5 Things To Do Before You Turn 30

I can’t believe I turned 38 this year!  When I was 25 I thought 38 was so old!!  It’s actually not and maybe not much has changed.  I’m a huge believer that age is just a number, it’s all about how you feel.  If you live your best life and do what you love, it doesn’t matter how old you are.  

At this point in life I would consider myself to be a pretty smart woman.  In fact, I’ve been “life smart” for a while now. I was a late bloomer and still am in so many aspects of my life.  Being a late bloomer doesn’t mean I’m not smart. It means I move at my own pace and do things when I think they are appropriate for me.  With that comes a lot of wisdom that I want to share with you!  Especially 5 things to do before you turn 30.

When I turned 30 I was single, not dating anyone seriously and just starting to come into my own in my life and career.  This was completely different than all of my friends, who were married and starting to have kids and making the great migration to the burbs.  During this period of time I learned a lot about life and how to live it to the fullest. My experience has shown that these are the most important 5 things to do before you turn 30.

Ditch Your Toxic Friends

Your 20’s are fun and are where you develop into the person you are going to be for the rest of your life.  Your 20’s are the time for learning and growing. You will come across people (even in your tightest circle of friends) that you don’t necessary mesh with.  And that’s ok.  You will find some people take and take and never give. You may find people that have to be the center of attention of all the time. These are not the people you want to be friends with.  Friendship is a two-way street, you need to both be on it. If you find yourself on a one-way road exit that friendship and never look back. It may feel uncomfortable to end friendships, but you will thank yourself later.

Drop Everything and Travel

Your responsibilities may be small at this time and you may not have started a family yet.  Take full advantage of this and travel. See the world and see as much as you can! What is great about being young and traveling is you’re probably ok spending a night or two in a cheaper hotel, as your lavish tastes haven’t developed yet. 😊 You are also younger and might have less money, so your money needs to go a little further.  

When I made $28K a year I feel that I had more money than I do now. I make more money now but the difference is that I was more careful with my money then and stretched it further. Personally, I didn’t travel a lot in my younger years and I do regret it. I was scared to travel alone, especially internationally. I wanted to be with someone so I waited until later in life.   

Looking for some great travel ideas?  How about Positano, Budapest, Quebec City or Chicago.

Follow Your Heart When Your Head Says No

This one is a bit backwards because today I would tell you to follow common sense.  Save the common sense for your 30’s and live a little before you get there. Love is complicated and true love takes time and energy to find.  So my advise is to date the bad ass or the super good looking guy that you see no future with. It’s not a long-term thing and you don’t have to marry him, just have fun.  Don’t lose yourself in the process though and don’t get taken advantage of, but have fun!

Make Mistakes

No one is perfect.  You live and learn.  Making mistakes while you are in your 20’s is ok, it’s how you grow as a person.  You can’t do everything right from the start, and you need to learn right from wrong.  Learning from this is the only way you can grow and make better decisions when you get older.  Take credit card debt for example. I wouldn’t dare get myself into that these days, because it can get out of control.  However, I may have had a little credit card debt in my 20’s. Did it feel good? No, but I did learn from it. Best life lesson I ever learned is you only charge what you have the money for at home and that’s it.  So these days when I want the $200 jeans I make sure I have the money at home before I go shopping for them.

Learn To Say No

Its ok to say no sometimes and sometimes it’s necessary to say no.  I spent a lot of time in my 20’s saying yes to everything because I didn’t want to miss out on anything.  Saying no is a personal choice and you don’t have to justify it to anyone. If you do choose to justify your no to anyone they should respect it and accept it.  If they don’t you may need to rethink why you have that person in your life.

Are you over 30 and still working on these things?  Don’t worry, it’s never too late, there is always time!   These lessons are good at any age, it’s better to be late to the game then to never start.