I’ve been lurking on this subreddit for many years and commenting occasionally throughout my late 20s. I just wanted to say that I really do appreciate the majority of discussions here. My dad is an amazing guy, but without going super personal, my upbringing was not so great for many reasons. I never had great parental figures on either side, and I’m not claiming that this was is in any way a replacement for that, but I’d be lying if I said that I didn’t find responses here helpful at times.
I am blessed to have many friends, including some older peers that I can seek advice from, but it has been really nice to read a lot of the perspectives from anonymous people. I don’t struggle with general confidence, romance, sense of self (mostly) or anything like that, but the perspectives I’ve read in other areas that I struggle with have really been helpful. Truly they have.
Obviously Reddit or even just the internet should not be the main source of perspective or help… I get professional help for that. But it’s been really nice over the years to see people feeling the same way I do about certain things and getting generally well-rounded and wise advice in response. The majority of responses here (in my experience) have been really empathetic, realistic, non-chauvinistic, and enlightening. And even when they’re not… at least they’re funny sometimes.
That’s all I really wanted to say. It’s going to be weird not being in my 20s anymore but I’ve been bracing myself for it for a few years. I’m still not where I expected to be, and I admit that this is embarrassing because I did have a whole different idea of what my life would look like by now. But I sincerely have found this subreddit surprisingly helpful throughout dealing with the reality of all this. So just to wrap up the melodrama, I just wanted to say that your responses are appreciated and you’re not just speaking into the void with your responses. They’re being read even if you don’t get upvoted or responded to or whatever. They’ve helped me at least.
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As an older fella I will say that this sub attracts me like a fly to shit. Someone is asking me to mansplain? OK, I can do that I guess.
As far as life goes just remember that there is no Time Machine you can hop in to redo life. Besides learning from it, you can leave it behind. It’s what you do today and moving forward that counts. Forgive and let go. Your happiness and successes is what you define it to be.
This sub is one of the most consistently positive, thoughtful, inclusive, and helpful subs on reddit.
Not to throw shade on other subs, but no one gatekeeps on here. If you aren’t a man and/or you aren’t over 30, people still value your input and participation.
I once made the mistake of posting a response to another post in r/askfeminists. I put a ton of effort, research, and thoughtful consideration to answer a question about ways to close the boy-girl academic achievement gap.
My post got downvoted into oblivion. Someone responded to my post saying that the real reason boys do worse in school is because men are stupid… and got hundreds of upvotes.
Grats on 30. Now you’ll see firsthand how life doesn’t end here and can (and often does) get far better.
30s has been my favorite decade by far. You become more sure of yourself, more confident, less willing to take shit. At least that’s my experience!
Happy birthday – your best years are still ahead of you
Happy Birthday!! Welcome soon to the 30+ club 🤓 … I still remember how (from already 26-ish) I got headache thinking about my 30th, and my 29th I simply skipped it haha … but once turning 30 I actually never felt better, so now I want to wish you the same, and enjoy your golden 30s!