“My Body Is Starting To Feel It”: 30 Of The Biggest Mistakes People Make In Their 30s

Once a person is in their mid-twenties, it can be hard to find real-life advice and mentorship. After all, you have been a full adult for some time by then, able to vote, drive, drink, and take out loans. You have possibly already participated in multiple election cycles and maybe even own a car. Younger people might already be coming to you for advice.

You might struggle to explain to them that you don’t really understand what is going on at the same time. So it’s no surprise that many people enter their 30s with only the inkling of a plan and just do their best. Just because someone has survived three decades doesn’t automatically mean they suddenly gain some deeper insight, just like turning twenty doesn’t unlock some new ability. 

One area that many thirty-year-olds likely don’t think about until it’s too late is physical health. While the twenties are often a peak for many people, this can create bad habits down the line. When you are young, you feel invincible because, in many ways, you sort of are. This rarely translates into one’s thirties, so if a person doesn’t adjust their lifestyle, they end up feeling a lot worse without immediately understanding why. 

This is just as true when it comes to partners and careers. It’s actually a bit bizarre that high-school graduates are tasked with picking a career path, then often taking on a mountain of debt, with little-to-no real-life experience. The result is burnt-out people struggling to keep afloat in their twenties, trapped in jobs they don’t actually want to do. 

Some of the responses mention that you will notice time start to fly by quickly for the first time. In the blink of an eye, you go from 30 to 35, suddenly you are now 39. After all, the longer you live, the shorter each day, week, and even month seems, as time and experiences blend together. Learning to be present seems like eye-rolling cliche advice when you are young and can’t sit still for over four minutes, but it comes in handy later. 

One reason why some may simply try to avoid this question is the tough-to-swallow reality that things tend to get worse. Your body breaks down, you really do need to be setting more money aside for retirement and you have less and less time to function. But you are finally at a stage in life where you have, hopefully, tried enough to know what you want. This knowledge is perhaps worth more than just its weight in gold, which can be simply bought and sold. Experience only comes with time.