Reality alert: Don’t believe those who say that 30s are the new 20s, or that any particular age group represents any other age group. It’s a myth.
Now, for the real deal.
30s are 30s, and 20s are 20s, and that’s the bottom line.
Being in your 20s is great! It’s the dawn of adulthood and independence, and you get to make beautiful bad choices and enjoy venomous experiences that were forbidden before. You learn about responsibilities and about broken hearts, about excelling at work and about the perks of slacking off, about the sweetness of financial independence and the burdens that come with it.
Now that’s when the real fun begins!
Somehow, the minute you turn 30, you feel like a new, improved version of you has emerged. Fragments of that change tease you through your late 20s, but it really resonates when you hit the big 3-0. You know yourself better, your tolerance for annoyances gets lower, your priorities shift and the sacrifices you make take on new, more profound meanings.
In your 30s, you are a refined version of you.
This is when you can be picky about your choices and when you know what you want a little bit better than before. And even if you still don’t, at least you know what you don’t want better, and you are more capable of saying “no”. You find yourself saying, “I’m too old for this s***,” and liking it, because you are not willing to go extra miles for people who will not do the same for you.
Time takes on a different meaning for you; you appreciate sleep more andyou value “me” time more. You see your friends less often, but every time you do is good. You travel less, but then you learn how to make the best of every hour spent.
Your 30s is when you are more conscious about what you eat; it’s when you truly realize the meaning of the words “My body is my temple” as your metabolism rates go down and the hints of wrinkles and grey hairs start creeping up on you. This is when you realize your body needs you as much as you need it, so you become kinder to it, more nurturing, more loving.
Confidence levels rise in your 30s and you become more vocal about your opinions, simply because your convictions grow deeper. You learn about flexibility and use it only with those who deserve it. You find yourself reluctant to engage in mindless chatter and seek more meaningful relationships with those around you.
Your career also takes a change, but that probably started a few years earlier. You feel no need to “prove yourself” anymore, and the importance of your work changes as the reasons why you work change.. It’s about self-fulfilment more than it is about self-worth. It’s about practicing what you have learnt more than it is about learning new things. Eventually, it becomes about teaching, too.
Even your fashion sense changes a bit. You are more daring in your 30s when it comes to fashion. You have learnt through the years what suits you and what doesn’t, so you take what does to new levels and are more confident about the risks you take.
Overall, being in your 30s may not be as wild and fun as being in your 20s, but you find yourself not really caring about that. Why? Because you realize fun is not your first priority anymore; it shifts and changes until your very definition of the word alters itself completely.
This is what it all boils down to in the end; how you define and understand everything around you. New, deeper meanings to words, beliefs and thoughts emerge, and they are based on your personal standards and preferences.
And, in the end, it all depends on your perspective. If you are in your 30s and haven’t realized that already, perhaps it’s time you do.
It all depends on you.
