Music Babble

If you were at the point where your mental health had resulted in you being hospitalized at age 26, it makes sense that the majority of your 30's would be spent trying to simply learn how to be a human being. I went through something similar after getting sober at 27- was a few years before I was even able to try dating.

Once I hit 30, I was able to make some significant strides re: career, relationships, songwriting and reconnecting with old friends. A lot of this was admittedly down to luck and/or wouldn't have happened without the strong influences of others- the year I spent in NYC and deciding to go into tech are just a couple examples.

But like you, the most important growth was getting a better handle on my mental health via getting back into therapy and practicing effective stress relievers like journaling, singing, crying and dancing. If you're spent your 30's doing something similar, it'll set you up to grow in the other areas you mentioned and giving dating a shot is a good first step towards that.

Yeah thanks this bday has definitely been one of the roughest. I generally don't care about bdays but both 30 and 40 knocked me for a loop- at least I was expecting it this time whereas I was totally blindsided by how much 30 was gonna impact me. I've hard that the halfway point between decades is rough for some folks but have never really understood that.