what they don't tell you about turning 30

in a world filled with ageism, we learn that growing older is actually a gift

What they really don’t tell you about turning 30…

Is that the world doesn’t stop spinning.

It doesn’t end at 31 or 35 or 37 either —

They won’t tell you that you’ll still feel a little uncertain about who you are, what you’re meant to do, or if any of that matters at all.

They won’t tell you that you’ll still listen

to your favorite high school album on spotify on the way to work

Or how much less worried you are about what other people think

Or how great it feels to let your natural curls fall around you face—

After a decade of straightening it just to look like everyone else.

That you’ll appreciate the mundane a little bit more,

Like rolling pasta dough between your fingers

Or digging your hands in the dirt

Or a long walk with coffee and a good friend.

How the simplest things become magical

Because you’re finally a little more at home in your body.

They will definitely not tell you how it becomes more natural

To feel love for yourself

And the folds of your belly

Or the little lines next to your eyes—

Because they don’t want you to love yourself too much

Because feeling at home in your body

Means less spending

Less searching

Less wanting.

…and it’s very hard to make money off of that.

What they won’t tell you about turning 30

Is just how much you’ve earned feeling at peace with who you are

And the light that comes along with that—

Will feel unlike anything you could have ever dreamed of

In your teens and 20s.

What they don’t tell you about turning 30

Is just how much you love running towards the next decade

With all of that new light—

Beaming from your chest