I'm 32. I never believed people who said 30's were better than 20's, but they totally are. I still feel young like a kid, but I'm much more secure than I was in my 20's. It's like the best of both worlds.
My 20s were fantastic. I mean, I have a challenging and exhausting job, but that will probably be the case until retirement. Certainly isn't 20s-specific. I don't recall my 20s being particularly challenging, terrifying, sucky, or questioning-inducing personally, at all.
My 20's are coming to end as well and I am glad. They were challenging, exhausting (working 1-2jobs), terrifying (almost died from an accident), I questioned everything I was doing confirming I was doing it correctly. I am better now then I was then though. I spent a lot of time being bitter, upset over things I had no control over. 30's I hope to be a new adventure.
The first half of my 20's were rough. I was overwhelmed a lot and had crappy self esteem issues when it came to friends/dating/career etc. The second half of my 20's was all about getting what I wanted and not settling and I'm really glad I'm where I am on the other end now (at 33). I met DH when I was turning 28 and I'm glad I didn't meet him before then because I was a hot mess.
Every season of life has its high points and low points. I was still finding myself in my 20s, especially my early 20s, and that was less fun. I did some amazing traveling, I met my husband, I had my first child in my 20s (granted I was 29 for the child so I don't know how much that counts). I enjoyed my 20s.
So far my 30s are great too. I feel more tied down than I did in my 20s... but that is not specific to my age, just to where I am in life with a toddler and a baby on the way. It's temporary. I was not so tied down this time last year.
I am 31 and you couldn't pay me to go back 10 years in my life. But that has always been the case. I enjoy growing, learning, and changing. I like myself better now than I did 10 years ago. 10 years ago I liked myself better than I did 20 years ago.
For me, its not age specific. I had more fun in my 20s solely because I was childfree. I have fun now too, but its different and not as often. If I had the same lifestyle now as I did then without kids, it would be more fun in my 30s solely because we have a lot more money. But work wise-- it was hard then, and its even harder now- I have many more responsibilities.
My 30s have definitely been different from my 20s, but I can't say they are better or worse. The only thing that I can say for sure is that this decade comes with a whole host of other challenges and issues that I am glad to have to face with maturity and things I've learned (about myself and others) over the past years.
I had a lot of highs and lows in my 20s. I had the worst and best years of my life so far in my twenties. My first two years of my 30s havent been too shabby either though
I'm 32. I never believed people who said 30's were better than 20's, but they totally are. I still feel young like a kid, but I'm much more secure than I was in my 20's. It's like the best of both worlds.
Great and awful. I was a "good kid" for the most part in high school and college. In my early 20s I went through my wild phase. Can't say I regret it, but I definitely think 23/24 year old me was a dumbass.
But I also met my husband, got married, went to graduate school while working full time (both good and bad!), and made a lot of great friends. My 20s definitely made me who I am.
I'm still in my 20s. So far it's been absolutely challenging but will lead to a very rewarding 30s. H and I worked extremely hard in our early 20s (we're 27 now) to get to this point in our lives but we continue to work just as hard as we steer our business into a new direction and it has proven quite challenging at times as we make mistakes, learn new things, and grow from it. We are already way ahead of where we thought we'd be 5 years ago and even though I want to stay in my 20s, I'm ready to reap the rewards of all our hard work.
My 20s were scary in that everything was unsettled...school, profession, spouse but also exciting & self-indulgent. It all was fairly settled by 30 & I started having my kids in my late 20s. My 30s are drawing to an end (I'm 37.5) & the fact that I am having/raising kids makes my 20s seem like a breeze. But I'm happier & far more content now. It's just way more emotionally & physically challenging filling the role of a wife, employee, daughter, sister, mom to soon 4 young girls & friend than any the years before all those obligations. But I could have taken a much easier road...so I obviously like chaos & a challenge. I definitely realized that my choices are my own & the consequences are to be owned. All in all getting older is nice so far.
Were exhausting, challenging, rewarding, heartwarming, terrifying, sucked and made you question everything. Lol.
All of this except the sucking. My 20s featured all of the other things and I would actually say they were pretty good! lol.
The insecurity of your 20s starts decreasing as you get into your 30s. You start learning who you are, what you can and can't (more like shouldn't do), you start to value your time and sanity more than other people's silly drama, and in general you start caring less about things that don't matter. I would say I was 32 - 33 before it started happening enough for me to notice, but it was great when it did.
While I agree with kore - the 30s seem to hold the best of both worlds - I think that, at any age, life is a combination of exhausting, challenging, rewarding, heartwarming, terrifying, sucked and makes you question everything. If it's not, then you're not really living
Post by sillygoosegirl on Jan 16, 2013 17:37:46 GMT -5
I think I used my 20s very well. I finished my degree, got married, worked a few jobs and accumulated a lot of valuable work experience, saved/invested a ton of money, lived in 4 states, made a good number of friends, visited 22 countries, and got by without a car of my own the entire time. I would have liked to be able to include "bought a home" on that list, but the short sale process took me from my 20s into my 30s. I learned a lot and grew a lot, but with only a couple notable exceptions, they were pretty dang easy... Not the huge challenge full of earth shattering revelations everyone says your 20s are "supposed to be." I expect my 30s to be more challenging and exhausting, between the new house and the kids we intend to have.
Umm. I don't know. My 20's were fun, but there were lots of ups and downs. Did too much partying in my early 20's, worked too hard in school in my mid 20's, got married and had a lot of frustration getting into a career and settling into being married in my late 20's.
I'm 30 now and I don't think I'll have it all figured out by 32 or anything. I'm feeling like our finances are a mess lately and while we're miles ahead of where we were 5 years ago, we have a long way to go before I'd say we're stable and doing well financially. Life wise I'm not as far in my career as I'd like to be, don't have the friends around me I wish I had, my marriage is not where I'd like it to be, etc. I still don't feel like I truly know what I want in many areas of my life and don't know what the long term plan really is beyond the next couple of years. So very much like my 20's so far, I guess.
I wouldn't want to go back in time but I wouldn't wish your life away either. It sounds like you have a lot more fun than I do and being "stable" comes with obligations (like paying your mortgage instead of taking a trip to Vegas) so it's got its drawbacks for sure
Post by LoveTrains on Jan 16, 2013 19:10:54 GMT -5
My 20s were amazing. Of course I was in college under 22, and then I got a great job after college and was really excited about pursuing a career. I loved where I worked for the first five years of my career and made a lot of great connections. I really grew into my adult self during my 20s.
I did lots of exciting and fun things in my 20s.
Now I am 32, and I do feel significantly older, but I also still enjoy life. I have a secure job, a wonderful husband, and am much more financially stable.
So far I liked both my 20s and my 30s, my 20s were just much more adventurous and exciting.
Grad school is a bitch and is more challenging than it needs to be. I'm certainly exhausted every day. That said, the clinical work I am doing is very rewarding and it helps keep everything into perspective. I also think I have some great things going in my personal life - so no, I wouldn't say it sucks or I'm questioning everything.
I reserve the right to change my answer over the next 7 years though.
Interesting responses here as compared to the other forum I asked and my irl friends. Having a house, marriage and children are not something I want in my 20s. Or even 30s. Lol. So I'm happy that I don't have to deal with any of that. I'm exactly where I want to be.
I'm just curious in a more philosophical sense. I've been sitting at a restaurant for the last 5 hours, reading, texting and just thinking about life abstractly. Lol.
Interesting responses here as compared to the other forum I asked and my irl friends. Having a house, marriage and children are not something I want in my 20s. Or even 30s. Lol. So I'm happy that I don't have to deal with any of that. I'm exactly where I want to be.
I'm just curious in a more philosophical sense. I've been sitting at a restaurant for the last 5 hours, reading, texting and just thinking about life abstractly. Lol.