Turning 30 is the point at which people are expected to "figure it all out." And indeed, many of those who say goodbye to their 20s begin a new chapter in their lives by getting engaged, pregnant, or tired of everyone around them.
The big 3-0 is often built up to be the biggest celebration after our "coming of age" 18ths. A time to get ambitious. A time to achieve. But while important career changes, 401(k)s, and the inability to party past midnight (not to mention the burning matter of "settling down") might sound anxiety-inducing, in reality, our 30s aren't something to be afraid of. They're when things start to get good.
But to get the full picture of what happens during this decade, let's look at the Instagram account Thirty AF. This millennial heaven shares funny memes, relatable tweets, and all kinds of content that perfectly capture the highs and lows during this period. So continue scrolling and check out some of its most popular posts!
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As an introvert this is also my idea of a dream vacation.
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These exist. You can stay in country house resorts in the UK that have log fires, libraries, and great food and drink.
Er...where are these heavenly places??? Any near Cardiff??
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Hot chocolate with all the trimmings, and actually mixed properly rather than milk-milk-milk-milk-ALLOFTHECHOCOLATE
I worked for one back in the 90's. Northland Lodge on Pelican Lake in northern MN. Library, comfy chairs, prime rib for dinner, a nice bar with pleasant company, fishing if you wanted, cleaning of the fist was included. Even though it was a fishing resort, not everyone fished. Quite a few people just relaxed in the lounge/library or just sat at the dock looking at the water. It was nice.
That's what we would call a Marktlücke (market niche). I would very much like to fill it, but sadly, I do not have the funds.
That would be my dream. "Um waiter, forget the glass pinot, just bring the bottle. Oh and whilst you're at it can you also bring me a couple of books by Dean Koontz and a nice fuzzy warm blankie? Thanks my man! "
It is Sabrina. It is a thing. Look for resorts in snowy states that offer cross country skiing and hot tubs.
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That would be the Harvard Gentlemen's Green Room. It's a big conservancy located behind the chemistry building. $$$$ only.
Public libraries can do - almost - all of that for you for free. We could still work on the drinks and servers part, but reading all day long is perfectly OK.
So... Caribou coffee shop... It's pretty affordable XD, and tastes better than that crap at buckso
You must be the most uninteresting person alive. You know you can install a fireplace at home and teach your kids to bring you rotten grape juice. Oh wait that's right. No one wants to have kids with anyone like you.
And snow outside! But plenty of underfloor heating indoors... Bliss.
And a music room, where somebody is playing Bach, Beethoven and Mozart.
One of the details that the original post included is being served drinks and canapés while you read...and cuddled by the fire. That's where the good suggestions about visiting the library let me down on this delightful fantasy!
Absolutely the dream vacation for my spouse and me! Seriously, Pandas, if you know an actual place like this, PLEASE post it HERE! My spouse is an exhausted physician working 10-12 hour days through this pandemic and needs an experience like this!!!
Some swanky ass hotel I happened to p**n when I was staying at some ranch with a view of the Tetons out of my sliding glass door had that. Sure they were mostly books about the Tetons and their native American names and things like that but it was Bliss.
I didn't think the experience could be any better, but with the added view of the Tetons, this went up another level....
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Yes! The best I can do is the crackling fire & comfy chair - and ask my husband to bring me a glass of wine lol
There are a lot of places like this. They often have hot tubs, and cross country skiing and horses as well.
Holy s**t! Any investors want to do this with me? I have all kinds of skills but no money. This would be amazing!
There are sort of places like this. I went to a resort that had all kinds of like zen rooms and meditation areas and trails and they had two huge libraries and fireplaces everywhere etc. I went off-season so there weren’t chefs or a restaurant open but there was a chef communal kitchen that was stocked with everything. You just had to make your own hot chocolate and stuff. We didn’t read but we played the coolest board games for hours and smoked a ton of weed and relaxed. It was fun.
Kinda wish I hadn't just read that. My cubicle chair and this fluorescent lighting suddenly seem that much less appealing.
Is there a scenic veranda where I can paint while the same thing happens
Somewhere in the Colorado Rockies, with snow falling outside . . .
Boulder Public Library was one of my favorite haunts for many summers (visiting family that lived there). It doesn't have the castle feel, but it's absolutely possible to get lost in the books there.
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Replace, "read all day long" with, "binge on Netflix", and I'm there!
He used "You are a nerd" as an excuse to break up with her? Wow... He clearly had self-worth issues, assuming it meant he was not good enough for her.
The account is run by two pals, Chloe Jankowitz, 35, and Peter West, 34. "We've been good friends since day one of our freshmen year at Emerson College in Boston, MA," the guys told Bored Panda. "Since graduating in 2009, we've always lived far apart, in different states or sometimes in different countries."
"We have a very similar sense of humor and a way we've kept in touch is through sharing memes and videos with each other. In 2018, we decided to start Thirty AF as a fun way to share these jokes with a wider group of friends. We never really thought it would ever grow into anything more than a fun hobby, but eventually, it really started picking up and we decided to put more of our focus into figuring out what our brand was and finding creative new ways to engage our quickly growing following through reposted content and regular features that we created ourselves. We both have backgrounds in marketing and media, and found that our combined skills helped us create something that stood out from other meme accounts and build a fun and engaged community of 30 somethings."
I never answer if I don't know who's calling. The decent ones send a text after saying who they are and/or what it is about. I wish all people could do that instead of keep calling several times.
At the moment, Chloe and Peter have a whopping 1.6-million following and this huge fan army also has a few notable names, like singer Demi Lovato and actor Channing Tatum.
"When life changed dramatically for everyone in March 2020 and we all found ourselves spending a lot more time at home and a lot more time with our phones, we put even more energy into building Thirty AF. We grew by over 1 million followers in a single year, and it is now a full-time job for both of us," the duo said.
The project has also expanded to TikTok and recently got its first spinoff — a food account, called Hungry AF. "We run an online shop and release a yearly Nostalgia Box that is a fun mix of products from nostalgic brands like Dunkaroos and the Lisa Frank nail wraps from Orly, and also fun products featuring nostalgic references. Our 2021 box sold out in under 24 hours! We're also working on some very exciting things for 2022 including a touring pop-up event and a TV game show - we can't share a lot of info on that yet, but it is insanely exciting and something we never thought would happen!"
🤣🤣🤣 I'm putting on my footwear before attempting to put on my legings, twice!
Naturally, all of this effort demands a lot of time and energy. "The way we manage Thirty AF has changed a lot over the years. Much of the content that we post is submitted by creators."
"We love meeting creators and comedians who are new to Instagram and helping drive traffic to their pages; we have networked with a ton of incredibly talented creators over the years and share their content a lot. We keep a close eye on meme trends and will often share roundups of the funniest memes and tweets related to trending topics (the latest being the 'According to the CDC' meme trend). We're also part of a lot of online groups, particularly for millennials and different nostalgia groups, and a lot of content comes from there. We also create a lot of original content mostly for our stories and TikTok," Chloe and Peter explained.
For the stories, the account has a daily feature. "Followers apply to be featured as our daily single looking for love. We share their photo and info about them and encourage other followers to DM them. This has been going on for almost two years and a few engagements have come from it so far!"
There's also the semi-regular Small Business Saturday feature where Chloe and Peter share the businesses they love, as well as holiday gift guides. "We have a lot of friends who are business owners and have so much respect for millennials who have decided to reject the corporate hustle and create their own businesses, so helping support people like that, especially businesses run by women and BIPOC is super important to us."
"We also do regular story poll features like our Bop or Flop feature where followers decide if a song is a bop or a flop. When songs score over 65% bop, they are added to our Bop or Flop playlist on Spotify that has almost 40k followers," the two of them added.
Their latest story feature is Now That's What I Call Music brackets where followers rank albums from one of the Now That's What I Call Music. This gig takes Chloe and Peter an entire week and at the end of it, they announce what is the biggest bop. "People (including the two of us!) get so into it. We are starting our NOW 7 bracket next week, we're both rooting for Survivor by Destiny's Child to be the winner... But we'll see. Britney and NSYNC do seem to win a lot! We're going to bracket Now 1-10 and then do an all-stars round where the winning tracks face off against each other. It's really fun!"
Thirty AF's content touches on a lot of different themes but some of the most recurring ones are "self-deprecating humor that millennials relate to, commentary on issues facing millennials such as salaries ... not having the ability to own a home, some tongue in cheek 'okay boomer' humor (love you mom and dad!), finding relatable humor in issues like anxiety and depression, etc."
But the biggest hits are nostalgic posts for the 90s and early 2000s. "The past few years have been really weird and stressful for everyone, and looking back on the comfort of these things that we all bonded over as kids has provided a lot of comfort and connection during these turbulent times," Chloe and Peter said.
I was trying to remember the name of a song recently. All I knew for definite was that "Mountain" and "Sea" were in the lyrics. It took a bit of searching (yes on Google) to find it. FYI it was "Truly, Madly, Deeply" by Savage Garden.
"We really do try to read every message we get and reply when we can, and one of my favorite types of messages is a 'PLEASE tell me I'm not the only one who remembers [insert obscure TV/music/product/game reference from the 90s]' type of message and this always gives us ideas for posts and features. So much of the 90s feels like a bizarre fever dream, and being able to connect with other people in an 'OMG I remember that too!' moment is such a fun and, not to sound cheesy, wholesome way to connect," the team behind Thirty AF added.
"There is so much that is driving everyone apart right now and put effort into focusing on our differences, nostalgia is something that can, for a minute at least, make us focus on the things that brought us together as kids. And that has been a main and growing theme of Thirty AF and something we're excited to keep sharing!"
Wait what? Women can be happy and feel fulfilled by having a successful career?
Yeah why don't we have good hackers that go in and erase peoples mortgages and student loans like undercover brother?
You mean we American want healthcare. Europe has healthcare (of course dental could be improved). We would like people to not live on the street. Family with kids to be able to feed them and pay school meals and also less violence
Boomers took everything, ruined everything, then blamed everyone else.
My mom always said "be quiet until they go away" if someone showed up without notice. I do the same with my kids, lol. Even if it's someone I know I want to be prepared to socialize. And if it's someone I don't know its creepy. It makes sense to not just open your door to anyone when it's so easy to call/text/email beforehand.
The older I get, the more I rely on professionals to do anything and everything for me. No more hanging my own photo frames.
Actually, this is sorta genius. I could have saved myself and my realtor a lot of time had I known one house we wanted to see had 6ft ceilings, another had shelf paper glued to the "newly finished floors," and a third had a basement floor on an angle making most of it unusable despite being listed as "finished" and "spacious."
I'd trust my kid to do the booby traps, but there's no way he'd buy groceries or do the laundry.
But that's the only perks you have. Eating what you want. Or drink soda or eat candy on weekdays (but in secret if you have kids).
Can you imagine the decompression alarm just went off, you're putting on your spacesuit, get to the helmet and are trying to stuff your three-foot-long tress up under your helmet before your oxygen runs out....
Note: this post originally had 102 images. It’s been shortened to the top 50 images based on user votes.
I'm clearly the target group person exhibit A here. Loved every single post! Thanx
Well over the target group.... but they feel like my people...
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I used to be embarrassed that I was a millennial. But we're hilarious!
Gen-X here with Millennial & Gen-Z children. These were bloody brilliant. I just might have to give some of these a go.
Wow!! When they say kids grow up fast...Enjoy these brainfart moments now youngins...cuz in your 60's it's a life standard requiring copious amounts of Chocolate 🍫!!
I’m not in the target group and am wondering why on earth you think the target group is Millennials. This is just generally funny! Can we be done with the ageism?
For the record: not all millennials are feminist, snowflakes or leftists.
For the record the majority are and that's a good thing. Signed, a former conservative who educated themselves.
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Have you considered throwing your sense or humor in the trash and starting over?
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Sure. Lets not bring issues that are destroying us. That will help...
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I'm clearly the target group person exhibit A here. Loved every single post! Thanx
Well over the target group.... but they feel like my people...
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Load More Replies... I used to be embarrassed that I was a millennial. But we're hilarious!
Gen-X here with Millennial & Gen-Z children. These were bloody brilliant. I just might have to give some of these a go.
Wow!! When they say kids grow up fast...Enjoy these brainfart moments now youngins...cuz in your 60's it's a life standard requiring copious amounts of Chocolate 🍫!!
I’m not in the target group and am wondering why on earth you think the target group is Millennials. This is just generally funny! Can we be done with the ageism?
For the record: not all millennials are feminist, snowflakes or leftists.
For the record the majority are and that's a good thing. Signed, a former conservative who educated themselves.
Load More Replies... Have you considered throwing your sense or humor in the trash and starting over?
Load More Replies... Sure. Lets not bring issues that are destroying us. That will help...
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