Old Bitches Winning

thoughts on turning thirty

A new decade for me, a new feature for paid subscribers: listen to an audio version of this essay here.

I turn 30 tomorrow – shout out to still being alive! Twenty-nine was not without its fair share of existential freakouts, but I settled down toward the end of 2023. Looking at my life, I realized that literally everything is better than it was at any point in my early- or mid-twenties, so what was I actually afraid of – more progress? Continued improvement? Following my upward trend of getting funnier and finer with every passing year? Not the spookiest trio of outcomes, so I’ve come to terms with things. Now that the day is here, I can clearly see what the anti-thirty fear mongering and propaganda try to obscure: there is something amazing about being young – but also grown.