Thirty Life Crisis

It’s official … I’m having a Thirty Life Crisis. Although I’m still three months away from the Big 3-0, I’m beginning to recognize that I am entering a different, more adult stage of my life and need to start acting like and appreciating it.

It’s not that I drink and party like a 22-year-old or engage in irresponsible behavior, I just have been living like I’m stuck in my mid-twenties for a while and it’s time to graduate and move on. This phase involves scrimping and saving every penny, often forgoing guilty pleasures and splurges, a.k.a. treating myself right. Maybe it was the way I was raised—by fiscally-responsible and frugal parents— or perhaps I am still living like the poor grad student I was when I first moved here making nothing, and then a mere $10 an hour for more than a year.

However, even after I got my job last March, I continued to save and not treat myself to that pair of shoes or that shirt-- the only fun I allowed myself was spent on plane tickets home and the occasional night out on the weekends (when drinks are like nine bucks a pop, that’s a big night out for the bank account!). I guess it didn't help that I now had two degrees for which I had to repay the government, and that monthly number scared me a little.

But two weeks ago, I tore through my tiny closet and overflowing drawers and got rid of half of my clothes. Some of these things I had been wearing for more than five years. I also decided that anything I moved to Chicago with—when I was a tender 26-year-old—and was still wearing now needed to go. My fashionable roommates sat with me, rolling their eyes in disbelief at some of the stuff I had been holding on to. Some of my favorite comments included “that is way too young for you”, “that looks like something a mom would wear” (and not a cool mom), and “is that a shirt from Aero from 2006?!” (my roommate who is a manager at Aeropostale called me out and threw it out faster than I could explain why I had kept it and wore it as recently as September).

Since then, I’ve spent some money on more grown-up, yet fashionable clothes that a 30-year-old would wear. OK, so I got them for 60 percent off the sale price at LOFT, but it’s still a big step for me to buy a basic top for $14.



Something to rememebr and strive for.



I also decided that as part of my New Year’s Resolution I was going to start treating myself like the most important person in my life. This goes hand-in-hand with my Thirty Life Crisis, as I need to spend money on more grown-up things and act my age. For example, on Monday I got my hair trimmed and followed the “every six to eight weeks” rule for the first time ever (I was a more of every six to eight months kind of girl). And I quit my cheap ass gym and spent some extra money to join a really nice gym with more classes and fewer creeps.

These changes have already boosted my confidence more than I had expected they would. When my ex-boyfriend texted me that he missed me, I didn’t even feel the need to write back or give it a second thought. I love and respect myself more now than to do that. Something I would not have had done a couple months ago. Now whether or not these things are all connected, who knows. But I'm going with it.

I am looking forward to everything 2013 and the age of 30 will bring me. I just have to make sure I keep making the changes and acting my age. And embrace them as good changes and not a scary life crisis.

A New Year, a New Resolution

New Year’s resolutions are just like New Year’s Eve plans—there is so much pressure to do something great and make it count.  As I get older, I am happier each year to sit on my couch and eat homemade appetizers and shrimp while watching movies with my family like I did when I was five (but instead of juice boxes I drink wine). 

Last year was the first year I decided to give up the generic “lose weight” or “be a better person” wishes and made a practical resolution that was fun and trackable and fulfilling, both physically and emotionally. 

And it was the first and only New Year’s resolution I have ever kept: running 500 miles in 2012.  I reached 500.10 miles on December 11, 2012 and it felt great.  It didn’t really hit me what a cool accomplishment it was until the weeks after, when people told me how impressed they were and two people even made it their resolution for this year (including my roommate).  I finished 2012 with 506.66 miles under my belt, or I should say laces.

I want to do the same again for this year.  However, it’s now January 16^th and I am struggling to come up with the next great resolution. I feel a little empty—and unmotivated—without my Run-500-miles goal and my notebook I logged all of my workouts and runs in.  I want to do something similar but different for 2013. I’d push it up to 550 or 600, but consider it might be a cop out because I can’t think of something better.  I’m also a little concerned that I have been sick for a chunk of 2013 and unable to run at all this year. By this time last year, I had run a good 25 miles already.  Now that I am feeling better, it’s become a motivation factor, and I keep putting it off until I figure out what my next resolution will be.  I’m also afraid of failure or quitting because I'm bored--you know, been there done that kind of thing.

In other news, as a result of my running, I am now at a weight I haven’t seen in more than a decade.  It’s an amazing feeling.  And I didn’t get it by counting every calorie or writing down every piece of food I put in my mouth in a journal—those were too restricting for me and always backfired.  Instead, I focused on my goal of running and working out hard to fulfill my resolution and losing the weight (and continuing to eat right and experiment with home-cooking) was a happy consequence.

Although I am not sure what my new goal will be, I know I need one in order to stay motivated.  My resolution, whatever it may be, will also include blogging more often. Knowing that someone might be reading this holds me accountable for my actions and reporting progress.  

In the meantime, let me know if you have any ideas about what my resolution should be!   Happy 2013 everyone!