Turning 30 is Weird

Turning 30 is such an odd time in your life. It’s the expectation for a few things: you should have your life together, buy a house, thrive in your career, and have a few kids by then. When I turned 30 in April, I kept feeling reminded I couldn’t check off all of those boxes and felt like I was failing in some sense. Social media has us comparing ourselves to everyone else’s lives. I would look at people who were my age and see they had built a brand new house, had a beautiful baby, and had the family portraits where everyone wore white outfits and looked absolutely perfectly content with life. Comparison is the thief of joy. 

You wake up one morning, and nothing fits anymore like it used to. I’m no longer wearing the same size I wore in High School. Those cool t-shirts that were a size extra small and small are now in the trash because I’m aware I do not have a flat stomach anymore. How are these 30 something year olds wearing crop tops and still eating…food? I couldn’t give up carbs to look like a plastic barbie doll. 

In your 20s, you still feel like a youthful teenager. You can pull all nighters and still run a marathon the next day. You can’t really afford much though and your credit is mediocre at best. Decision making skills are not all the way there, so poor choices are still made. Millennials, how are ya'll doing? Apparently, we need to put retinol under our eyes and keep Tylenol on hand according to TikTok. Since when are we not forever young?

Since turning 30, I can’t say I’ve bought a house or had a baby yet. That would be cool. I can say that I’ve been married for 10 years, graduated college twice, taught for 3 years, have 4 cats, and have good credit. I’ve learned it’s okay that my goals take a little longer than when I wrote them all down in a notebook when I was 20. I’ll get there eventually. In the meantime, I will continue staying up late with my husband watching funny movies with our cats eating his amazing concoctions.

My 30th birthday cake my husband bought me! It looks like my cat Peanut. 

Feeling Nostalgic

Nostalgic-a feeling of pleasure and also slight sadness when you think about things that happened in the past

I remember when there was only one computer in the house. It was in the living room which was right next to our small kitchen. We didn’t have a lot of money, but we had an awesome home computer. Other families had family portraits out to look at when you walked in, but we had epic screensavers. Here is a stock photo similar to our setup. 

Programs were basic but as a kid they were absolutely magical. Anyone remember Poser? There was a cheetah print rolly chair we got to sit in when my brother and I played on the computer. Pop a bag of popcorn and we were all set living the life. Oh, the joy of the 2000’s. Things seemed so much more simple back then.  

The coolest thing ever to watch was the background graphics for Winamp when music was playing. It seemed to sync with the music and was mesmerizing; all the colorful patterns going into one another in a majestic way. When my dad would have a song to let me listen to, I remember the Winamp logo and the visualizations. It was epic to an eight year old. Shoot, it’s still epic and I’m 30. Why did this ever go out of style? 

Watch the Cool Winamp Visualization Here   

I turned it on today while listening to my playlist on Spotify called “Songs that make you think” and it instantly brought me back to 2002, a time when I had no responsibilities and could watch this for hours as a kid. The classics will always be magical in my mind of memories. 

Spotify "Songs that make you think" 

Speaking of Nostalgic...