When you are in your mid-twenties, you can feel your 30s creeping up on you. Then, one day. It happens. You turn 30. As a millennial, this sense of dread is even worse due to all the traumatic events we have endured during our short lifetimes. Between 9/11, Hurricane Katrina, the recession of 2008, the frequency of mass shootings and murders by way of police brutality, millennials are exhausted. With the introduction of possible new careers, marriages, children, and knee and back pain, being a 30-year-old millennial is fun, but tiring.
When a millennial turns 30, they might go through a mid-life crisis. This turmoil could happen for a variety of reasons. It could be the realization that the job or career you spent four years in college for has now become the job you hate or no longer find satisfaction in. It could be the harsh reality that you are not where you thought you would be in life at age 30. It could be that you just realized that there are Gen Zers who don’t know what a house phone or dial-up is, or even what happened on 9/11. Whatever the reason, every millennial goes through the process of realizing that they have aged a decade and wonders where the time went and what they did with it.
As you reach the age of 30, you may notice that your body doesn’t work the way it used to in your early 20s. Right on your birthday, you will get knee and back pain that is out of this world after standing for about 30 minutes. When you awake in the morning, your hips and back will hurt from either sleeping wrong or sleeping too long in the same position.
Along with waking up in pain, you also will have to sit on the side of the bed and contemplate your life for about 15 minutes before actually getting out of bed. No idea why this is — it just happens. To make matters worse, you forget everything. You forget why you came into a room; you forget where you put important things like your keys or phone; you forget conversations you just had. You forget EVERYTHING! There is no reason for this either, except the dreaded curse of turning 30.
When you are 30, the need to go out goes away pretty fast. Gone are the days of going to the club or bar until 4 a.m. and then getting back up for a class or work at 8 a.m. These days are traded for nights spent watching murder mysteries and going to bed by 9:30 p.m. The occasional night out is still fun, just not every night. While drinking may still be cool, it is most likely done at home because who has time to be out drunk at 3 p.m.? No one over 30! If plans aren’t made before 8 pm, we are not coming.
As an adult, making friends is hard. Any working adult knows that to keep a great relationship or friendship going, you have to put forth an effort to make the relationship work. Everyone is so busy with work and life that it can be extremely difficult to schedule a time to hang out with the friends you do have, much less make new ones. When COVID-19 took over our lives in 2020, many millennials turned to apps like Bumble to find friends in their local area. This method of meeting people was foreign to some millennials, as they were used to meeting people in person.
Another rapidly changing aspect of social media is the rate at which trends come and go. For example, a couple of years ago, I noticed that the phrase “on fleek” was super popular. However, due in part to TikTok and Instagram, the word fell out of use pretty quickly and was replaced with something more popular.
Responsibilities for millennials also shift once they turn 30. Many young adults have responsibilities such as college, work or hanging with friends. However, once you turn 30, you have to start thinking about more serious things such as your health, the health of your parents and life insurance. While these are things you could worry about in your 20s, they are more likely to become more crucial in your 30s.
You also have to start thinking about marriage and children if you plan on either outcome. Women are told to have children before 37 to ensure that they have the healthiest pregnancy possible. This becomes a turning point in your 30s, as you not only begin searching for a loving partner but also someone who could become a loving spouse and parent to your future children.
Overall, turning 30 can seem scary for any millennial. However, one should think of it not as an ending but as a new chapter in life. In this new decade, you may find the love of your life, take the next step in your career, become a mother or father for the first time or grow closer to your family as everyone gets older. While many things might change, such as your health, income or marital status, you will always be who you are meant to be at this stage of your life. You will always be you, and that’s the point. Being 30 doesn’t change who you are, it just adds a little seasoning to who you gradually became in your 20s. Congratulations on making it to the 30s club!
