life after 30, what's it about?

Question

for those who apply, how about after 40?

Answer 1

Well, after 40, we spend a lot of time watching younger people make the same dumb mistakes we did, and ruminating on the irony of it. :)

One of the things age brings you is perspective. It's actually kind of funny to watch people in their teens and 20s, who think they are the first ones ever in the history of the planet to discover things like love and despair. Specifically, young people always seem to think they invented sex, and are uncomfortable with the idea of people over 30 being sexual. When you're that age you don't think about the fact that someday YOU will be middle-aged and might not feel like becoming a eunuch just yet.

To bring this back to your original question, when you're older, you spend time appreciating ironies of life like this, which are brought to your attention on a daily basis as you adapt yourself to your changing circumstances and your accumulating knowledge and perspective.

There's also a certain bemusement to be had in the fact that our culture panders to the young. This extends beyond the usual culprits of fashion and media; it's everywhere. When I go to Fry's to buy a hard drive, the box has a picture of an excited, grinning gamer in his early 20s on it. Maxtor doesn't market to me, though I probably buy more hardware than the average 20something. The only product advertisements that show smiling gray-haired people are selling things like denture fixative, incontinence products, and memberships to the AARP. So after you get out of the glamorized youth demographic, you are a lot less interesting to people trying to sell you things, and this is a source of amusement too, if you can keep the right frame of mind about it.

I'm 46. I'm slowing down, and I have to deal with that. But there are benefits that come with age too. You get less cocky and more confident. That probably sounds like the same thing to younger people, but when you get older you can see the distinction. Life is slower but richer. You're not going off like a bat out of hell all the time any more. For many people, you are more financially secure and more respected in your field as you age, and that has definite security benefits. Sex is better, and if you don't see how that can be true, then wait and see. (As Gandhi once said, there is more to life than increasing its speed.) The benefits of experience temper your decisions. This doesn't mean you won't make mistakes, but if you're paying attention it means you are less likely to REPEAT them. (This paves the way for new, more complex, and more interesting mistakes.)

You also get the time for your tastes to mature. This doesn't happen to everyone, but age makes it more likely. For example, over the years I've gained tastes for things like bebop jazz, classic literature, and a good cigar - things I would not have been able to appreciate as well, if at all, in my 20s. When you're young you see the surface of the world - fresh, colorful, noisy. When you're older and more deliberate, you're less easily distracted, and you can begin to see the depth, with nuance and richness you missed when you were only seeing what was right in front of you.

I realize this has been a long, rambling answer, but the question opens up so many different things that it's hard to pull together a cogent reply in just a few paragraphs. So you're getting some of my random impressions of the differences. I hope it makes sense to the reader. :)

Answer 2

The thirthies are the best. You are not too old in your thirties. It is the time when you finally ripen. The thirties were the best decade of my life. No matter how old I get, I still see myself as 35. When you are in your 30's, you are still a youth and yet you are finished with the silliness of the 20's. You arrive at another level. Don't worry about being 30; embrace it.

Answer 3

For some, like me, is STILL not knowing what I want to be when I grow up. Okay - I know what I want to do...it's just that I can't make money at it right away so I have to work. You are definitely wiser in your 30's than you were in your 20's - for the most part. You become more of yourself in your later 30's and learn that you can't live your life for others - you have to live for yourself. You realize that while your parents may have good advice, you don't have to take it.

Answer 4

Even after 50 and 60 there are still things to enjoy every day.
Educating myself in many areas has helped me grow as a person and mature in my ego.
We, older people, still enjoy the same things as younger people. Attention, feeling worth-while, loving and being loved, eating good food, having enough money to survive, even sex.
My step-son has told me to act my age. Where is the fun of that? Life is to be an adventure and fun, no matter what your age.
Who knows, if you talk to an older person, and LISTEN, you may even learn something.

Answer 5

It's about keepin' it real. It seems like yesterday when I was 20, today I am 40, then you think: WOW, maybe tomorrow I wake up and realize I am 60. It makes you think!0!

Good luck!

Answer 6

It's about using the knowledge you have accumulated in the first 30 years.

Answer 7

Didn't you ask this a few days ago? If you have the right attitude and motives and focus on the things that count, time says "grow old with me the best is yet to be"

Answer 8

after 30 the life is to reconsider what you have gathered so far.
after 40 it is to return something to the society from which we have gathered.

Answer 9

Same as your 20s, just living each day one at a time. Its just a different stage or chapter.

Answer 10

The older you get the more you appreciate and value life.

You begin to recognize that your days are numbered.