7 Annoying Expectations Of Where Your Life Should Be At Before Turning 30

7 Annoying Expectations Of Where Your Life Should Be At Before Turning 30

I’m sitting here wondering if it’s always been this way. Has there always been this much pressure on women to be absolutely killing it, both professionally and personally, by the ripe old age of 30? 30 is not old people. I don’t feel like I have even scratched the surface of what I can achieve, it’s still early days for me. However, I am definitely feel a strong sense of dread as I wait for my 30th birthday to come around. I do not want to turn 30, please can I just stay in my late twenties for a little longer?

If you haven’t got all your shit figured out before you turn 30, then don’t beat yourself up about it. I appreciate it is hard when you see everyone around you zooming ahead of you in their personal life. I swear as soon as my friends hit 25 everything has been about weddings, and babies are definitely next on the agenda.

I’m just saying that women of my age have a hell of a lot of pressure on their shoulders. There’s all these expectations of what you should and shouldn’t be doing, and it can get exhausting. It’s also difficult to avoid when all your friends are aiming for the same goals.

So I just want to write this post to say it’s OK, you can do whatever the hell you want. You don’t have to meet all these expectations and put pressure on yourself to be in a certain place by the age of 30.

1. Have your career sorted

There’s this expectation that by the age of 30, you should be practically running your own business. In reality, I have actually found that a lot of my friends have changed their careers in their late twenties. They may have trained as something or got a degree in a subject that they don’t want to focus on anymore.

When it comes to your career, you are constantly learning and developing. If you find your passion at the ripe old age of 20, bravo, but it’s fairly rare. If you don’t have your career figured out at 30, that’s perfectly fine.

Most people change their careers a fair few times, and there’s no harm in trying new things. Use turning 30 as an opportunity to explore and expand your career options rather than restrict them and stay in a job you absolutely bloody hate.

2. Have body like a fitness model

There’s an irritating new trend of ultra-fit women having the most impressive and ripped bodies you have ever seen. If you are able to get abs of steel and perfect muscle definition then I applaud you, but for a lot of people, these kind of expectations are far too high. FFS.

At the age of 30, women are pretty busy, whether it’s chasing their career dreams or juggling a family, it’s pretty hard to train enough to look like a bikini model. Don’t let these high expectations get you down.

If you don’t have the body of a Victoria’s Secret model or female bodybuilder, you don’t need to be concerned. All you need to be is healthy, which doesn’t mean a super restrictive diet or forcing yourself to exercise 478348 times a week.

3. Be married and own a house

I’m not sure where to start on this one. Basically nearly all my friends, by the age of 29, are married and own a house. Some of them are now on their second house, when I haven’t even managed to get anywhere near getting my first. Balls.

There’s so much pressure to get engaged and get married these days, and when everyone else is married and you aren’t, avoiding the ‘so, is marriage on the cards soon’ type questions is totally impossible. Having a ring on your finger doesn’t mean your relationship is better than someone who doesn’t (but them diamonds sure do look perrtty don’t they?).

It’s hard watching everyone else do their thing and to sit through every hen do, engagement party and wedding on the side-lines, but your time will come, if it’s meant to be.

4. Be thinking about your fertility

Yuck. Fertility. What a gross word. There’s this terrifying expectation that if you aren’t trying to have babies by the age of 30 you are screwed. Yes ladies, it does get harder to get pregnant after the age of 30, but that doesn’t mean you need to come off the pill right now and start trying when you clearly aren’t ready for all that baby shiz. If you are really that worried, go and get a fertility check and find out how happy and perky your eggs are and all that.

5. Be generally settling down

Find a partner, settle down, have a family, grow old together. It all sounds very nice doesn’t it, but it also sounds pretty darn mundane. You can do all this, and do lots of other cool stuff at the same time.

You can also postpone settling down until long after you turn 30, because family life can wait a few more years. Don’t focus on the pressure to settle down before you are 30, focus on the amazing things you want to achieve. Go travelling, do some epic challenges or dedicate your life to an important cause.

6. Be earning £££££££££££

Although you never ever discuss with your friends how much you are earning (aside from your besties, obviously), you probably have a rough idea. Them high earners can make you feel a little bit jealous, but remember, money isn’t everything.

Of course it’s nice to get a point where you can live fairly comfortably before you turn 30, but if you are still struggling to pay the bills you aren’t alone. Just make sure you are saving where you can and try not to focus on what those who are earning more than you have that you don’t. Think about all the stuff you have in your life that money can’t buy.

7. Not go out anymore

Say whhhatttt? What’s with this lame expectation that when you turn 30 you should walk around in your zimmerframe? You are not going to be denied entry to clubs. You won’t turn 30 and suddenly look out of place in a bar. No, you just get to go to cooler places and classier establishments.

No more cheap nightclubs and tacky bars, it’s now all about the wine bars, cocktail bars and dinners out where you drink ridiculous amounts of wine. When friends my age say they don’t want to even go out for a few cheeky drinks anymore I want to smack my head against a brick wall. I’m not a party animal, I rarely go out, I’m just saying, after you turn 30, you can still enjoy the odd night out with the girls.

 

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