What’s a major change you made in your early 30s that’s proved to be great later on?

11 comments

1. I started doing psychedelics! My life has improved tenfold since!

2. Got divorced.

3. I broke that fuck I gave to people all the time and without I can’t give a fuck no more and it’s glorious!! ✌️💜🌮🤣

4. wasn’t really a “major change”, more like a natural progression

   i started saving a LOT of money. mostly because in my 20s, i partied hard and traveled a lot. i backpacked all over from when i was 19 until i was 30. stopped since covid.

   like everyone else, i saved a bunch of money during covid.. but i also lost my interest in backpacking/partying… so i have a lot of money now.

   im saving towards a house i guess

5. I started my fitness journey! I was overweight and coping with finding out that I have MS so I took the plunge. I started walking, then mix of jogging and walking, eventually jogging and now running and HIIT training. I’ve lost 60 pounds of fat and replaced it with 50 pounds of muscle! And now I’m 40 and doing 110 burpees in 20 minutes is achievable for me!

6. I stopped buying things that have no return on investment.

   Most of the things I buy either hold value, or make me money, it’s been a good thing.

7. Finally got serious about getting out of debt.

8. Had kids.

   It’s not for everybody… I wasn’t sure it’d be for me, but it has given meaning and focus to my life. My kids are the absolute joy of my life.

9. Bought a house, got a divorce.

   We saved up money for a down-payment and my parents were able to help with that, so we bought a house in the spring of 2008. The market was soft, prices were going down, and we thought it was a good time to buy. We were what realtors call “knife catchers”, hoping to buy at the bottom of the market. Spoiler: the real estate market was not at bottom, and I spent several years underwater, with a mortgage that was higher than the real-estate value of the house.

   But… you don’t buy houses in the short-term. After a few years, I was still upside down on the house, but my mortgage was now cheaper than any comparable rent, even with the occasional repair and other costs.

   I got a divorce in my mid-30s. It was about as good as a divorce can be. We kept it amicable, didn’t involve lawyers (should have, in hindsight) but it absolutely felt like a failure on my part. The thing is, sometimes, some people *need* to fail to get their shit together, and I certainly did. Living alone meant having to get good at cooking, at meal-planning, at cleaning up my bathroom and kitchen and bedroom so as not to accidentally cock-block myself. Being **able** to live on my own, and cover my bills without anyone else’s help, meant I could approach dating from a different place.

10. Started exercising/working out and got a masters degree. Both have been awesome choices.

11. I’m not sure the level of “greatness” but moving out of my parents house.

    I really need to be alone.