So for those of you who hit it, how do you cope with turning 30 years old?

[CyberCubed]

So like a lot of people here, I'm one of those guys approaching the dreaded 3-0 in a few years. It makes me sad because once I hit 30 I'll officially feel like I'm not a young adult anymore, and thus a "real" adult.

Like a lot of people, I spent most of my 20's still feeling like a teenager. While I have my own job and graduated College, I still felt not much different than when I was in High School. I think a lot of people in their early and mid-20's still feel like that, when you're in that awkward phase between being a young adult for the first time but still not sure what you plan to do for the rest of you life.

But a lot of people here already hit 30, or are close to it. How do you guys cope with hitting 30? That's like the milestone you can never go back from.

I just can't believe that dreaded 3-0 number is approaching for so many of us. I just don't want to think about it. It makes you officially realize your youth is slipping away and have aged.

[Zulithe]

Gotta convince yourself that it's just a number and not let it define you. Lots of old people act way younger and sometimes look way younger too. Did you know Johnny Depp was born in 1963? You'd never know it by guessing. You gotta live life by your own terms not by the number of earth's rotations you've managed to survived

Now, when you start FEELING old and you can't fight the symptoms of age anymore that's different, those can be very impactful to how you life your life. But until that happens I say don't let it change ANYTHING!

[goodfellaray]

I'm turning 30 in August. I'm not sweatin' it. As long as I'm alive and well, and my family's alive and well, I'm content.

[Leo656]

Alcohol helps. Kidding. Sorta.

Hell, I'unno, it went by so fast I didn't really have time to let it sink in. Now I'm too busy worrying about how close 40 is to care about being past 30, and I've barely been 30.

It doesn't mean a person can't still do the things they want to do in life, but I do notice there's a societal pressure/stigma once you hit 30 that you're supposed to have "done more" with your life, for lots of us.

Most of my clients are between 35 and 60, and many of us collectively share a joke that we all stopped having Birthdays at 27. Not sure why that seems to be the "peak" age, but that's what we seem to prefer. I guess because it's an age that's old enough to be a "responsible adult" but far away from 30 to still be "hip".

As long as I have my hair, I don't really care. I just don't go out of my way to advertise my age. I'm not ashamed of it, exactly, it's just easier not to talk about it.

[Roseangelo]

Dreaded? Pu-lease. It's just a number. 30 was just another birthday. At 32 I started karate and am now in the best shape of my life. No complaints from me.

[Leo656]

I'm with ya on that one. One of the best parts of my job is putting people in the best shape of their lives at a time when they thought it wasn't possible. It totally is, some people just need a little push.

Like most people, the "best" shape of my life was probably in high school - aka, "the last time I had visible abs" - but I'm definitely stronger, more durable, and with a comparable body fat level to back then, so I'll take it. I also didn't manage to get into wrestling until around 28, when most of my contemporaries started around 15-18, and I've done OK with it, to the point where apparently only people who know me well are even aware how much older I am than everyone else involved. I take some pride in that, as after 25 came and went and I hadn't even started training, I kind of figured wrestling wasn't going to happen, as it's a very size and age-prejudiced business, but it worked itself out.

The fact I've managed to do alright with wrestling while getting myself into shape comparable with where I was at 17 also makes me feel pretty good since I manged to do it all with a cracked C6 vertebrae I unknowingly suffered in high school. I somehow never noticed it until I had a neck X-ray done in 2006 or somewhere around there. I'm kind of glad, because if I had known about it sooner, I probably would have taken fewer risks with my body; finding out about it years later, after already having done a lot of stuff with no ill effects, made me confident that it wasn't going to keep me from doing things. I do have to be a little more careful with lifting, and doing certain wrestling moves, but altogether, I think I'm doing okay.

But I certainly haven't let my age, injuries, or anything like that hold me back or slow me down. If anything, I just wish I'd gotten an earlier start on certain things. Like, my Dad got to see me wrestle, but he died before he saw me when I was any good, so that's kind of a bummer. But that's life, I guess.

[CyberCubed]

30 is the next big milestone. It's like when you hit 18 for the first time, you're like, "Wow, I'm 18 now!" or when you hit 21 for the first time.

But 30 is the first time you're actually sad to hit a milestone. And it only gets progressively worse from there.

[Leo656]

I'unno, 18 and 21 both sucked sh*t for me. Nothing changed. I don't even remember 18. My 21st Birthday I was doing a moving job in NYC until like 1am like any other day. It was the sh*ts. Two days later, a couple co-workers found out I didn't "celebrate" my 21st, so they "kidnapped me" after work and took me to do shots of whiskey at one of their houses. Hardly a day I look back on fondly. When you've been drinking since you were literally a child, 21 means nothing at all. And it's also frustrating, because I still can't buy beer anywhere without ID, which I find insane, because I seriously doubt I look that young anymore. I've found 6 gray hairs in the last two years, it's simply impossible for me to believe I look 19 to the lady behind the bar. Good on her for doing her job, but still, it's bullsh*t.

Milestones are what one makes of them. I find these particular ones - voting age and drinking age - to be pretty arbitrary, in truth. Neither one means anything meaningful; in fact, the part of your brain responsible for making decisions doesn't fully develop until age 25, so technically, biologically, a person isn't really an "adult" until then, so why isn't 25 a celebrated milestone? Or 16, the age most people can legally drive? Or even 14, when most people can obtain their working papers and get their first job? Those are more important parts of life in the "big picture" than being able to vote, which is meaningless, or drink, which is pretty cool but nothing special.

I'unno, don't worry about how old you are and worry about making the days count, that's the best advice I could give. I'm bad at it, but it's still good advice.

[pennydreadful]

Well for my part, I hit the big 3-0 last year and the part of it I struggled with was the physical side -- realising that my body is changing and trying to come to terms with still feeling attractive even if I've got a few stretchmarks and saggy bits.

Sure it's easy to dwell on the fact that you haven't accomplished XYZ, but I try to focus on how far I have come in other areas. Emotionally I'm in the best place I've ever been - my 20's weren't a happy time for me, but now I'm a much stronger and more confident person.

I think it just comes down to checks and balances - there are some bad parts to aging, but there are some good parts too. You just have to take the good with the bad and focus on making your life happy - because at the end of the day, that's what is the most important thing. Doesn't matter how much you've achieved if you're not happy while doing it.

[Discogod]

Once you hit it, you realise how meaningless it is.

Now, 40... that's not something I'm looking forward to...

[Leo656]

Same. There's nothing you can say or do to deny it at that point. You're "Middle-Aged". People can refer to you as "that older gentleman" and you kinda can't say sh*t because they're right. You may not be "old" yet, but you're definitely "Older". And that can be tough on the ego. At that point, it also becomes creepy to flirt with chicks in their 20s, in most folks' eyes, and that's pretty rough to give up.

Ultimately, I guess it all depends on how vain you are. I, for one, am very vain, and thus, face the occasional existential crisis about getting older. As long as my hair stays where it is, though, I'm sure I'll handle the rest of it just fine.

Well, maybe not visits to a proctologist. That's the part of my 40s I'm glad is still almost 10 years away. And who goes to med school so they can stick their hand up someone's ass, anyway? I mean, I know it's a valuable, necessary medical procedure, but doesn't it kind of say, I'unno, *some*thing about the doctor, that they chose to do this for a living?

Huh... well, that was random.

[joefsas]

It's just a number dude! I'm 26 now so getting there, but i still act like i'm 12 alot of the time lol. Having an 18 month boy helps keep me young. Good thing is, i can use him as an excuse to play with toys and act like a kid again
My mums 50+ and she drank me and my sisters under the table when England played their first world cup game. And she didn't go home till about 5am

You keep telling yourself your getting old, your gunna feel it...

[Mzx10484]

On the one hand, yes, you're going 30, the Spring of Youth fades numerically, more and more. Someone once said that the Fall of Youth ends at the end of 30 - so much for the classification, or the ideas about it.

I turned 30 this year, I had similar thoughts before, sad that this decade of 20 is over.

But as that is, I adapt to the circumstances. Whether and how to go about it is up to the person himself. I still have the same interests, the same will to do something. I'm still getting better in many ways, physical fitness, activities such as playing guitar. Also, I'm still studying two semesters, which makes everything else as old. In short: I do not feel the 30 in everyday life.

But every now and then, the 30-thought comes up, as a compulsive thought.

I guess it becomes more problematic when one day the physical powers wane - someday, in the Spring of Age...

[Prowler]

I still have some years before I hit 30 but I don't see why people dramatize so much over it. Life expectancy gets higher every decade or so with the advancement of medical technology.

40 would seem like a bigger deal since you'd be getting closer to middle age.

[BubblyShell22]

I'm 31 and really don't feel that different at all. Never cared about turning 30 last year and don't care about it now. I still have the same interests I had before, so nothing on that front has changed. It's just a number and nothing more. I didn't care when I turned 18 because I don't vote and never had the desire to be one of those people, and I didn't care about turning 21 because I don't drink. Turning 30 really didn't mean much to me. Just a number and nothing more. If you obsess over it, then it's not going to be pleasant for you. Just live your life how you are, and you'll be fine.

[Roseangelo]

Originally Posted by CyberCubed

30 is the next big milestone. It's like when you hit 18 for the first time, you're like, "Wow, I'm 18 now!" or when you hit 21 for the first time.

But 30 is the first time you're actually sad to hit a milestone. And it only gets progressively worse from there.

As usual, you are making up crap and applying your personal opinion as a universal truth.

[Prowler]

Originally Posted by BubblyShell22

I'm 31 and really don't feel that different at all. Never cared about turning 30 last year and don't care about it now. I still have the same interests I had before, so nothing on that front has changed. It's just a number and nothing more. I didn't care when I turned 18 because I don't vote and never had the desire to be one of those people, and I didn't care about turning 21 because I don't drink. Turning 30 really didn't mean much to me. Just a number and nothing more. If you obsess over it, then it's not going to be pleasant for you. Just live your life how you are, and you'll be fine.

Back when I was a teenager, I believed I'd become very mature and responsible by the time I got in my 20s. While I'm obviously more mature and responsible than when I was 15, i still feel quite young and like things I did back then.

Maybe I'm still going through the phase of recently becoming an adult but I'm really loving it. It's great to be able to do whatever you want and having no one ordering you around or treating you like a kid.

[Refractive Reflections]

I would say not only your mental attitude but your physical health as well is a big factor. I'm sure we all know the benefits of good health, but how you treat yourself (nutrition, exercise, good sleep) will have a much more direct effect on you not only internally but externally as well in getting older.

One clear example of this is some of my high school classmates who are approaching the mid 20s, they are already having prominent "crows feet" after their noted binge drinking and smoking and already look 5-10 years older than what they actually are.

I'm not saying everyone should be an extreme health nut, but making an "investment" in your health makes a big pay off when you start to approach mid-age. In fact , the most common reason for erectile dysfunction (which seems to be the indicator to some of transitioning from being a young man to an older middle-aged man) is athersclerosis and diabetes (which are heavily related to diet and exercise).

Unlike being able to buy a new car, we only have this one body to deal with and how we treat it is eventually going to be revealed later on down the road. The last thing you want is to feel physically horrible in that "connection" from your mental thoughts to the interaction of the physical, external world and feeling hampered/restricted because of some health problem. I realized the importance of that early in life by having a few family members who's health was taken away from them, with no fault to their own, where they have disabilities/impairments.

...So that would a bit of advice I would give because as far as old age goes, it's inevitably gonna happen, and who wouldn't want a good quality of life especially during those approaching years?

[Sofistocat]

Anybody who sees their 30's as "dreaded" doesnt want to grow up... Personally the older I get, the more I get to clown on everybody who is too dumb or naive to realize they dont know sh*t about life or how the world works. That only comes with age...

So everybody keep telling yourself you dont want to get old and be responsible. Im sure that ideology will be a lasting one...

And Im 33 btw totally looking forward to 40.

[Netkeeper]

Originally Posted by Sofistocat

Anybody who sees their 30's as "dreaded" doesnt want to grow up... Personally the older I get, the more I get to clown on everybody who is too dumb or naive to realize they dont know sh*t about life or how the world works. That only comes with age...

So everybody keep telling yourself you dont want to get old and be responsible. Im sure that ideology will be a lasting one...

And Im 33 btw totally looking forward to 40.

I like this outlook! As far as I'm concerned, you're not "old" until you hit 60 or 70. I mean, I'm only 23 myself, so my view may very well change as I approach 30. But I've always viewed 30 as "still young".