You have just turned 30.. what are you doing?

[Flyingfish111]

Or thereabouts..

What are you doing?
Who are you with?
How do you FEEL?

Has life treated you well?
Are you pleased how life has panned out so far?

(Fun nostalgic thread)

On honeymoon in cape cod. Woke up wondering when I'll have kids?

I’ve just got married and am on honeymoon with DH. Feeling positive about the future (pregnant with DD).

The year I was 30 I had amazing flings with a 20 year old and a 40 year old. I went on holiday alone and had a brilliant time. I was out with my mates the whole time, I owned a little flat and had a job that was alright. I lived by the sea. I was pretty happy really.

A bit surprised. After a really rubbish time for most of my twenties, I suddenly got lucky towards the end and ended up with a central London flat, a fiance and a good job. So at 30 I was newly married and embarking on a career change. Happy time in my life.

DH and I were living abroad and had just bought a really nice flat. We worked all week and partied all weekend with a group of expats. We went on holiday a lot. City breaks in Europe and longer holidays worldwide. It was fab.

These are brilliant.

Confession: I have just turned 30 and tbh I'm feeling a bit flat, I guess a few milestones (I know I know) I thought I would have reached by now, I havent done and I am just having one of those days.

I need to get a grip and turn things around, finding inspiration in this thread already and it is cheering me up!

On my 30th birthday I'd not long moved into a new rented house with my two DC after finally leaving my abusive ex partner. My twenties were pretty awful so 30 felt like the start of a new era. I went for a spa day with my Mum and at the weekend I went out to London for a night out with a new group of friends. Happy memories

@ssd my nosiness is getting the better of me, when did you end up having children? Hope things worked out for you!

@RuleWithAWoodenFoot ahh you were having so much fun, 20 and a 40 year old, what a contrast 🤣 living by the sea sounds like the absolute dream to me!

@cowbells oh wow, really positive! I am sure hard work went side by side with the luck!

@baronessBomburst that is literally the dream life.. where did you live out of interest? Sometimes I wish I took more of a gamble in life and worked abroad, I'm pretty settled in a career now and difficult to just quit, I hope it paid off for you sounds a lot of fun!

6 weeks into motherhood with DD1, job I loved, DP I loved. Rented house as we'd sold flat to make space for baby. Pretty happy but exhausted!

Now 40, 2 DD's, different job I also love, own a fairly decent house in great area outright, DP died 7 years ago, have new DP.

It was an eventful, unpredictable decade but I started and ended it well.

The Netherlands!
We're still here too, although all the other ex-pats are long gone. We sold the flat, bought s house, and DS turned up. We were still doing weekend city breaks and self-catering fortnights until Covid hit. We just drove everywhere instead.

I'd just split up with my long term partner, wasn't moving to the city he lived in, had just given up the lease on my one bedroom flat, and moved back in with my mother in my home town that I hated (small town...not mother :-D) I basically sat in her garden crying, thinking woe is me (god knows how my mum put up with me!).

This went on for 18 months...on reflection I think I was depressed. But then I bought a house, changed jobs, moved to a new city in a different country, lived like a geriatric student for a couple of years, found partner, had DD, left partner after 8 years, single parented it for a bit, found DP (joy!) and have just had the best decade ever. Long story short, where you are at 30 doesn't in any way show how things will turn out. If I could talk to myself crying in the garden all those years ago I'd say imagine what you want to do/where you want to be, take a risk, and go for it. And don't worry about finding a partner, they'll probably show up eventually.

I’ve woken up after a surprise party from my (newish) boyfriend, I’m happy as I’m retraining for a career I’ve always wanted to do. Little do I know that DC1 will be joining us later this year... it was a lovely time full of possibilities and excitement.

I was in the middle of the best paid and most stressful job of my life.

It's how I bought a flat, so I don't regret but they were very hard days. I ended up with a mystery illness, according to the doctor. i just thought it was my body packing up under the strain.

I never did a job that hard or well paid afterwards and I might live in the same flat my whole life but it was right to acknowledge that was my career peak. It was hard, because I thought I could achieve a lot more.

Now at 45, I'm still glad I made the choice to dial down the job stress and salary.

I turned 30 pretty recently, currently feeding DS (6 months) to sleep while listening to DH try (and fail) to get DD (2) into bed.

Feeling distinctly mundane compared to many on here!

I was getting my ducks in a row, just before leaving a pish marriage. It was hard, but the 20 gloriously happy years since make the upheaval sooo worth it.

I did have a decent party but had to leave at 11, how sad is that! I was dropping with exhaustion and fell ill shortly after.

Good party though, in a wonderful venue that sadly isn't there now but a great favourite of mine at the time. I paid for everyone and then put more money behind the bar when I left.

Having a fairly rubbish birthday lunch with XH, who is having an affair. Had someone been kind enough to tell me, a lot of heartache could have been saved.

Getting a couple G&Ts and tapas with LT partner. Tier 2... I think it was.

Renovating a run down house in an outer London borough. Job I don’t love but pays well. Few months away from being signed off with anxiety.

Fingers crossed you’ll meet the milestones you want, that person that you look at thinking “they’ve got their shit together” - spoiler alert - they don’t.

It was about six months ago, so I was in lockdown and my wedding had been cancelled by Covid, ha.

But we’re married now, can work anywhere, had an amazing honeymoon and the original one to come, and I’m four weeks pregnant with our first. It’s not been a bad year! Different, but not bad.

On my 30th birthday, it was a Friday and I lived in NW England in a sweet house I shared with my two young sons (ages 8 & 2) and my husband, aged 31. It was the height of summer. I was pregnant with my third and last child, a daughter but I didn't know that yet. My MIL and my heavily-pregnant SIL (she gave birth three days later) came to my house in a taxi to bring me a cake and a small gift and very much appreciated.

Back then, my husband was a telecoms consultant and worked in Europe from Monday to Friday. He worked & lived in Germany at that time. He was paid handsomely but the money couldn't replace his presence. I missed him and so did the children. This had been going on for a few years at that point. It was hard because we had a LDR during our two-year courtship because I am American and he's English and I moved to England to be near him for him to be based in Europe and with young children that I had to care for alone. However, I made the best of the situation.

All in all, I was pretty happy. I had lovely children, I lived well, I had a happy marriage and I was living a bit of an adventure in a foreign country.

That was 2000.

We look upon those years as our happiest despite the distance. Everything changed in 2002 (aged 32) with insane ups and downs. My husband lost his job in 2002 and we lost everything in foreclosure by 2004. I moved our family to the USA and started our lives over with $75 and back with my father. We've picked up our lives since then (husband lost his job three times!), we moved to four different cities in four years, nearly split up, son battling serious mental health issues and drug addiction, becoming grandparents and nearly losing them due to son's drug addiction, and finally very close to an empty nest and finding ourselves again. Whew!

Oh that makes it sound like it’s because of Covid that we can work anywhere. It’s not, we’re just both self employed and pretty successful now, so we can work here or in Europe or anywhere really.

(Brexit has made Europe harder, but thankfully not impossible!)

Newly married and 8 months pregnant. Very very happy but also a bit sad at how shite my 30th was.

I had just been promoted at work and become a union rep. My son was in primary school, I had been married for 8 years and was so happy. DH took me to Paris for a long weekend, and we went to York Races with my parents, my dad had booked us a hospitality package and we watched Madness perform (this was the week after my birthday).

I'm now 42, DS is an adult, DH has died, and I've had 3 promotions since then. If give it all up to go back to being 30 and having years ahead of us together.

I’ve had a low key birthday. I’m at work because I’m saving my annual leave for our holiday in May and my birthday presents are for our holiday. I’m with DH. I’m feeling meh because I’ve not accomplished what I wanted to do by 30 and I thought I’d be on the next stage of my career. Just over a month later, we go into lockdown, our holiday gets cancelled and any chance of moving on to the next stage in my career anytime soon is squashed! 30 wasn’t great for me. I’m hoping 31 is better.

It is 3 days before my due date and I am mostly crying!