There was something cool about my 20’s, moving cities, making new friends, dating around, picking up new hobbies and interests. I always had roommates, because it always made more financial sense, but that also had the side effect of having a wider social circle. It was fun and exciting.
But 30-40 was probably my peak fun. I started coasting at work, but was senior/respected enough that I could just mostly be left alone. At work and socially and just out in the world, people took me seriously to where I felt less social pressure, and could prioritize the things that were important to me rather than to other people. That social freedom was pretty liberating. And it didn’t hurt that I was making better money than in my 20’s, especially when accounting for the dual income when I got into a long term committed monogamous relationship in my early 30’s.
So with that newfound social freedom and increased financial and career flexibility, I shifted to a slightly different style of having fun with friends, valuing closeness and time together rather than just a packed agenda of action items each time we got together. We could do weekend trips somewhere around a particular activity (skiing, lounging at a beach, distillery tours), but really building closeness with things like couch/patio time between planned meals or activities.
My 40’s are a different kind of fun, maybe more responsibility, a few more body aches and pains, a few health scares, lots more parenting responsibilities, a little more helping my own parents responsibilities, dealing with more external world nonsense in 2026 compared to 2016, but overall I’m still doing fine on the fun front. My 30’s were the best, though.
There was something cool about my 20’s, moving cities, making new friends, dating around, picking up new hobbies and interests. I always had roommates, because it always made more financial sense, but that also had the side effect of having a wider social circle. It was fun and exciting.
But 30-40 was probably my peak fun. I started coasting at work, but was senior/respected enough that I could just mostly be left alone. At work and socially and just out in the world, people took me seriously to where I felt less social pressure, and could prioritize the things that were important to me rather than to other people. That social freedom was pretty liberating. And it didn’t hurt that I was making better money than in my 20’s, especially when accounting for the dual income when I got into a long term committed monogamous relationship in my early 30’s.
So with that newfound social freedom and increased financial and career flexibility, I shifted to a slightly different style of having fun with friends, valuing closeness and time together rather than just a packed agenda of action items each time we got together. We could do weekend trips somewhere around a particular activity (skiing, lounging at a beach, distillery tours), but really building closeness with things like couch/patio time between planned meals or activities.
My 40’s are a different kind of fun, maybe more responsibility, a few more body aches and pains, a few health scares, lots more parenting responsibilities, a little more helping my own parents responsibilities, dealing with more external world nonsense in 2026 compared to 2016, but overall I’m still doing fine on the fun front. My 30’s were the best, though.