Just Another Day

I have a major milestone coming up this month--my 30th birthday. I haven't reached the point where every birthday should be considered a major milestone, but I think starting a new decade is pretty big, hence the "major" categorization. I've been saying all along that I'm looking forward to my 30th birthday. But when I tell people that I'll be 30, they look at me like I'm a sick puppy. I've gotten a lot of, "how are you handling it," "are you sad/depressed/upset/scared," and "it will be okay." It is like I'm announcing that I have a terminal illness. Why are we so scared of turning 30?

I've got a theory. Like I said, a new decade is a big deal, but this decade seems paramount to many people because you're moving from a decade spent mostly in school, living life with few responsibilities, but just enough to make you feel like you're finally out on your own, to the first decade of our "grown-up" lives. For many young people today, that free feeling lasts until 25 or 27, sometimes longer depending on how long you stay in school. I was in school until almost halfway through my 20s. Then, I was a "new professional" struggling like many others to find a job and pay rent in an increasingly expensive world. Thanks to generous support from my family, grace periods for new graduates, and an array of other things, I was still able to enjoy the "good life" for a while longer. Now, 30 is here and the door to that existence seems to be closing.

Society's antiquated picture of official adulthood plagues our dreams. If you are still a renter, you start to think that you need to buy a place because you're too old to rent anymore. Still have that sporty car you drove in high school/college? It is time to upgrade to a more "responsible" vehicle. You start seeing guys not as people to date, but as prospective husbands. After 30, you should be settling down, if you haven't already. If you're already settled down, kids are next on the list because you don't have much more time to put that off. How can we possibly expect people not to panic about turning 30? Mortgages, diapers, minivans, oh my!

A friend of mine who recently turned 30 told me that she was worried about it, but in the end, it was just another day. Ultimately, it is just another day. We aren't going to wake up any different than we were the day before, unless we give the day some magical properties that it doesn't have. Is it a big day? Yes! You are one year older and, hopefully, one year wiser. You are one year closer to knowing who you are and exactly what you want, one year closer to fulfilling your dreams, one year closer to repaying those student loans, and one year further away from the scared, unprepared 20-something flung from the nest out into the big bad world of bills and responsibilities. Your 30s are one of the best decades of your life, or so I've been told by numerous 30-somethings.

If you're approaching your 30th birthday like me, remember the words of Evelyn Couch of Fried Green Tomatoes fame: "Face it, girls, I'm older and I have more insurance."