In case you haven’t figured it out by now, I’m a big fan of NFL football. This past weekend I was watching a game and heard the announcers mention how running backs hit the wall after the age of 30. They also mentioned the age of the oldest running back in the NFL. I was expecting them to state that he was over 35 years old. NOPE, he was just simply 32 years old! Seriously 32 years old!
Why were the announcers trying to make me feel so old? My 35th birthday is approaching this week. It amazes me that I’m 35 because I don’t feel “old”. I stopped tracking my age every since I turned 24. The last ten years of my life has been nothing but a blur. I wonder if other people feel that way?
I’m only 34 going on 35. I can only imagine how it feels for people over the age of 40. What about the people over age of 50? With this age issue on my mind, I decided that I should create a blog post about why I feel that your life truly begins after 30!
Here are my top reasons for why I believe your life begins after 30:
You Have Money
Well, this might not be true for everyone but the majority of people have more money after the age of 30. While in our twenties, most of us do not have steady jobs. We were still trying to figure out how to create a career for ourselves.
I remember being fresh out of college and scrapping to get my first engineering job. I had to take several low paying jobs to make a living before getting a job with my degree. Lot’s of former college students can relate.
All those low paying jobs eventually lead to some decent paying jobs. Those jobs have allowed me to have a 401k plan and a savings account. Heck, I even get to have the “pleasure” of having a mortgage because I now have money.
Better Sense Of Purpose
We are always trying to figure out what we want to be when we grow up. That doesn’t stop the moment you turn 18. Heck I’m 34 going on 35 and I’m just now realizing that I prefer being an online fitness coach/author than just an engineer.
Does that mean I wasted my life by going to college and getting an electrical engineering degree? NO!!! That was all part of my life experience. We go through phases of our lives that develop us as people. If I had not gotten that degree I would have never gotten the opportunities to see the world. By seeing the world I was able to grow as a human being and expand my mind beyond America.
As you get older you start figuring out WHO YOU ARE. Life experiences have led you down paths of successes and failures. That is what helps us figure out our purpose in this life.
You Become Stronger
I didn’t get my weightlifting career started off properly. I originally lifted weights only to lose weight, not to get strong. Even though I was using weights ,I was not really trying to create muscles. I just used it as a form of exercise.
As I go back and look over the last couple years of my life, I have gotten significantly stronger after the age of 30 then I had before 30. It makes me wonder what I would look like if I had been lifting weights correctly from the age of 18.
All those years of me consistently working out correctly would have resulted in me being stronger at my current age. When we are at the gym, we need to remember that we are investing in our future selves. So this body I have now is due to all that work I put in my body before the age of 30. With the strength and dedication I have now, I’m excited for what I’ll look like when I hit my forties!
Better Appreciation For Food
When you’re young you’re dumb. Your metabolism allows you to eat anything and look great. What tends to happen is that we don’t try as hard to be disciplined in our diets.
We read and follow whatever the experts are telling us. Want to grow muscle cheaply? Drink milk! Want to live longer? Ditch the meat and become a vegan!
As the years go by, you will be exposed to various types of foods. Having that exposure helps you have a better understanding of how your body reacts to certain foods.
Remember those ads telling you to drink milk? Well now you’ve come to realize that you’re lactose intolerant, so it’s best you stay clear of dairy. Felt weak being a vegan? Well maybe it’s because you didn’t properly get enough protein in your diet to support your lifestyle.
As a young man I was just trying to eat cheaply while gaining (or losing) as much weight as possible. If an article said to consume protein every two-three hours, I tried my best to get in as many meals as I could during the day.
Now that I’m older I understand that that the end game is what really matters. Protein powder is just one of several ways to get protein in my body. I’m more about eating my calories. As you aged, you got a better idea of foods relationship with your own body. That’s something that doesn’t happen early on in life.
You’ve Seen Some Highs
I peaked around the year 2010. I was on a serious diet and training exercise routine from 2009 until 2010. That routine was geared towards me losing weight, so by the end of it I had become a very lean. I never had my body fat that low in my life. The pictures I took towards the end of the training were inspiring.
That work that I put in during that year lasted a good two years after I finished the training. My discipline allowed me to maintain that body for a while. That was the best my physique has ever appeared. It had happen at the age of 30.
You’ve Seen Some Lows
There were a lot of growing pains before the age of 30. I became the fattest version of my self before the age of 30. In my twenties I battled bouts of being really skinny and then surprisingly chubby.
One of the biggest low’s occurred while gazing upon a mirror after a business trip (I talk about it during this video). Not recognizing the reflection almost brought tears to my eyes.
I know what it’s like to be ashamed. I know what is like to be this guy who talks about fitness and have people look at you like you’re crazy because of the way you physically look like. I was that guy for a lot of years.
Desire To Be Great
All the years of my life have gotten me to the point I’m at now. I refuse to settle for being average. I want to become a better human being. I no longer just want to let my life go by without doing something about it.
I’ve done enough reading over the years where I’m starting to see the big picture now. I understand my purpose. When reading this blog, most folks come here only seeking fitness guidance. That’s not my only intent. The other message I’m trying to get across is that you need to be happy with yourself. If you’re not happy with that reflection you see in the mirror, no amount of treadmill walks, squats, presses, yoga sessions, etc. will solve that!
I want to inspire others to achieve their own perfect dream body. In this blog, I mention my own trials and tribulations of attempting my own dream body. I like inspiring hope for folks. That’s one of the reasons I wrote the book, Release The Beast. I wanted to inject positivity in other people’s lives.
Why? Because I have a new desire to be achieve greatness. I don’t desire for anyone that I come in contact with to settle for anything less. The fact that I have the ability to change lives is remarkable. The lives I change can then go on to help other people change their lives.
If everyone could help just one person a day and pay it forward…man this world would be astounding!
I just love this new person I’m becoming. I refuse to let anyone tell me that just because I’m over the age of 30 that my life is over.
HECK NO!!!!
My life is really truly beginning. I don’t care how old you are when you read this blog post; just start living your life TODAY! You still control what you can do. You can choose to be happy or miserable in this world. I just know that as I’m approaching 35, I’m choosing to live each day like it’s my last!
