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When teenagers finally become adults, they are let in on the little secret that no one actually knows what they are doing. The truth is that even seasoned adults sometimes need to ask for help and advice to navigate life. 

One netizen asked the internet “What’s a common mistake people make in their 30s?” People shared the ups and downs, misconceptions, and little victories of growing older. So make yourself comfortable, maybe find somewhere to take notes and get to scrolling. Be sure to upvote your favorite posts and comment your thoughts below. 

#1

“My Body Is Starting To Feel It”: 30 Of The Biggest Mistakes People Make In Their 30s Stay in unhealthy toxic relationships.

Lavenderplatte , Gustavo Fring Report

Once a person is in their mid-twenties, it can be hard to find real-life advice and mentorship. After all, you have been a full adult for some time by then, able to vote, drive, drink, and take out loans. You have possibly already participated in multiple election cycles and maybe even own a car. Younger people might already be coming to you for advice.

You might struggle to explain to them that you don’t really understand what is going on at the same time. So it’s no surprise that many people enter their 30s with only the inkling of a plan and just do their best. Just because someone has survived three decades doesn’t automatically mean they suddenly gain some deeper insight, just like turning twenty doesn’t unlock some new ability. 

#3

“My Body Is Starting To Feel It”: 30 Of The Biggest Mistakes People Make In Their 30s Thinking they are too old. Never too late to switch career paths or look for a new relationship or start taking care of your health.

Giterdun456:
I just turned 30 and realized I’m a bad person. Lying, manipulation, cheating, etc. But I went back into weekly therapy, and I'm pretty determined to not be like this going forward.

Mans_Got_Cheaks , Andrea Piacquadio Report

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Miss Mali
Community Member
1 year ago DotsCreated by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

Never too late to work on urself. The fact that u are aware, determined and have found help I think this is a journey u will complete and be happy and satisfied with the awesome person u will become. Good luck!!

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#4

“My Body Is Starting To Feel It”: 30 Of The Biggest Mistakes People Make In Their 30s Settling for a spouse.

thefox47545:

See this SOOOOOOOOOO MUCH! People getting married for the sake of getting married. As a consequence, I'm seeing divorces SOOOOOOOOOO MUCH too! Been on dates where it's obvious the girl wants the title of wife more than actually being a wife.

FunStorm6487 , RDNE Stock project Report

#5

“My Body Is Starting To Feel It”: 30 Of The Biggest Mistakes People Make In Their 30s Not exercising enough and eating a cr*ppy diet. You can't get away with those things anymore like you did in your 20s.

DeathSpiral321 , Tara Clark Report

One area that many thirty-year-olds likely don’t think about until it’s too late is physical health. While the twenties are often a peak for many people, this can create bad habits down the line. When you are young, you feel invincible because, in many ways, you sort of are. This rarely translates into one’s thirties, so if a person doesn’t adjust their lifestyle, they end up feeling a lot worse without immediately understanding why. 

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#6

“My Body Is Starting To Feel It”: 30 Of The Biggest Mistakes People Make In Their 30s Not wearing sunscreen and taking care of your skin. especially your face.

EarthLoveAR , Miriam Alonso Report

#7

“My Body Is Starting To Feel It”: 30 Of The Biggest Mistakes People Make In Their 30s I think the biggest mistake _I_ made in my 30s was kind of going on autopilot. I'm 42 in a month, and, to be dead honest, I'm not sure my 30s even happened. It feels like I went from 29 to 40. And I think it's because I just kind of kept my head down and carried on as usual. I should have spent that time being more pro-active. Stupid me, but it doesn't have to be stupid you!

MothraWillSaveUs , MART PRODUCTION Report

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Mia Black
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1 year ago (edited) DotsCreated by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

It's hard but I think it's somehow part of everyday life... or at least that's how I feel. every day just happens, goes by and seems to repeat itself. Time passes very surreally this way - quickly and slowly at the same time. It's all the more important to take some time for yourself at least once a year and do something nice (leave the housework alone and not work for the house, really. You'll have that left for other days). The rare free time with friends is also important. I'm trying to incorporate semi-regular meetings into my everyday life again. and if it's only three hours on Friday after work (which makes the weekend feel longer), then that's fine. (Edit: train to not feel guilty of every dirty dish, relax from time to time in your chaos and just be you. Make it normal that not everything is spotless - just keep it healthy clean)

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#8

“My Body Is Starting To Feel It”: 30 Of The Biggest Mistakes People Make In Their 30s Staying at a job they are severely unhappy at and accepting toxic work environments. Cough cough teachers

Dry_Muffin_5905 , Kampus Production Report

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This is just as true when it comes to partners and careers. It’s actually a bit bizarre that high-school graduates are tasked with picking a career path, then often taking on a mountain of debt, with little-to-no real-life experience. The result is burnt-out people struggling to keep afloat in their twenties, trapped in jobs they don’t actually want to do. 

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#9

“My Body Is Starting To Feel It”: 30 Of The Biggest Mistakes People Make In Their 30s Not taking care of your teeth.

sixfeetone , Sora Shimazaki Report

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Firstname Lastname
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1 year ago DotsCreated by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

I've recently made a bigger effort to remember to floss every day. It makes me feel so adult for some basic self care.

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#10

“My Body Is Starting To Feel It”: 30 Of The Biggest Mistakes People Make In Their 30s Being concerned about not being the young, trendy generation anymore. Wear your skinny jeans all you want, millennial women!

SparkleFartFromKmart , Laura Chouette Report

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FrogMan
Community Member
1 year ago DotsCreated by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

Once you realize, “This is who I am” and OWN it, you’ll be amazed at how much better you feel.

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#11

“My Body Is Starting To Feel It”: 30 Of The Biggest Mistakes People Make In Their 30s Panicing. You do not need to have a great career, partner, 4-bedroom house, and baby on the way just because your 20s are over. Relax.

CampusTour , Mikhail Nilov Report

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Emma S
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1 year ago DotsCreated by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

💯 I'm 37, still single and living in rented accommodation. Sometimes I do worry that my chance of finding the right man and getting married etc has gone, but mostly I'm actually quite happy with my life and I'm grateful that at least I'm not trapped in a toxic relationship just for the sake of not being alone. I don't allow being single to stop me doing anything and I go to the cinema alone, I've travelled alone and I've had some amazing experiences. This idea that you pass some sort of finish line when you hit 30 is ridiculous.

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Some of the responses mention that you will notice time start to fly by quickly for the first time. In the blink of an eye, you go from 30 to 35, suddenly you are now 39. After all, the longer you live, the shorter each day, week, and even month seems, as time and experiences blend together. Learning to be present seems like eye-rolling cliche advice when you are young and can’t sit still for over four minutes, but it comes in handy later. 

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#12

“My Body Is Starting To Feel It”: 30 Of The Biggest Mistakes People Make In Their 30s Romanticizing your 20s and fearing your 40s. (live where you are).

iamnottheuser:
It's so easy to romanticize the past and fear the future. Life is organic, and so are we. We will keep changing and oftentimes in a good way (stronger, wiser, more confident, etc.). I'm so happy to be who I am at 37.

theresites , Mikhail Nilov Report

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Karl
Community Member
1 year ago (edited) DotsCreated by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

Everyone has a tendency to declare when “the good old days” were. It’s generally when you had much less responsibility, awareness of life’s grim realities and likely when your mother still did your laundry. Objectively, in my 50s, I live in a safer world (Current situations aside..), am emotionally wiser, more tolerant, more financially and emotionally secure than in my 20s, I have a much better b******t detector when dealing with people, know who deserves my time and who doesn’t. Best of all, I’ve lost the steadfast moral certainties of my younger self and have realised that there are few absolute black and white issues - just shades of grey. Would I go back? Not on your Nelly!

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#13

“My Body Is Starting To Feel It”: 30 Of The Biggest Mistakes People Make In Their 30s Taking care of your body. Once I turned 31 lots of medical issues arose for me from various things but contact sports leave more damage than you know. Go to the dentist go to the doctor be active. I say all this as I’m about to be in a hospital during a hurricane in Florida. Take care of yourself physically. mentally. and spiritually.

brownie1225 , cottonbro studio Report

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Blondie23
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1 year ago DotsCreated by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

If you take time to take care of yourself you can take care of everyone else and your responsibilities so much better!!!! Please prioritize yourselves my fellow pandas!!!!!!!

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#14

“My Body Is Starting To Feel It”: 30 Of The Biggest Mistakes People Make In Their 30s Making relationship decisions based on avoiding/meeting/holding on to milestones by a certain age. (I can't be a divorcee at 34, I have to be married by 34, I need to start a family in the next two years, I'm too old to start dating again, etc.)

Beetin , Alena Darmel Report

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Lady of the Great Lakes
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1 year ago

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One reason why some may simply try to avoid this question is the tough-to-swallow reality that things tend to get worse. Your body breaks down, you really do need to be setting more money aside for retirement and you have less and less time to function. But you are finally at a stage in life where you have, hopefully, tried enough to know what you want. This knowledge is perhaps worth more than just its weight in gold, which can be simply bought and sold. Experience only comes with time. 

#15

“My Body Is Starting To Feel It”: 30 Of The Biggest Mistakes People Make In Their 30s Not listening to their burnout signals and just settling in for the long haul. You’re not going to make it. And if you do “make it” you won’t like yourself or the sacrifices you had to make along the way.

JetKeel , Mizuno K Report

#16

“My Body Is Starting To Feel It”: 30 Of The Biggest Mistakes People Make In Their 30s Thinking you're a finished product, not likely to change all that much.

kat_Folland , Porapak Apichodilok Report

#17

“My Body Is Starting To Feel It”: 30 Of The Biggest Mistakes People Make In Their 30s Biggest mistake I made in my 30's was not enjoying them more.

Young enough to party, still play some sports, and perfectly in place in any bar. You have energy, you have a circle of friends (that will get smaller, trust me).

Try to carpe a diem every once in a while, the decade passes VERY quickly.

hockeynoticehockey , Kampus Production Report

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featherytoad
Community Member
1 year ago DotsCreated by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

Time really does seem to go faster as you get older. I swear, stuff that happened 10 years ago seem like they only happened 3 years ago.

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#18

“My Body Is Starting To Feel It”: 30 Of The Biggest Mistakes People Make In Their 30s Not getting over or at least somewhat understanding your childhood and parental issues. Understanding that stuff can make the rest of your life easier.

redpaloverde , SHVETS production Report

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Miss Mali
Community Member
1 year ago DotsCreated by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

Excellent point, it was in my 30s that I reflected on my childhood issues, and more importantly took the time to learn what my mother had been through. It did not change her, but it did change me and probably saved my relationship with both my husband and my child.

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#19

“My Body Is Starting To Feel It”: 30 Of The Biggest Mistakes People Make In Their 30s Not getting that thing checked out by a doctor.

dreamtofalligators , Antoni Shkraba Report

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HolyDiver
Community Member
1 year ago DotsCreated by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

This. After ignoring symptoms for years and sucking it up, at 52 I was diagnosed with stage 3 cancer. I'm 56, cancer free and will finally, albeit reluctantly, go to the doctor for unusual symptoms.

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#20

Thinking you can’t make a difference in someone’s life because the world is too large to see your small act. I have a student with extreme depression, and I always remind her that it’s not a bad life, it’s a bad day when she has an attack. Even though she is usually too upset to talk or even respond, I just sit with her in silence until the crisis passes. A lot of people will ask me why I even bother, she’ll never get better, my action is insignificant and means nothing, but you know what: it meant something to her and made her life better. That’s good enough for me. Never think you can’t make a difference, people.

CrystPlaneswalker Report

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Firstname Lastname
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1 year ago DotsCreated by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

I made a habit of making small stuffies and leaving them in pantry boxes with "I'm (name), be my friend" notes for the past year without ever really knowing what happens once they are taken. I'm at the last bit of my stuffing in my bag and I was debating if it was even worth continuing when I found a note left in one of the boxes yesterday, letting me know what a difference I had made to someone for some small act. The little things matter.

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#21

“My Body Is Starting To Feel It”: 30 Of The Biggest Mistakes People Make In Their 30s Not stretching. Like not necessarily before exercise (though absolutely that too) but just in general.

MurtaughFusker , Alexy Almond Report

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zak
Community Member
1 year ago DotsCreated by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

Stretch your back when you wake up, before you get out of bed. Hug your knees to your chest, roll your hips from side to side, etc. It takes like 5 minutes and helps you wake up, and I haven't had any back issues at all since I started this, whereas before I would tweak my back a few times per year from something mundane like sneezing or putting on my shoes lol

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#22

“My Body Is Starting To Feel It”: 30 Of The Biggest Mistakes People Make In Their 30s Thinking you need the job, house, marriage, kids combo to be perfect.

I got into a profession I loved at 32, after I switched careers, and went back to school at 29. I've had 4 different jobs since.

Bought a house at 34. Got lucky. Right now is not the time.

Had a kid at 38- it took 6 years of trying.

I'm really happy.

No fairytale relationship, and that's ok. Never married, don't believe in it.

It's never too late to retrain for a job, houses depend a lot on APR and debt ratio, marriage is expensive if you do it with the wrong person, kids are a blessing if you want them, there are natural limits to fertility. If you don't, lots of wonderful contraceptive options don't depend on other people for that.

Live the life you want for you and the people who support and uplift you. Ignore social media and ignore social norms. Do commit to something special, a person, a project, a dream. Commitment yields good things! Don't lose out on a good thing you have, while imagining everything you do not have is better.

The grass is greener where you water it. Or you know, tear it up and plant something local. Everything I have achieved took years of planning, support, and intention. Slow and steady. Small and focused.

Working_Ad4014 , Caleb Oquendo Report

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#24

Smoking. You need to quit that s**t. After 10 years of smoking I stopped smoking at the age of 28. Best thing I've ever done. Now I am 32, healthier than ever.

asaw123 Report

#25

“My Body Is Starting To Feel It”: 30 Of The Biggest Mistakes People Make In Their 30s Comparing their lifestyle to other 30-somethings.

ThunderBobMajerle:

Your peer's success can seem perfect from afar and make you feel inadequate. But if you sit down and talk with them, you will learn all sorts of shortcomings and difficulties in their life that will make you appreciate something about yourself and your situation. In other words, we're all just out here trying to function.

Affectionate_Item_51 , Brooke Cagle Report

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VioletHunter
Community Member
1 year ago DotsCreated by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

Comparing yourself to others is perfectly normal human behaviour and not something you can just switch off. One just needs to learn to be more reasonable about it imo.

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#26

Thinking you aren’t STILL sexy, sensual, and desirable. You are, you’re beautiful.

PanDulcez Report

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Michael Largey
Community Member
1 year ago DotsCreated by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

I was just as sexy, sensual, and desirable at 40 as I was at 20. But that was the problem.

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#27

“My Body Is Starting To Feel It”: 30 Of The Biggest Mistakes People Make In Their 30s Thinking it's too late to do something. "I don't have any credit built", "I don't have any retirement savings", and get disheartened from trying. The best time was yesterday, the next best time is today.

MrsKetchup , Adrian Swancar Report

#28

Thinking you have to be settled in your career. 39 and starting over. Excited for new chapter.

Main-Shift6434 Report

#29

My mistake was not traveling and remaining in my own near-sighted American cocoon. My advice is to travel as soon as you can and sample what the World has to offer. Places in the U.S. and overseas may offer better environments and circumstances well beyond what you have today.

Plus-Ad-940 Report

#30

“My Body Is Starting To Feel It”: 30 Of The Biggest Mistakes People Make In Their 30s This one is not specific to the 30s: Not understanding our inner world is the biggest mistake. As Carl Jung wrote: 'But you cannot flee from yourself. It is with you all the time and demands fulfillment.' A significant portion of who we truly are, what we like, what we are capable of, and the reasons we do the things we do, persist within a realm we don't actively understand or have access to. To become our true selves, we need introspection to learn about the aspects of our being that we are unaware of, dislike or hide. 

FereshtehS , cottonbro studio Report

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#31

“My Body Is Starting To Feel It”: 30 Of The Biggest Mistakes People Make In Their 30s To summarize my points below: Your 30s is when you are really in the thick of "adulting". It's easy to loose focus on what is really important to you among all the demands and responsibilities.

Not Fostering Friendships: As you enter your 30s, maintaining and nurturing friendships becomes more challenging. It's a time when connections can fade, and forming new ones becomes harder. It's very important to invest effort in the friendships you currently have. **Edit:** A few people have commented about what to do when people don't reciprocate? My advise - keep trying! Everyone is under water in their 30's, they likely won't be able to make every attempt at outreach you make. But over time as things become less hectic they will remember you kept trying (without guilt) and will appreciate it and come back to you. But toxic people, yeah cut those out!

Not Nurturing Your Romantic Relationship: Responsibilities increase in your 30s like careers, parenthood, and caregiving for aging parents. It's common for the most crucial relationship – your romantic partnership – to be inadvertently neglected. Avoid taking your partner for granted, assuming they'll always be around, or treating them as an outlet for your worst moments.

Not Preserving Your Identity: Similar to the previous points, your 30s come with a whirlwind of conflicting priorities that can lead you to lose touch with your identity. It's easy to forget what truly brings you joy and satisfaction. Maintain a hobby that gives your life purpose and regularly reflect on whether your job still fulfills your needs in terms of purpose, financial stability, and overall satisfaction.

-

hyperside89 , fauxels Report

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VioletHunter
Community Member
1 year ago DotsCreated by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

Yup, keep writing those bday messages and Christmas cards, even when there isn't much coming back from people busy with careers and kids. Those friendships will rekindle later in life.

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