Turning 30: Avoid These Places If You Want to Feel Young

Lately I feel like I am racing against the clock. I get so caught up in the day to day, that a week will pass. Then a month. Then it's "Happy New Year" again. I look in the mirror and see an older me. I've made it part of my getting ready routine to check for "glitter strands" and pluck those babies out of existence. This whole getting older thing really is difficult to adjust to. Quite frankly, it downright blows.

I really need to figure out how to slow things down and enjoy these "flying by" moments collected into what we call life. I still feel 20 years old, only I have a husband and two kids. I definitely realize I'm NOT 20 years old when I visit certain places that remind me that I really am a grown up...even if I still feel like a kid.

So here's to those trying to look & feel young - and so comes my highest recommendation to avoid these places (or at least to be aware of what you're up against):


1) Forever 21

Shopping here definitely doesn't make you feel "forever 21". When I was a full-time teacher, this was one store I would always have a run in with my students (I taught middle school).  I would joke with my family saying the mall on a Friday night has to be avoided at all cost or I would hear about it for weeks in the classroom. "I saw you, Mrs. Carrigan at Forever 21." I needed really large, dark sunglasses to avoid being spotted. I still occasionally find a few cute fashion pieces, however it's becoming a place a frequent less and less.

2) Hollister

I still remember the last time I was in Hollister and realized it was the last time I wanted to be in Hollister. I could barely see where I was going and was complaining to a friend about how the music was too loud. Ahhh yes. The 'aha' moment came soon after holding up what I thought was a size 4 but looked like it could fit a 4 year old. I used to work at a store like Hollister called Abercrombie "back in the day" and lets just say that place should be next on the list for similar reasons.

3) A Florida beach on Spring Break

Nothing puts things in perspective quite like chasing around a toddler all over the beach and picking him up only for a screaming tantrum to let loose (from the toddler of course). Yep. Spring Break was over for me folks a loooong time ago. Laying around for hours on a Roxy beach towel is something new moms only dream about. And when you see it before your very eyes in March on a Florida beach, well, lets just say you don't exactly feel fabulously young. Oh, but when you overhear the drama of what those "kids" talk about, you can smile with satisfaction that you have survived that stage of your life while you snag your own kiddo a juice box.

4) The high school you graduated

You reach a point in life where this one is true for almost everybody. You visit, excited to recount all the blissful memories of your youth, only to realize things have really changed. Whether it's the teacher in your favorite English class (or maybe not, how lucky are you!) or that you can't quite remember where your favorite classroom was. "This was where..oh wait, no I think this was it." If you want to feel a bit more grounded in your life visit your old high school. You will leave feeling a bit more like an adult. Promise. 

5) ANY middle school

Oh man, this really goes without saying. High school students get a huge paradigm shift coming back and visiting their old middle school teachers (remember doing that as a kid? How old you felt then?) Try teaching middle school! I'm pretty sure I still felt like a spring chicken myself (I was a college grad and newlywed at the time) and establishing my authority with my students made me feel tens time older than I was. I must say, the teachers getting ready for retirement did help me put things in perspective. I still have a long way to go to retirement.

Humor is the only way I will win my battle with turning 30. I have a few short months to go and some wonderful milestones to celebrate with my family. My daughter turning one. My husband and I's 6th wedding anniversary. His 30th birthday (still waiting for his "glitter strands" to show up). My son's 3rd birthday. So although I don't feel as young as I did at all those places mentioned above, I still have so many new favorites to enjoy.  I will leave you with an ecard I found on Pinterest that sums it all up quite perfectly.