Those of us who are in our 30s have discovered that’s not actually a scary decade. Rather, it’s an oasis of wisdom and self-acceptance, a welcome break from all the uncertainty of our 20s. Once we’ve fully embraced our 30s and grown to love them, we couldn’t be paid to go back to our twenties. This feeling is never more true than when we actually hang out with 20-somethings and realize how great the differences are.
- That wasn’t funny in the slightest. Why are you laughing? As we age, our sense of humor matures with us. Plenty of us still have dirty minds, but we’re more likely to laugh at a perfectly timed innuendo than a perfectly timed fart.
- The problem you’re complaining about isn’t an actual problem, so get over it. So your parents insisted that you eat dinner with them before you drive their fully fueled car out to hang out with your friends? Sounds to us like you didn’t have to pay for dinner, cook dinner, or put gas in the car. What’s the problem again? Plus, we see a lot more of our parents’ wisdom now.
- He’s not that into you, so just stop talking to him. Rather than dissecting every single text like we did in high school or college, 30-somethings just move on when a guy isn’t interested. We have too many other more important things to concern ourselves with than a guy who isn’t thinking about us. We know there are other fish in the sea.
- Gaining three pounds in the winter isn’t a big deal, so just chill. By the time we reach our 30’s, we’ve accepted that our bodies don’t always do what we want them to do. When we see that 22-year-old freaking out over three pounds on the scale that may very well be water weight, we laugh in our heads. Oh sweetie, it’s just beginning.
- You think going to college and having a part-time job is hard? Just wait. When you graduate, unless you get an extremely high-paying job, you’re probably going to have to work more than one job to support yourself and pay back your student loans. Plus, the household chores won’t magically get done on their own anymore. You’re about to discover a whole new meaning to the word tired.
- Stop obsessing over your flaws. You’re beautiful. One of the biggest things that happens when we transition from our twenties to our thirties is that we start to truly accept ourselves, flaws and all. Once we reach that particular nirvana, we wish we could surgically instill it in all the poor insecure 20-year-olds we meet because we know what a bitch insecurity is.
- It’s okay that you don’t know what you want to do with your life yet. We remember what it was like to think we were failures for not having a wildly successful career by 24 or an engagement ring by 25. We learned the hard way that those dreams are pretty unrealistic, and that we do figure out in time what we really want out of our lives. Stop panicking. You’re not a failure.
- You may think he’s The One now, but be careful. Young love is wonderful and sometimes destructive. Even if the one we fall in love with in our teens or early 20s is perfect for us at that time, people change as they get older and couples grow apart all the time because of that. Be careful about getting married or starting a family with him too soon, because you might become all wrong for each other when you’re in your mid-30s and done maturing.
