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Original poster

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

80 replies

Flyingfish111 · 12/04/2021 17:33

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)

OP posts:

MaryBoBary · 12/04/2021 18:20

I turned 30 last year and have gone on a complete career change. I'm also more conscious of what I'm putting in my body.

battleaxe2000 · 12/04/2021 18:22

Pregnant with Dd (not sure I knew) drinks with my 2 best mates

HotTomatoes · 12/04/2021 18:23

I’m in Paris celebrating my 30th with DH, drinking lots of wine (while my lovely mum looks after DC1 back in London). Feeling young, frisky and free as a bird for the weekend. Unaware I am about to get knocked up with DC2 .

MayorGoodwaysChicken · 12/04/2021 18:23

I’ve just had the most fantastic weekend away with my lovely boyfriend who planned one thoughtful surprise after another. Culminated in a proposal with the most perfect ring. So I’m in this wonderful bubble of excitement telling our families and friends and googling wedding venues. Six years later we’re very happily married, still living in the house we were doing up at the time, along with our two small children. I am so happy and grateful every day for the life I have, and really it all started properly at my 30th birthday. It’s one of my loveliest memories

NatalieH2220 · 12/04/2021 18:28

Found out I was pregnant with DS1 two weeks after turning 30. We'd just moved into our new house a couple of weeks ago and was excited for the future.

moregarlic · 12/04/2021 18:32

Oooo can I join in? I'm 29 and 3/4s!

Aside from my relationship with DH, who I have been with since I was 18, I struggled in my early/mid 20s. Worked jobs I hated, didn't have meaningful friendships, lived in an area I didn't like. Now I love my life.

I'm about to turn 30, I got married a few years ago and I've just finished maternity leave with my first baby (toddler. gah). I've just started to return to work part-time; I'm feeling very happy that I am self-employed and WFH as it means I can work flexibly and we don't need formal childcare.

I feel very lucky with relationships. DD is the best (PFB alert), I have a strong relationship with DH and I love and cherish my immediate family and close friends.

We now live on the coast and have renovated our home. After a few recent chats with friends who would like to move to the area but can't since house prices have gone up, I'm feeling incredibly luckily. It's not a mansion, but we could happily stay here the rest of our lives and we could have it paid off in our 40s which sounds very appealing.

That said - this last year has been hell on earth at points. I've been ill, suffered bereavement for the first time and becoming a mum just as the pandemic started was terrifying and so lonely. But I feel like we're finally coming out the other side of it now and the cloud feels like it's lifting.

So yes, I do feel like life has treated me well. But I do also think that I have spent quite a lot of time in my early 20s thinking about how I wanted to design my life so that I could enjoy it as much as possible, rather than just going along with unhappy circumstances (I know that's a privilege to be able to do btw).

Groundedtraveller · 12/04/2021 18:32

I was on holiday with my now ex-boyfriend to celebrate my 30th. We weren't getting on well at all. I'd spent most of my twenties with him and knew it wasn't working but was too scared to end it and be on my own when I knew I wanted kids. We broke up less than a year later and I went on to work abroad and travel for a few years. It was amazing. I met my now husband and went on to have two children. I'm now about to turn 40. My 30's were absolutely brilliant even though they started off in an unhappy relationship and with a lot of uncertainty.

weegiemum · 12/04/2021 18:33

I was a first time mum. I was on mat leave, lived in a beautiful rural area, with clearly the most gorgeous dd. She's 21 now!

BernardsarenotalwaysSaints · 12/04/2021 18:36

I think my 30th was my crappest birthday, my lovely had died earlier in the year, so apart from painting a smile on for the children's homemade cards I didn't really acknowledge it. 31 was relaxed, I had a night away with Dh. 32 we were in tier 3 & my older cat died (& was found by 10yo dc). Roll on 33!

Howsonetoknow · 12/04/2021 18:39

I honestly can't remember
Isn't that terrible, I'm only 35!

TSSDNCOP · 12/04/2021 18:44

I am feeling on top of the world and literally on top of Table Mountain.

badlydrawnbear · 12/04/2021 18:44

I had a 6 month old and was on maternity leave from my job as a nurse. DH and I left her with grandparents for the first time on the evening of my 30th birthday and went out for dinner. DH had an argument with his parents when we got back. I can't remember what about now. It was a nice meal though.

overwork · 12/04/2021 18:45

I am traveling south east Asia on my own because my boyfriend at the time and I had broke up. I had a fabulous little fling and met some lovely people. Me and the boyfriend were on and off for a little while after I got back, but eventually I came to my senses.

Redskyyy · 12/04/2021 18:47

I was struggling. 9 months after the death of dd and not much to be positive about. We were about to exchange on the sale of our flat and had nowhere to live. A week later I found out I was unexpectedly pregnant, and even more unexpectedly having twins! Life has changed a lot in the last year and a half :)

Moomoolandmoomooland · 12/04/2021 18:48

I was on a lovely holiday.

If it makes you feel any better, my 30s were pretty shit, with the exception of my beautiful, wonderful children. It was a fog of job changes, financial pressures, post natal depression and my marriage almost collapsing.

I'm 40 now. Things definitely get better at 40.

Tiredmum100 · 12/04/2021 18:50

I'm 5 months pregnant, got a 1 year old to look after as well and I'm working part time as a nurse. Feeing pretty worn out!

Blabla81 · 12/04/2021 18:51

On the morning of my 30th, I woke up next to my lovely 3 month old dd who, a few moments later, projectile vomited all over my face. My husband buggered off to work without saying happy birthday, didn’t get me a present, card, nadda. I received a bunch of flowers from my MIL and because I didn’t phone to thank her quickly enough, she phoned my husband to have a go at me for not saying thank you.
‘Twas a shit day.

whiteflower84 · 12/04/2021 18:54

Moving out of parents... I'd been back and forth from 18 to a flat and beginning my second year at uni doing history.. met a lot of new people (I moved to mature students flats) drank way too much and went off the rails a bit... nearly failed my second year!

I mean I enjoyed it at the time and I wouldn't have met my now husband but I have no idea how I survived all those hangovers...

Ragwort · 12/04/2021 18:54

Bought my own home after getting divorced (very amicable, no DC), exciting career, just got engaged to second DH ... looking back I think my early 30s were some of the happiest of my life ....

peaceanddove · 12/04/2021 18:55

I'm sitting in an Italian restaurant with DP and a dozen friends. I'm wearing a black corset dress, embroidered with red roses, from Karen Millen and I have the short, blond Gwenyth Paltrow haircut from Sliding Doors. We're all having a good time, but underneath I'm secretly sad that my DP of 10 years is still totally uninterested in getting married and starting a family with me. Every time I raise the subject he gets angry and defensive and I feel like we're growing further apart. We argue yet again in the taxi going home.

A few months later I give DP an ultimatum, but it backfires and we split up. Luckily he soon regretted it, asked me for another chance and proposed soon after. Have been very happily married for the last 20 years and I'm more in love with him now than when we married.

And I still have the black corset dress embroidered with red roses x

sadgrizzly · 12/04/2021 18:55

I had finally decided to leave my long 11 year abusive relationship and got myself a little flat. What I didn't know was that the next ten years would include meeting the person I will spend the rest of my life with and having a beautiful son.

gabsdot45 · 12/04/2021 18:57

I was having IVF treatment. It was horrible and didn't work.
My 30s were basically horrible until we adopted DS when I was 34. The rest of the decade was lovely.

LBOCS2 · 12/04/2021 19:00

Honestly?

I was in a job that was making me ill with stress. My DM had died unexpectedly not long previously and I had a 2.5yo who didn't sleep. It really wasn't a great year, although better than the six months prior.

A year later I had a newborn (born less than a month before my 31st), the grief was much less raw, we'd made the decision that I wasn't going back to the horrible job after my mat leave and my 3yo still wasn't sleeping but I had a newborn so it didn't matter 😁

It's just a birthday. It's not different from any other birthday and everything can change in a very short period of time. Don't put too much pressure on the fact that it's a 'big' birthday!

tortoiselover100 · 12/04/2021 19:03

I was eight months pregnant with my first child and on my 30thbirthday went for a very long walk at a popular seaside destination in an attempt to bring on the birth. It didn't work, she came 4 weeks later one day after her due date. My husband turned out to be abusive although on my 30th, there had only been one incident. So it's not a happy memory, all the time I had with my ex feels stained.

NoParticularPattern · 12/04/2021 19:03

I have a 3yo, 2yo and 4 month old. Married for 4 years to the man I genuinely believed was going to turn out to be an axe murdering rapist off of tinder. Turns out he’s actually pretty amazing and, family politics aside, has provided the best life imaginable for us all and I love him more than I ever thought possible. Considering how the first half of my 20s went I’m pretty pleased with that!

These stories are all amazing- especially those who got out of horrid relationships and found what they were worth!

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