Don't fear the thirties

Jeep tour in Cozumel with Kim & Debbie less than a month after I turned 30

I've seen a lot of people creeping close to their thirties announcing the last years in their twenties and wondering how their thirties will treat them.

Honestly? Awesome, if you're like me and a lot of other people.

People seem to fear entering the thirties, like that's when you have to grow up. False. You have to start being responsible much younger than that. As for growing up, I hope a part of you never does. The things that are on the less glamorous side of being an adult - paying bills, people dying, physical aches and pains of aging, etc - those things are not the fault of the thirties, so don't lay that shit at this decade's feet. I have about eight months left in my thirties, and I have to say they've been amazing - huge highs and devastating lows, big life events and small changes that have led to me being the me-est me I've ever been.

I can't say I've hated any age, but the twenties were trying. I feel like I spent a lot of time spinning my wheels, reinventing the wheel, throwing the wheel up against a brick wall, and wondering why the fuck the wheel seemed so hard to reach when I am an adult and I was promised access to the wheel. I also wondered if I was working at the right job, living in the right place, being with the right person, doing the right things.

Very simply, for me the thirties signaled an end to the wondering. I trust myself, and I know what's right. Sometimes I'm on the wrong path, and even then I know that's right because of the lesson I need to learn on that path. I don't always listen to that inner what is right knowledge, but I don't wonder any more. I am no longer adrift. I am where I should be right now, and if I want to be somewhere else, I know what moves I need to make to get to that place.

I feel secure and mighty, safe in harbor but willing to tear ass out on a boat at any time. Aging has not made me risk averse, but it's caused me to be more picky and calculating in my choices.

The thirties have taught me so much about the world and through that, about myself. I've fallen in love with them...but that doesn't mean I won't fully embrace the 40s when March rolls around. All signs point to more adventure ahead.