Turning 30 is Great… Just Great
Posted on 16 February 2008 by Nicholas Johnson
I’m totally conflicted. I just turned 30 last week (January 30th). [Thank you, all of you that didn’t remember. And thank you, all of you that reminded me every day for the last 6+ weeks. I appreciate both of those groups in my own *special* way.] My conflict comes from all of the statements that friends, family, and completely random strangers (wtf?) offered up to me. I am not kidding when I say that I was told the following statements:
“Oh my God! You’re old now!”
“What are you going to do now that you’re old?”
“Will you buy my mom a beer?” (asked by a kid approximately 9 yrs old in a local bar on the night of my celebration)
And here’s the best one…..“Do you feel any older?”
And honestly, my answer is “No. HELL NO!” I don’t. I really, really don’t. And no, I’m not trying to convince myself of anything here. And at the same time, I’m not going to go off and start saying, “30 is the new 20.” That doesn’t even make sense. Why would anybody want to be 20 again? I wouldn’t mind being 21 with all of the knowledge of women, business, and education that I have now. The bad thing is….I’d still screw up relationships, dislike my job, and it would probably still have taken me 10 years to graduate college. Speaking of….maybe that is why I don’t feel so old. No….that can’t be it.
Could it just be that I have made a conscious effort not to feel old? I can’t do anything about the random grey hairs that are coming in. And I’m probably not going to put in the extra effort to make that last 10lbs of belly go away. But I can make the decision to not let my life be dictated by being 30. So what if I am? I still look 28 and all of my ex-girlfriends will confirm that I’m just as immature as a 12 year old. I still buy comic books, sleep until noon, want to be a rock star (just not this guy), watch Saturday morning cartoons (in my superhero underoos), and wear jeans to church. Why??? Because I can.
At the same time, I know that I have grown up a little too. Here is how I know. I no longer look at girls that I date in terms of “I wonder long before we’ll sleep together?”, I have started looking at them and wondering if I’m going to be able to look at them every morning and not want to run. I have also made all sorts of efforts respond to my correspondence on a regular basis. I used to be the worst about reading email and clicking DELETE or throwing a letter away after reading it. Now, I make the time to reply. OH and I actually write thank you letters. If you don’t do it now…..Start immediately. Another thing that I have had to “teach” myself to do is bust my ass to keep my commitments or I pick up the phone and let someone know AND I take the time to reschedule (if it is something that can be rescheduled). All of these things are lessons that I learned the hard way. They were hard lessons to learn.
The hardest part of it all was that I wasn’t ready to learn this a few years back. Now that I think about it, maybe it isn’t such a bad thing that I have gotten “old”. So…..to all of you “old” people out there, and all of you soon to be old people remember this: You will always be younger than all of the people who are trying to convince you that you’ve gotten old. And if all else fails…..there is always wine. You’re probably old enough to enjoy a nice glass.
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February 16th, 2008 at 7:13 pm
hahaha! Thanks for the laugh, Nick, and I know you’re not old…you’re just ancient
February 16th, 2008 at 7:51 pm
The whole turning 30 or even turning 40 thing isn’t a big deal to me. I turned 30 last year and nothing special happened to me. It was just another birthday.
Getting older is a good thing for me. It means more recognition and respect professionally. It means fewer people think I’m just out of college.
More important to me than my age is my health, and that’s something I am working on. Because I’ve seen 60 year olds hustle around like 30 year olds, and I’ve seen 30 year olds lounge around like they’re ancient. It’s really all about your health and your mindset.
February 16th, 2008 at 10:19 pm
I prefer 30s over 20s. I’m finally starting to know who I am and enjoy it.
February 18th, 2008 at 8:52 pm
Honestly, turning 30 wasn’t a big deal. What seemed a big deal at the time that I noticed was going from “Miss” to “Ma’am”. But then I eventually got over it and realized that change was all my own fault. I became a mom and quit caring about throwing on makeup everyday, wore ponytails all the time and adorned my body in t-shirts and sweatpants.
Now the worn-down mom stage is ending too, thank goodness !!! I got my hair styled, bought some expensive jeans (not saggy-butt mom jeans either), now I look more together. However, I don’t think the “Miss” thing will ever happen again. But I have to say, I don’t miss my twenties. I enjoyed them but wouldn’t want to live them again. I am actually ready to grow old on a yearly basis.