all agree that you aren't magically granted the Anti-Life Equation as your 30th birthday present. That said, even if someone does not unlock the secrets of the universe, I can't understand your incredulity that someone might at least understand themselves and their own life better after the opportunity for greater reflection. Why is this so hard to believe?
I am just skeptical of the notion that there are profound life secrets to be had that come from experience in a modern consumer society. I think that people mistake the "mellowing out" process that comes with age as some sort of enhanced wisdom, when in reality it is mostly them trying to make themselves feel like they have gained something for all their years lived besides wrinkles.
I have found that at 30, one is still a child. Ten years ago I didn't think so. **** I'm an old fart.
Why do you qualify it like that "in a modern consumerist society?" If you were in an Aboriginal hunter-gatherer society, do you think the result would somehow be different? An Antebellum plantation-based agrarian one?
Both. And Dave, I was also a child at 30. The few people who are still here who remember my posting then, can attest that I was a child.
I am enjoying the last year of my 30s... come Libra season, I hit my 4th decade. To answer the question... nah, turning any age hasn't really sucked, for me. I look at life as continuous growth and learning, so really it's all just pages turning in a book... far from over, by any means. As for going back to my 20s... I loved my 20s... pretty good years for the most part, but I don't really have any desire to travel backwards.
See, harpuah, that seems healthy to me. Enjoy every period of your life to the fullest, so that you won't have to spend some other period trying to live or relive it.
Just hit my 30s a couple weeks ago and everything is still great. It helps that I am still a child at heart so I can enjoy life while also being a bit more settled, mature and responsible. ... except people wanting to know when progeny will be arriving.
I am not her first child to get married, why isn't she hassling them??? AND she has a step-grandchild. I guess that isn't good enough?
If 72 is the new 30, that makes 30 the new -12. I don't know what the hell I'm supposed to think about that. In all seriousness, most of you, though not you, Billy, know about my breakdown in 2012. (Cliff Notes for EBB: severe depression that lasted for nine months; compelling thoughts of suicide; admission into an inpatient psyche ward, etc.) There was a lot that contributed, but turning thirty didn't help. I suppose it was less the turning thirty in itself and more the turning thirty and being basically incredibly disappointed, not to say very angry, about where my life had gone in the last ten years. But I guess that's kind of always what it is, isn't it? The numbers are arbitrary. It's more that they sometimes remind you of where you once thought you'd be when you hit that age and where you actually are and sometimes that's incredibly disheartening. Hope frigging springs eternal. My thirties are going to be so much more awesome than my twenties. I've already decided. But I'd agree with what you say about not receiving any great wisdom when you turn thirty; I don't think that people think they have because they've mellowed though. I'm thirty and I think I'm crazier than I was when I was twenty. In a good way. Actually, I know I am. Who wants to mellow? I'll go to my grave acting like a fool; you gotta find happiness somehow.
I got asked by people who weren't my relatives. And told at age 29 that I would be "too old" if I waited much longer. Gotta love the Southern small town where I lived at the time. NOT.
I'm 38, so 40 will be my next "big one". I don't remember anything special about turning 30, so I assume turning 40 will be fine too. I still feel the same as I did in my 20's, and age is mostly in one's head anyway. But I do appreciate the additional wisdom and the decreased giving a **** about what others think that only time spent on earth can bring you, though. And kids... now that my wife and I have two young kids, it's like having a second childhood getting to do things with them.
Yup that sounds like NC. I'm actually kind of frightened by the number of ladies that I know who became pregnant in the 17-22 age range and often said something not wanting to wait too late to be a good mom. . .
It's not so bad, in 7 years you will finally be able to use the famous quote from Clerks: "I'm 37?!?!?"
It was really great when I turned 24 I was told by a family member I was too old to entice anyone anymore. And I know really? Leave me alone! It was like the day after I turned 30 they got permission to badger me.
