So today marks a month since I turned 30. Crossing from the 20s into the 30s, the decade that movies show women hating. No I didn't celebrate the first anniversary of my 29th birthday. I was actually looking forward to 30. The people I have met who are 30+ are more settled in who they are, less needing to prove themselves, and really just taking life as it comes. I want to be that kind of grounded person.The funniest thing about turning 30 is the perspectives. People under 30 think that 30 is so old! When I tell younger people how old I am, they can't believe that I'm so old. I don't look that old, like 30 is supposed to come with its own set of gray hairs and wrinkles. People in their 40s+ tell me I'm still a kid, and that the 30s was the best decade. I'm viewed as a more serious adult but still not a real adult. I've enjoyed living between the different perspectives.
It does feel sort of strange though to say that I'm 30. I think I should feel different and I should be in a different place in life. Maybe I should be married longer or have kids or be more settled in my career. I should be through with my master's now and be in a "real" career. Looking back, I expected life to look much different than it does now. I think my expectations were incorrect.
Most tv sitcoms showing young characters are based around people in their early 30s. The show "Friends" was based around a bunch of characters my age or slightly older. They were young, fashionable, cool and the people everyone wanted to hang out with. And they were 30! Most of those characters didn't have real careers, were trying to figure their lives out, and weren't married. While their lives did progress on the show, they didn't start with everything figured out (partly because that would make a really boring show).
I'm trying to be okay with where I am today, even though its not as far along as I expected (whatever that really means). I am sort of strange in that I look forward to the day when I can say I have been married for 40 years and glory in silver hair and smile lines. I want to be more vivacious and life-loving at 80 than I am at 30. I want to live life to the fullest and enjoy each moment, taking the good and the bad together and learning from both. Life has not always been laughs and giggles, and there are times when life is a struggle. All of it together is the path of life. The struggles help you appreciate the good times, and endure the struggles knowing that things will be good again.
My motto for the start of this new decade is that life is a journey not a destination.
