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| April at Fisherman's Wharf, San Francisco |
This month marks my half-birthday, which maybe isn't a big 'thing' but I remember using it in college as an excuse to party. This year, it marks a six-month countdown to turning 30. I remember being 25, living in Washington DC and going to drinks after work for someone's birthday. It was their 30th and they asked me if I wasn't anxious about turning 30. I shrugged and said something like, "Nah, I don't see a reason to be... plus that's a long way off." Welp, those five years have come and (are almost) gone!
A lot's changed for me since then. Some changes were big milestones (grad school, moving cross-country, new job, marriage) but I'm sure there are many more changes that have been subtle and slow-burning. So when I turn 30 it may not feel like much of a change from today, but compared to 25 (and especially to 20!) it's huge.
I still don't see a reason to be anxious, but I do find myself more reflective on aging recently:
I've been watching the show Younger and loving it. A 40-yr-old woman pretends to be 26... the main plot may be far-fetched but I love the varying perspectives from/about different age groups, plus the female characters all are learning from each other in some way.
This TED talk by psychologist Meg Jay on our 20s as our defining decade... Lots of people talk about it online, and rightly so. My favorite line: "No one's getting through adulthood without going through their 20s first." The talk is, however, geared toward a certain audience, as this blog post explains, but the message to be intentional applies to many.
Also, this article on staying friends in your 30s (read: as you get older). The problem covered in the article, one of busyness, is not new to my late-20s friends and me, and I find scheduling to always be the biggest obstacle. Maybe the part that comes with aging is all the different people you keep meeting (& keep up with) in new cities and jobs. Or the ways everyone's priorities tend to change over the years. The landscape of your friendships might change (coffee chats or swinging-by the park vs all-nighters) but the affection remains.
Finally, I just don't think there's one metric by which we can measure our age. Maybe we have a certain image in our minds for the age of '30' (or any age) but then you look at a real person who is actually 30 and you have to realize there's so much more there. When I turn 30 I hope to just appreciate everything in my life, the big milestones and the little moments.
