{"id":7826,"date":"2024-10-29T06:52:47","date_gmt":"2024-10-29T10:52:47","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.silvercentury.org\/?p=7826"},"modified":"2024-10-29T06:52:47","modified_gmt":"2024-10-29T10:52:47","slug":"whos-afraid-of-turning-30-and-why","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"http:\/\/78.142.243.82\/~silvercentury\/2024\/10\/whos-afraid-of-turning-30-and-why\/","title":{"rendered":"Who\u2019s Afraid of Turning 30? And Why?"},"content":{"rendered":"<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">I was born in 1995, which isn\u2019t too relevant until you realize it was 29 years ago and I am on the brink of turning 30.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">As friends and relatives approached the \u201cbig 3-0\u201d before me, I picked up on an undercurrent of anxiety. Why was everyone afraid of turning 30? Am I afraid of turning 30? Should I be?<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Most of the time, I don\u2019t think about the fact that I am aging. Now, I am starting to notice changes in my body that I associate with getting older. A few weeks ago, I found my second gray hair; being in bed by 9:30 is my ideal night; and my signature, winged eyeliner now takes more precision to combat the wrinkles around the outer corners of my eyes.&nbsp;<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">On most days, these observations are neutral facts of life, but as my milestone birthday becomes more salient, I am having what <\/span><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">t<\/span><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">he field of gerontology calls <\/span><i><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">aging anxiety\u2014<\/span><\/i><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">negative feelings and fears associated with growing older. <\/span><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">When aging anxiety is high<\/span><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">, it has been associated in older adults with loneliness and depression, and in middle-aged and young adults with ageist attitudes.&nbsp;<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Curious about my own feelings, I informally polled a group of my peers. While earning my doctorate in psychology, I was trained as a researcher, and that\u2019s not something I am able to turn off. My friends are probably sick of it, but they humor me. Here are some of their responses to the question, how do you feel about turning 30?<\/span><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\"><br \/>\n<\/span><\/p>\n<ul>\n<li style=\"font-weight: 400;\" aria-level=\"1\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Nervous and feeling a little old<\/span><\/li>\n<li style=\"font-weight: 400;\" aria-level=\"1\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Confident in my own skin and a bit wiser<\/span><\/li>\n<li style=\"font-weight: 400;\" aria-level=\"1\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">I feel settled and unsettled, all at the same time<\/span><\/li>\n<li style=\"font-weight: 400;\" aria-level=\"1\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Pressured<\/span><\/li>\n<li style=\"font-weight: 400;\" aria-level=\"1\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Excited<\/span><\/li>\n<li style=\"font-weight: 400;\" aria-level=\"1\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Surreal<\/span><\/li>\n<li style=\"font-weight: 400;\" aria-level=\"1\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">I think it\u2019ll be my favorite decade<\/span><\/li>\n<li style=\"font-weight: 400;\" aria-level=\"1\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Uneasy<\/span><\/li>\n<li style=\"font-weight: 400;\" aria-level=\"1\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">I\u2019m ready for 30 but also scared<\/span><\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">A few of my friends talked more at length about developmental milestones, like finding a life partner, starting a new career, and having children. One friend shared that as a woman, she is aware of her biological clock<\/span> <span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">(the natural decline in fertility that occurs as people age) and that turning 30 is highlighting her fear that she will have trouble getting pregnant. Others talked about the pressure to have achieved something they expected to have done by this point in life, such as meeting a committed romantic partner or feeling settled in their career. Some of this pressure came from external sources, like their family or peers. Admittedly, though, some of it came from within, as they reflected on their long-term goals or compared themselves to others on social media.&nbsp;<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">What surprised me in my friends\u2019 responses was their mixed emotions. Perhaps excitement, readiness and confidence help balance some of the aging anxiety.&nbsp;<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">But maybe there is some benefit to feeling anxious about aging at this point in life. Maybe it will fuel reflection about what is most important to us and how we want to move forward. Maybe getting over the hump of 30 will highlight how these worried thoughts are really <\/span><i><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">just thoughts,<\/span><\/i><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\"> and being 30 years and 1 day old will be <\/span><i><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">just another day<\/span><\/i><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">.&nbsp;<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Through my poll, I learned that there are a lot of different ways to feel about growing older across the lifespan. What\u2019s most important is that we honor these feelings, rather than judge them; that we are kind to ourselves as our lives, bodies and spirits change with each passing day, and kind to others who are further along on the aging journey.<\/span><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>I was born in 1995, which isn\u2019t too relevant until you realize it was 29 years ago and I am on the brink of turning 30. As friends and relatives approached the \u201cbig 3-0\u201d before me, I picked up on<span class=\"ellipsis\">&hellip;<\/span><\/p>\n<div class=\"read-more\"><a href=\"http:\/\/78.142.243.82\/~silvercentury\/2024\/10\/whos-afraid-of-turning-30-and-why\/\">Read more <span class=\"screen-reader-text\">Who\u2019s Afraid of Turning 30? And Why?<\/span><span class=\"meta-nav\"> &#8250;<\/span><\/a><\/div>\n<p><!-- end of .read-more --><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":68,"featured_media":7827,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"ngg_post_thumbnail":0,"_FSMCFIC_featured_image_caption":"","_FSMCFIC_featured_image_nocaption":"","_FSMCFIC_featured_image_hide":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[79,1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-7826","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-blog","category-voices-views"],"cc_featured_image_caption":{"caption_text":"","source_text":"","source_url":""},"wps_subtitle":"","_links":{"self":[{"href":"http:\/\/78.142.243.82\/~silvercentury\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/7826","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"http:\/\/78.142.243.82\/~silvercentury\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"http:\/\/78.142.243.82\/~silvercentury\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/78.142.243.82\/~silvercentury\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/68"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/78.142.243.82\/~silvercentury\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=7826"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"http:\/\/78.142.243.82\/~silvercentury\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/7826\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":7828,"href":"http:\/\/78.142.243.82\/~silvercentury\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/7826\/revisions\/7828"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/78.142.243.82\/~silvercentury\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/7827"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"http:\/\/78.142.243.82\/~silvercentury\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=7826"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/78.142.243.82\/~silvercentury\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=7826"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/78.142.243.82\/~silvercentury\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=7826"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}