The countdown begins

[yendi]

In thirty days, I turn 31. This means I can finally join ljover30 (I suppose I could have joined last April 8, but the name of the community, to me, implied that it's for folks 31 years old and up). It also means that all those surveys that have "26-30" as an age range will now be harder to fill out on autopilot.

I dunno why it occurred to me today. But for some reason, it just popped into my head. I never really gave a shit about my 30th birthday (although it was a thoroughly enjoyable time, spent in Arizona with family and much good food). It just didn't strike me as much of a milestone. It's not like 21, when a fake ID becomes meaningless, or 18, when the right to have your vote not count officially goes into effect. Or thirteen, where you become a Bar Mitzvah (or a Bas/Bat Mitzvah, or get confirmed in other religions). It's just a number ending in "0."

But for some reason, 31 seems to be looming more. I don't know why. Maybe because "30" still seems attached to my 20's, just the tail end of the carefree decade (I know it's just as bogus as the whole Millennium thing -- I had a year zero, just like anyone else). And 31 starts the decade of life ending at 40. And that's always seemed like a milestone, and not necessarily a good one. It brings on prostate exams, other cancer scares, hair loss even for those of use who've made it through the first half of life with a good head of hair. And whereas I'm now, in theory, less than halfway through my lifespan, by the end of the next decade, I'll be past the halfway mark.

*shrug* I dunno why this is bothering me. But I want to get this stuff out of my system before next month.

Comments

[10dimensions.livejournal.com]

I was the same way when I turned 31. It was kind of like...now my "youth" is truly and irrevocably behind me.

[branwynelf.livejournal.com]

Guess I didn't really feel that way ... but then by 30 I'd been married, had two kids, moved out to become a single mom, got a divorce, and had worked two full-time jobs. I felt like I'd already done a lot of growing up, so who cared if the numbers were now "matching" that feeling.

Funny enough ... I turn 33 a week from today. And that seems momentus ... I think it's the multiple of 11 thing. I dunno.

[auryn29a.livejournal.com]

Gee. Thanks, Yendi. I'm turning 31 in September. I'll now have this to think about.

[thebaronofmspg.livejournal.com]

I wasn't really afraid of 30. I turned 30 last October, and I really didn't know how I'd feel. On one hand, I wanted to feel somewhat different, it IS an odometer roll, afterall. On the other hand, I didn't want it to be remotely special. It turned out that I did feel something but it wasn't dramatic.

The one thing I have always wanted to avoid was that married-with-children-sanctimonious-pragmatism that sweeps people in their 30s. You can't help some of it, but I must say 90% of how you feel/act is all in your head and who you decide you want to be.

So, I say stare it down and enjoy the ride.

[yendi]

*nod* I'm glad I'm not the only one who felt that way.

[yendi]

Hmm. I recall 22 being pretty boring (in spite of happening during one of the most tumultuous years of my life). I'll have to report in in two years about 33.

And hell, I doubt I'll ever really feel grown up. :-)

[yendi]

Shared misery is lessened, etc. :-)

[yendi]

So, I say stare it down and enjoy the ride.

That's my goal! :-) I've just got some serious staring to do.

[ga-sunshine.livejournal.com]

I felt that way, too, AND that's when I started noticing that all the cool and interesting people were younger than me; ie., I'm the oldest one all the time lately...yuck. 31 kinda seems to mark the end of youth, the beginning of that horrible word - "adult" -- don't know why. *hugs

[skylion.livejournal.com]

Take it from someone who will be 32 this year. 30 is nothing, you can shrug it off. It can't hold it's own water, and it backs down from every fight. 31, however, is all that thirty is plus 1. I dunno, it starts to count more. At thirty you can still fake being in your twenties, such as "late twenties/early thirties". But at 31, you are officially stamped "early thirties". Don't let it get you down. I still get carded for cigs and stout all the time. And people guess my age on an average mean of 24.

[thegreyman.livejournal.com]

heh I turn 34 this year and I don't think I've ever felt younger in my "adult" life. Age is most definately a mindset. yea I've got a few more aches and kinks in the old bod but the lesson's I've learned from them make me far strnger thatn those young pups tring to nip at my heels. This is the time when we have all that expereince of being young and crazy and still a GREAT deal of our youth. Vigor comes from within man. Find it, grasp it, and kick it in the ass a few times a day. You are a yong as you want to be.

[alphafem.livejournal.com]

I was so seriously weirded out heading towards 30 that the year before, when I was 29, I continued to say I was 28 because I was sure if I told people I was 29 they'd think I was 30 and lying. Once I got to 30 and the years after, I didn't think much of it. But. This year I will be 36. Which now puts me 'officially' in my late 30's. Don't think I like the view from here much...

[cissa.livejournal.com]

I didn't have any particular reaction to 31. I'd planned to have a sort of private joke to celebrate 30-- I was gonna buy a jar ow horribly expensive wrinkle cream on my borthday-- but that didn't work out so I figured it was the universe trelling me something. Maybe.

I don't "feel" 44, whatever that means. I mostly like where I am now. Although on the rare occasions I'm one of the younger people around it's kinda weird; I don't notice when I'm an older one, i guess.

Things change... but that's what makes life interesting. *hugs*

[shadesong.livejournal.com]

I'm looking forward to 30! I'm one of the very few under-30s in our circle of friends. Unless jet_li_wannabe or stronae or farren are around, I feel like the baby. :) I think when I hit my 30s, maybe my age will sync up to my experience points better....

[sage-and-sea.livejournal.com]

Heh - I'm on LJOver30!

I'm THIRTY-SEVEN. I will be 38 in August. I get mistaken for much younger most of the time, but I'm glad of my age. I spent most of my life being "35" - taking care of my family, being responsible, etc. I was thrilled to hit 30, and happier with 35, where my chronological age finally matched my emotional age.

Stare it down and enjoy the ride is very good advice.

[toratigris.livejournal.com]

In my experience, birthdays are only upsetting when you're unhappy with "where you are in life". Whether that's versus your expectations, or the expectations of others, or just a general sense of something being wrong or missing or whatever.

For me the birthday that triggered it was 25. The ones since then have been a breeze -- including 30 and 31. 32 was funny only because I was so sure I was turning 33 until I did the math. *g*