61–70 of 287 posts
Programming - I'm from a sysadmin background so got by on bash scripting. Then suddenly every job really requires you can at least code in python.
Driving - Even if you live in a city where you never drive it comes in useful for holidays etc.
Typing - Two fingered typing gets old
SQL - Somebody got rid of all the DBAs
I could much closer to retirement.
In your 30s, if you are waiting to have kids for various reasons, you really need to stop delaying. Your probability of successfully having kids goes down every year, and by your early 40s your options for medical help if you have infertility stop being available because even those interventions lose effectiveness. If you want kids, just have the kids. You're not going to care that you were being responsible and wait…
This. I had kids in my early 20s. It’s great because I still have a connection with them even though two are adults. Kids from much older parents (40+) are also almost completely weird.
My experience is that kids from older parents are wise beyond their years, and tend to be far more well-adjusted adults.
I used to be a hardcore "minimalist" throughout my twenties and into my early thirties. I didn't want to own anything at all, didn't want to have objects or things that I'd have to move, that could tie me down to a space or place. I didn't want to have to fix or maintain anything.
In my thirties, I realized that all of the spaces I had lived in were cold, unwelcoming, aesthetically anemic. It didn't look like anyone "lived" there. At 35, I started buying things I wanted to keep forever: bookshelves, living and dining furniture, rugs, art. I spent good money on "stuff" that I liked, things that I want to experience and live with every day. I purchased decent picture frames and hung photos of my family for the first time.
I also spent a lot of time setting up my living space for other people, not just for me. I could invite family over and they could stay comfortably for weeks at a time. If a friend needed to quickly get out of a tricky situation, I had a spare room ready to go. If I wanted to host a small dinner, it could happen at my place, instead of a friends house where a bunch of grown-ass adults are sitting on five-gallon buckets and yard chairs around a folding table.
All of this had a strong, positive affect on my day-to-day disposition. It made me more open to others, more willing to embrace hospitality as a mode of living. I'm less stressed about having people over because my place is actually a place people want to be, and that feels great.
It's difficult to put this into words, but for the twenty-somethings who are reading this: whether you are renting or owning, don't be afraid to settle. Buy nice stuff when you can afford it, take care of it, plan to keep it forever. Set your space up to support you and the people in your life.
Edit: Also worth reading: https://www.seanblanda.com/your-30s-are-a-time-for-to-go-for...
I joined the Orthodox Church in my 40s. I wish I would have known about it when I was younger, especially in my 30s, with my young family. The benefits that come from daily spiritual devotion both individually and a family, as well as the benefits that come from being part of a faithful community are impossible to list. Is it all easy and is it all benefits? Of course not. But centering my life around God through dai…
My 30's were decades ago. I wish I had known that I had undiagnosed ADD and wasn't just lazy, thoughtless and undisciplined. Thankful to have found an occupation where every day brings some new and interesting problem to solve.
Nowadays with everything that's going on, I think it's doubly true. A lot of folks think they'll write / paint / do music 'once they retire.' Not everyone has the ability to give up their day jobs, but...do your passion at least a little bit now, while your body can still do it.
I joined the Orthodox Church in my 40s. I wish I would have known about it when I was younger, especially in my 30s, with my young family. The benefits that come from daily spiritual devotion both individually and a family, as well as the benefits that come from being part of a faithful community are impossible to list. Is it all easy and is it all benefits? Of course not. But centering my life around God through dai…
I really want to become an Orthodox Christian but feel like I would struggle with the whole "believing in God" thing. Should I still try it? Is there any way that I could "come to believe in God" in time?
I listened to the Bible lectures that Jordan Peterson made several years ago, and I was intrigued because I had never heard anyone putting aside the historical story of the Bible and instead focusing on its relevance from a neuroscience point of view. This led to me eventually finding the work of Jonathan Pageau. He's an Orthodox icon carver, and he talks about the traditional worldview, how to understand the Bible from an ontological point of view (a hierarchy of being) rather than from a "scientific" or empirical point of view. It took a year or two before I really started to understand what he even meant, but once I started to understand that way of looking at the world, my whole world changed and I quickly joined the Orthodox Church.
To be more specific, I would recommend finding an Orthodox Church local to you, and just go see what it's like. Introduce yourself to the priest after the service, and he would be happy to talk with you and helping you begin to see the Orthodox way of life. The Orthodox approach focuses much more on your relationship with God, rather than a list of checkboxes of do's and don't-dos. It's very participatory. It demands a lot from the followers, but the sense of meaning, being, and purpose that have replaced my old sense of nihilism, meaninglessness, and despair...I can't even put into words how much my life has changed.