SO THIS IS 30
Being in your 30s is weird. You’re too old to be young and too young to be old. You’ve experienced life but still have a lifetime left. You’re older than google but grew up on social media. You can still remember your home phone number from the 1990s but have no idea what your closest friends numbers are because they’re stored on your phone. Don’t even get me started on navigating the uncharted waters of parenting the new generation through social media. You’re killing me TikTok!
It’s also a time of reflection. So many people I love between 30-39 are having mid life crisis. I believe God gifts us this opportunity to look back at our mistakes, regrets, lost dreams, and traumas while we still have time to adjust, shift, grow, and redefine. Think of it as the ultimate decade long parent-teacher conference between the person you thought you were and the person the Maker made you to be. What a weird, amazing, painful, wonderful, scary, exciting time!
I’m not preaching this from a podium. I’m sharing with you from the pits. I’m feeling the 30s shift and let’s just say my parent teacher conference with myself is not going well. Trying to recalibrate myself to a more genuine version of me has been one of the most challenging yet freeing storms I’ve walked through. Some days are great and I feel like I have my life together. Like, I have both my house AND the car clean on the same day. Winning!
However, some days I feel the movie “Groundhog Day” knocking on my bedroom door. I don’t want to get out of bed and deal with all the battles that are waiting for me down those carpeted stairs. This can be a symptom that something is off in your body. Maybe you have a chemical or nutritional imbalance. It can also be a sign that I’ve been overworked, overtired, or overstimulated and just need some self care. Prolonged self care in some cases.
Or maybe, just maybe, you have a spiritual imbalance. Genesis 2:7 says “Then the Lord God formed the man of dust from the ground and breathed into his nostrils the breath of life, and the man became a living creature.” God is our source of life. Just as unplugging a lamp from an outlet turns off the light, unplugging ourselves from God pulls up our anchor. We are no longer grounded or centered when we are floating freely in the waves. God is the one who wrote our owners manual, so He is the first one we should consult as we start questioning the trek through our 30s.
I love the song “God is Good” by Francesca Battistelli because it reinforces that no matter what has happened in the past (whether is was a dream that was lost, pain you endured, grief you felt, or your new found back pain) or what is coming in the future….God is good and there’s beauty in it all. Even in your 30s.