How Did Your 30s Shape Your Life?

[docnet]

Just turned 30 and was wondering if you would be willing to share stories about your 30s and from either gender. What lessens did you learn, what were your priorities. what you were working on career-wise or school-wise, or what were short or long term your goals?

Thanks for your input.

 

[docnet]

By the way, I hope this thread is relevant to the purpose of the General Discussion forum, but if it's not, I hope it won't be misunderstood as a spam post or trolling. I'm trying to begin this thread because I want to learn how others on PF lived in their 30s in hopes of gaining some wisdom.

If it's okay, for this to stay here, since it's only fair that the OP shares, I'm still working on wrapping up my masters in applied math. I have dreams to do a Ph.D one day, but if it's not for a branch of pure math, then I don't want to. I'm currently beginning the job search and living with parents to save monies. Buying a house is not going to happen anytime soon with the housing market the way it is, most houses seem to be around $800.000 and upwards in my city. The upside is, I have no pets and no narcissistic significant other to weigh me down.

 

[PeroK]

Just turned 30 and was wondering if you would be willing to share stories about your 30s and from either gender. What lessens did you learn, what were your priorities. what you were working on career-wise or school-wise, or what were short or long term your goals?

Thanks for your input.

Oh, to be 30 again! My career took off and I discovered the mountains. It was the best decade of my life. Closely followed by my 50s.

 

[Hornbein]

I don't want to think about it and you don't want to know about it.

 

[morrobay]

Looks to me like you are making the right decisions for the right reasons. Because if the wrong decisions are made for the wrong reasons - your cooked.

 

[Hill]

Just turned 30 and was wondering if you would be willing to share stories about your 30s and from either gender. What lessens did you learn, what were your priorities. what you were working on career-wise or school-wise, or what were short or long term your goals?

Thanks for your input.

In the mid-30s, moved to NYC, learned English, dropped my previous career, started a new one. Never formulated short- or long-term goals. Always followed my nose. It worked perfectly for me, as I see looking back now.

 

[pinball1970]

Just turned 30 and was wondering if you would be willing to share stories about your 30s and from either gender. What lessens did you learn, what were your priorities. what you were working on career-wise or school-wise, or what were short or long term your goals?

Thanks for your input.

It would be nice to have a taste of the 1990s again. I was 30 in 1996.

My experience of career, partner, kid would not be relevant to you in terms of specifics.
Generally? Do not settle for something because it is easier. NOW, I take the easier option! When I was 29 I took risks and I am glad I did.

If it blows up in your face because you made a wrong turn, 30 is a time to try again, you are young enough.

 

[pinball1970]

I don't want to think about it and you don't want to know about it.

That bad? You went to Harvard!

 

[mathwonk]

In my 30's my wife and I made sacrifices, worked hard, and laid the groundwork for our family and my career. Then in her 30's (my 40's), my wife obtained the background for her career as I tried to hold down the fort, and pursue mine. It was a very active and fulfilling time. Best wishes and good luck to anyone making those choices and investing that energy.

 

[jtbell]

I finished my physics PhD at 28, in 1982. My research group let me stay on for a year while I looked for a job. I decided to pursue teaching-oriented positions at small colleges similar to the one where I had done my undergraduate.

My first position at 29 was for two years, as a double sabbatical-replacement.

My second and final position at 31 was a tenure-track position at a small college in the southeast US, where I did get tenure eventually. I met my wife there, another faculty member in a different department. We got married and bought a house, even though she had tenure and I didn't (yet), because at that time, this was the kind of place where one had to really screw up in order to be denied tenure.

I had to teach a lot of different courses (both physics and computer science because it was a "mixed" department) and therefore had to "really learn" a lot of different material, but it was fun.

Towards the end of my 30s, the college instituted a policy in which department chairs had to rotate every two years. At that time, I was the only person who was eligible to be chair besides the current chair. He had hired me, had been chair for over ten years and had been "the" physics faculty (in a combined physics/math department) for several years before that. I was not prepared for dealing with this. It was not fun.

But I survived, passed on the chair to someone else, even ended up serving another term as chair later, and ended up retiring there.

 

[OCR]

Lol. . . How about this ?





j/k . . . of course. .

.

 

[BvU]

What a brilliant idea for a thread!
Just turned 70 so I have to dig real deep
Distinctly remember a senior colleague pointing out that I now was 'over the hill'. So happens he was exactly 10 years and a few months older -- it said more about him than it said about me.
Main concerns then were finishing up PhD and finding a job -- hindsight says a lot is just dumb luck and family is and should have been much more important.

$\$

 

[nsaspook]

Spent a little time exploring the world. Thanks to a rich Uncle, named Sam.