I hate to break it to you ladies, but 30 is not the new 20. 30 is the new 30 and as someone who’ll be celebrating that infamous milestone by the end of the year, I must say, I’m OK with that. That’s because it just occurred to me that life doesn’t really get good until you hit 30. 30 isn’t the same 30 it was twenty years ago. At 30, my mom was pregnant with her wonderful second child (me), had a degree, a marriage and home ownership under her belt. My 30 is looking a lot different. Home ownership is still a foreign concept for me, I wasn’t a college grad until almost 25 and I just got engaged, so already faced with pressures of having kids before my eggs shrivel into dust I’m still wondering, “And when exactly do I get to enjoy just being a wife?”
I am not going to blame to economy or the concept of a “quarter-life crisis,” but life is just a little bit harder for today’s twenty-somethings. It’s true; Alexandra Petri says so in this Washington Post article. Even if you fall into the mindset of doing things the “right way,” most twenty-somethings are finding themselves educated but taking years to find steady, gainful employment. Last year we made up 41% of the unemployed and recent statistics support the idea that most of us will grow up at least 25% poorer than our parents. Finances affect so many decisions. You can’t even begin to think about starting a family or being a homeowner until you get into a groove of gainful employment. For most of my twenties I found myself deciding between if I wanted to go to happy hour or pay my car insurance.
But there’s hope, I finally feel like if you work hard life starts to get to an enjoyable point where you can pay bills AND afford to take a nice vacation every year (even if it does mean you’re eating Top Ramen for lunch for a month). So if you’re an angsty twenty-something like me whose not just bitter because life got real, but plagued by social security updates that you’ll get a whole whopping $900 a month if you retire at sixty-six, here are a few other things to look forward to:
