Friday marks the day I turn 29, which kicks off the last year of my youth.
Well, not really, but it marks the last year of my 20s. By 30, you’re supposed to have your stuff (for lack of a better word fit to print) together.
I’m not the only one who’s feeling this way.
One of my childhood friends responded to my “happy birthday” text in February with “I’m in mourning for the last year in my 20s.”
Another one of my close friends blames turning 30 last summer for having less energy. To be fair, I have gone to movies with her on several occasions at night where I’ve looked over and seen her falling asleep. She jokes that we (meaning me and our other close friend) will understand when we get to be her age.
Turning 29 also marks a huge difference in how you view life from your early 20s. Back then, nights out didn’t start until 11 p.m. Now, they might end by 10:30 p.m., and that could be considered a late night.
You can’t just bounce back the next day after a late night anymore, so it’s sometimes best to engage in them only sparingly. Sleep has become essential.
Thinking about how I wanted to celebrate another year of aging led to a suggestion from friends to go to a nightclub, which led to serious contemplation about whether a late night out was really worth the potential of feeling exhausted the next day. Dinner seemed like the easier option, but then I eventually decided to challenge myself and go for the club.
Aging out of your 20s also gets you thinking about what are the expected lifetime milestones by the big 3-0. Anyone in this age group sees their social media posts flooded with engagements, wedding pictures and tons of babies.
If not on social media, it hits closer to home when the trend starts making its way through your family and inner circle. As far as lifetime milestones go, mine have been more on the career side, such as graduating college and working in my desired field.
But there’s no pressure — that stuff happens when it happens.
But maybe there are better ways to take advantage of my youth, which could lead to having better life updates to share. A couple updates I told my coworkers this week included my landlord recently coming over to my apartment to fix my bedroom door knob that kept falling off, or that I’ve been catching up on a year’s worth of unread Elle magazines in the past couple of weeks.
Then again, I have a whole year ahead of me to change my ways before the 30th year of my existence arrives. But I probably won’t start working on that tomorrow. There’s still plenty of time to figure that out.