Does 30 year old crisis exist?

Like how it is shown on my identity card, I have now hit the magic number: 30, just couples of weeks ago. What do you think that would be your first expression to me? "Congrats"? "I feel you"? "Bon courage"? "Happy birthday"?.. Anyway, when a friend has hit 30 years old, I kinda always ask him or her "how does it feel to be 30?".

Few things appear in my mind about being 30s, and this one has disturbed my mind quite a bit:
- the point of someone's success should be reached at age 35, if not then success would be far.


Do you agree with that? Or is it just an expression from an early-mid-age-crisis-person? However, by chance, we also discussed about gagner sur la vie at my french class. (FYI, I'm taking french class again recently.) We've been asked about our point of view about gagner sur la vie or reaching success in life, is it always about success in career? With cliche, I answered that being success in life is not always about success in career, someone could just have a not very meaningful career but if (s)he is happy of things that (s)he has been doing and have good friends and caring family, have enough love from around, then (s)he could say that (s)he has gained the success in life. Yup... cliche! And now I feel like want to stick my finger to my throat.

Well it might be true, but still, you would also want to reach success in career. Success in life should include ALL: career, love, family, friendship, religion... ALL! Now... if the word "success" should be reached at the very least at age 35, whilst I have entered 30 by a few weeks ago, so I only have less than five years to reach it. Does it stress me out? Uhmm... yeah!

It's then tailed with questions, like: "what is it that I really want in life?", "which path should I follow to reach my success", "if I can't reach my full success does it mean that I'm a failure?", etc. The last question already sounds pessimistic. :p

Is it a 30 year old crisis? Do I have to have all those thoughts? I've googled it... and found out that I'm not alone! Here are some that I got.....:

8/17/2007 sus t. says:

Anybody else? I've got a crap job, I've been looking for a while for something else but not really, not sure I'll be able to accomplish all my lofty goals, which now seem quite naive and impossible to accomplish, no kids, but worried that I'm waiting too long, but I still don't want to have them yet, no genuine BFFs except hubby- I really don't have a right to complain/whine but I feel like I'm nowhere near where I would have wanted to be at this age...sigh. Anybody else feel the same way? 

 Heather G. says:

I empathize. I'm 31, and my four-year-relationship with the man I was supposed to marry ended four months ago in a blaze of glory; I just got laid off from work three weeks ago, and my plans to go back to school keep getting put off to the point that I'm now wondering if it will ever happen. On top of that, I moved home awhile ago to save money, as I was planning on moving to the West Coast with the ex who was living there, so now I'm an unemployed, single 31-year-old living at home again. At least I'm a very cool chick. ;)

The good thing is, I'm not alone. None of my friends are married or having kids yet, and most are having similar career issues. But still... ugh.

 patty "the cat owes me bread" b. says:

this too shall pass.  30 is young... and i predict the following decade will be good.  challenges are good.  challenging times make success all the more meaningful.  hang in there- i know it sounds cliche, but it is all true.

Craig "Cappy" C. says:

I think everyone feels that way. 20's, 30's 40's...... Smart people keep striving to be better. It's neverending but you definitely have to force yourself to stop and enjoy the little things. Take a few to stare out at the ocean, sit quietly in the woods and hear the birds, appreciate the people who love you and whom you love, enjoy a delicious meal  and then you can get back to stressing. Ultimately many little victories make up a satisfying and accomplished life.
But we all stress at times so join the crowd.

I had mine at 29. At least that's when I quit my job, changed direction and ended up doing something radically different. I'm now 37 and have never been more settled or happier. Kate, Oxford

  

I reckon that in 90% of cases just one thing is to blame for such a crisis: failure to find a route in life. Whether this failure is settling into a permanent relationship, or finding the career that is both satisfying and rewarding, is up to the individual. Even not being able to move into bricks and mortar that are your own and not a poverty-related rented flat can prove stressful. Women obviously have the added stress of the body-clock factor; even those women I know who don't really feel the urge to procreate are aware and stressed that their choices in this issue are being constrained merely by their age. Men, I feel, are suffering from a loss of knowing what their role is in life now that women can fend for themselves, and this is hugely stressful on both their psyche and their health. This stress factor can also grate upon the well-being of women. All of which makes a perfect time bomb for a mid-life crisis as women and men approach their frightening forties. Madeleine, Durham

 Nevertheless... uhm, I really don't know what else should I type. Well, life goes on, like it or not! Without wanted, still being 30 is the fact that I have now. :p