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Okay, so I’m turning thirty years old next week, and I still don’t get what the big deal is. By now I would have expected to get the “So You’re Turning Thirty” package in the mail, but somehow nothing has come. I’ve had several friends who have experienced mini-crises related to hitting this milestone, and of course it was Sitcom Gold in the 80’s to have a character turn thirty years old and become the subject of endless ribbing. But for me, it doesn’t seem to mean anything. I guess my car insurance will get a little cheaper? Maybe now I start making cheesy butterfly-wing art (see image of my first attempt, above right) and start wearing my glasses on a string around my neck?
I’ve done everything on Kiplinger’s list of eight things to do before turning 30 (except travel — I guess I did go to Canada that one time). There are apparently several books marketed at the almost-thirty set, all of which seem pretty useless. One of them includes another list of things to have done, most of which I’ve done (okay, I’ll admit I haven’t mastered the Heimlich Maneuver nor whistling with my fingers). Esquire helpfully lists things that men shouldn’t do past 30, including specific guidance not to “high five in a business situation” — message received, Esquire.
So does this thirty-year milestone mean anything? Can I expect anything to change? So far, it has struck me as an occasion for friends to kind of moan and roll their eyes, saying “Hey mister, the big three-oh’s coming up, am I right?” But I don’t seem to be engaging with the big life change here. As far as I can tell, I’m not over the hill yet. In fact, I’ve only recently located the hill.
So I thought I’d ask our over-thirty mental_floss blog readers: what has turning thirty meant to you? Did anything cool happen? Did you flip out? Bonus points for describing any benders or wild affairs conducted solely in reaction to a thirtieth birthday.
Comments (33)
Comment
I can’t remember. Sigh.
posted by Karen on 4-25-2008 at 6:16 pm
I JUST turned 30 last week. So far, nothing has stopped working and I have yet to notice a huge difference in my life. It’s all good, only a week later! :)
posted by Eden on 4-25-2008 at 7:00 pm
I almost got a tattoo….almost. Now I’m glad that I didn’t. Now any tattoo that I get will be for non-freaking-out reasons.
posted by emily on 4-25-2008 at 7:31 pm
I’m turning thirty TOMORROW! I was pregnant on my 29th, so my husband and best friend have planned a blowout tomorrow night. If I am capable of getting to the computer on Sunday, I’ll tell you how it was!
BTW- I haven’t had anything to drink, aside from the occasional glass of wine,since before I was pregnant (over a year) so I may be in bed all day Sunday… I’m scared… my friends are mean…
posted by BustyMcLeod on 4-25-2008 at 7:44 pm
Sort of unrelated, but very coincidental: Fox is actually showing the movie “13 Going On 30″ right now.
posted by Deidre on 4-25-2008 at 8:12 pm
I freaked out. I sorta had it planned, but in retrospect turning 30 has made for a bad year. I quit my well paying job, sold some stock and my car, and moved with my girlfriend to Vienna, Austria (she finished grad school and got a job there).
We took two months to travel on the way, with nothing but backpacks. It was a disaster (bad weather, awful exchange rates). Didn’t ship but a few things from home. I thought it was a great idea to take stock, live overseas, get some perspective.
Now I just miss the friends and lifestyle I left behind. Didn’t realize how good things were, and traded it all for the perspective to find that out. Now the question is how to struggle to get it all back.
So yeah, pretty big crisis here.
posted by Ian on 4-25-2008 at 9:11 pm
I’m only 24 and have started a family, got a college degree, my own home and a great job, and am REALLY looking forward to 30. The 20’s are full of turmoil and uncertainty, and is just like the teenage years except for more responsibility and more problems.
posted by Amanda on 4-25-2008 at 10:03 pm
I turn 31 in about a month. Looking back on this past year, the one thing that stands out is that my warranty ran out. The first 30 years I mostly just dealt with allergies. This past year has involved thousands of dollars on medical expenses, on at least 3 unrelated things, one of which remains unresolved.
So, yeah, hope your health doesn’t give out.
posted by Jonathan on 4-25-2008 at 10:49 pm
I’m 28, and I’ve recently had a bit of a crisis. I’m reading a booke called “Facing 30.” It’s not the number, but the idea that I thought I would have accomplished so much more by now. Also, my 10 year high school reunion is coming up, and I realize that so many of my hopes and dreams have been shattered. I poored my heart out here:
sallycomesunraveled.blogspot.com/2008/03/cheer-up-emo-knitter.html
posted by Sally Villarreal on 4-25-2008 at 11:12 pm
actually, 31 was the watershed year for me - i actually was able to break from the “you should” mold and do what i wanted to do… so if you’re turning 30 and don’t know what to do - wait another year!!!
posted by scott in asuncion on 4-25-2008 at 11:36 pm
You know, assigning numbers of 10 as valuation….smells like good ole human social norms. I just turned 41, and it’s the same to me as turning 30. Or 21. Or 10 for that matter. It becomes nothing more or less than a milestone, a thing you pass by.
posted by Johnny Cat on 4-25-2008 at 11:58 pm
sorry to hear that, Ian. Things have a way of bouncing back, have faith.
posted by Johnny Cat on 4-26-2008 at 12:07 am
I’ve turned 30 few months ago and I have to say that nothing happened to me too, except a big, big hangover for a couple of days. Yes, maybe some uncertainty is suppose to disappear, after 30, as Amanda pointed out, but - maybe just because I am Italian and situation in Italy for 30yo generation is not so cool - a strong sense of uncertainty is still going on.
Maybe I need a good work in US… Someone would offer a job to me? ;)
posted by Salpo on 4-26-2008 at 3:52 am
I guess if you accomplished to be in life where you want to be it’s no big deal.
But if so far all your attempts and struggles have been shattered time and again it’s like a benchmark of failures.
“I’m still so young, I’ll just start anew from square 1″ doesn’t work anymore. Sure things may still change, I’m not dead yet. But you need to gather experiences in your youth you can’t make up for later. And turning 30 is the point in time you might realise there’s no way you can make it anymore. Your “youth” is definitely over.
posted by a non mouse on 4-26-2008 at 5:44 am
Got pregnant, got married, and had triplets. Not exactly a bender, but it made for an interesting (sleepless) year.
30 didn’t really mean much to me as a number (40 didn’t either)…it just seemed to be a time in my life when things started coming together (often unexpectedly). And the older you get, the better life gets- at least that’s the way that things seem to be working out for me and most of my friends.
posted by Jen on 4-26-2008 at 5:59 am
I’m going to be 30 in a few months. I think hitting that milestone is different for us females. I’m not really worried about anything except wrinkles and sagging body parts. If not for the social expectation of looking a certain way, I’d be thrilled to be hitting my thirties.
posted by Catalina on 4-26-2008 at 7:22 am
I’m going to turn 30 in a few months and I think hitting that milestone is different for us females. I’m not worried about anything except for wrinkles and sagging body parts. If not for the social expectation to look a certain way, I’d be thrilled to be entering my thirties.
posted by Catalina on 4-26-2008 at 7:27 am
My 30th was excellent. My husband threw me a surprise party which lasted three full days.
The best thing about turning 30 is that it felt to me that people would take me a bit more seriously. The industry I was working in at the time was chock-full of older people (mid-40’s and up), so they would say things like “Oh, well, you’re young.” Yeah, okay, sure. But once I hit 30, their attitude changed toward me and my professional life improved quite a bit.
I guess a lot of people see that 30th birthday as the one where you become A Real Adult. Or something. I’m 33 now, I own a house, two cars, a toddler, and a lawnmower but I still don’t feel like A Real Adult. This could have something to do with my Pez collection and the fact that I injured myself playing Wii Baseball last week. [shrug]
posted by Rachel on 4-26-2008 at 7:55 am
Turning thirty to me was the same as when I turned forty, absolutely nothing. The only ones that mattered were turning eighteen and twenty one. The next that will matter are at 50 when I can join AARP and whatever age will apply for retirement benefits.
posted by Tim on 4-26-2008 at 9:21 am
I found out that I was Type II Diabetic when I turned 30. Thanks to all of my college habits (beer, fried burritos, Cokes, smoking, and more fried burritos)I had a huge life style change. Four years later, I quit drinking, smoking, and lost nearly 100 pounds. I got married, bought a house, and have a dog with a large backyard. Can’t wait to see what 40 brings me…
posted by David on 4-26-2008 at 9:37 am
turning 30 has meant quitting smoking, and thus gaining about 20 pounds around my gut so that I look like how I always imagined 30 year olds should look.
on the bright side, it also means I will finish grad school finally and never have to go back to school again…
although maybe that’s not so great…
I guess I’ll have to get a job now. Somehow 30 doesn’t feel any more grown up than 22
posted by E on 4-26-2008 at 11:15 am
30 did nothing for me. 31 inspired a bit of a crisis as I realized that the world thought of me as an adult and I was still wondering what I want to be when I grow up.
The only thing that’s changed is mostly the fact as someone else said, starting over is much harder now. You have roots,, maybe in a house, marriage, or pets, and you can’t jut up and leave anymore.
But my grandmother tells me that she loved her 40s the most. I’m looking forward to that. Maybe then I’ll know what I want to be when I grow up.
posted by Varuna on 4-26-2008 at 2:42 pm
Yeah; I remember when I turned 30…
What did turning 30 mean to me? In my 20’s I used to joke (to older people) that 30 was dead (I don’t say that anymore.) In retrospect, 30 was a turning point in my thinking about life; a deeper realization that my life was finite, and could be over any day. It didn’t happen on my 30th birthday, but I can point to that era and recall a definite change in my thinking.
Since then I’ve put less emphasis on achievements and material things, trying to focus more on relationships with my wife, my kids, my siblings, and on my faith in God. The time in life that I thought things would be going downhill turned out to be much better than the teens or twenties. 30 isn’t dead; it’s life just getting started.
posted by Dave on 4-26-2008 at 3:16 pm
I turned 30 this week. I noticed that this past year I had a bit of a mini crisis that resulted in making a decision I never thought I would.
I’m going back to school. And I’ve pretty much resigned myself to spending at least the next ten years slaving towards my new goal.
I guess facing the so-called milestone of turning 30 forced me to figure out
where I want to go. To stop fighting something that was ‘destined’ just because it’s been expected of me for so long.
It has helped me to make a decision that I feel more at peace with than any others I made in the past. I’m actually doing this for me, because I want to. Realizing that I need to do this for myself.
I’m really looking forward to what the next decade will bring.
Then again, I’ve only been 30 for less than a week. By next month, when I start taking classes again, things may be completely different.
posted by Ros on 4-26-2008 at 5:58 pm
Hey I’ll be turning 50 in August. And as we all know, 50 is the new 30.
posted by Valerie on 4-26-2008 at 9:20 pm
I will be 32 in July. 30 was horrible for me. My mom had just passed away about 11 days before. I am in a wonderful church, but they do not minister to singles very well. The whole perception that at 30 you should be married and have popped out a couple of kids by now just puts a lot of pressure on a 30 year old single WOMAN. I imagine if I had already had a couple of kids and been married, my birthday would have been much better!
posted by SongLee on 4-26-2008 at 9:25 pm
I’m about 6 months behind you and will be 30 in October. I’ve been moaning about the upcoming day for the past two years. I don’t know what I’m really scared of other than the fact that 30 sounds more grown up and I’ve never really felt like a grown up yet. Also I really wanted to be a Mom by now, that’s probably the hardest thing for me about turning 30. (Thanks for letting me pour my heart out there fellow flossers!)
posted by Sandy C on 4-26-2008 at 9:48 pm
I’m about 6 months behind you and will be 30 in October. I’ve been moaning about the upcoming day for the past two years. I don’t know what I’m really scared of other than the fact that
30 sounds more grown up and I’ve never really felt like a grown up yet.
Also I really wanted to be a Mom by now, that’s probably the hardest
thing for me about turning 30. (Thanks for letting me pour my heart out
there fellow flossers!)
posted by Sandy C on 4-26-2008 at 9:58 pm
When I was 29 I was unmarried, without children, and rented a two bedroom apartment. I often worked from 9 in the morning until 9 at night as a family support worker.
When I turned thirty I was married, had a baby, was actively searching for a house to buy and was a a stay at home mom.
Often makes me laugh that I worked as a parent coach, financial planner, and home organizer before I did any of it in real life. And now that I have the experience I realize i didn’t have a clue!!
posted by Tonya on 4-27-2008 at 9:35 am
I turn 30 this year as well. I guess I’ve been kind of dreading it for a while now, but not for the fact that I feel older, but for the simple fact that I feel like I’m not where I wanted to be at 30. I had these lofty goals when I got out of college, and I haven’t really accomplished them all. Don’t get me wrong- I’m happy and things have gone well for me. Married with a wonderful son, a great job and so forth. But nevertheless, I think hitting thirty, you really start to realize how quick time passes and you need to take advantage of your opportunities. College and even high school seem like they weren’t that long ago, but in all actuality, it really was quite a while back. As cliche as it may be, when you begin to stare 30 years old in the face, seize the day takes on a whole new meaning.
posted by Tom on 4-27-2008 at 8:10 pm
I wrote this blog post to cheer myself up when I turned 30. It worked: I get it now. And 9 months of being 30 haven’t changed my perspective on it.
posted by Ryan on 4-28-2008 at 4:21 am
I turned 30 last Fall after a couple years of dreading it. It’s really not as bad as I thought it would be. In fact, 30 has been pretty great to me — I got engaged to my perfect match and we will be getting married this coming Fall!
posted by Julie on 4-28-2008 at 11:06 am
Some person said it best- “50 is the new 30″ haha… I read somewhere that kids that are being born now are prolly gonna live to 150.
posted by Jessika on 5-6-2008 at 10:01 am