That’s right. This week, I left my 20s and entered the next decade of my life. Days before I turned 30, I was actually kind of scared. I felt like I was leaving my youthful years and now had to focus on being an adult. It’s not like I haven’t grown up in the last few years, but hitting 30 felt like it a point of no return.
Now 29 was probably one of my worst year, but I’m pretty sure majority of society had a bad year in 2020. I just wished I was able to make the last year as my 20s the best year. To be honest, 29 would have been a great year for me if it wasn’t for the pandemic. I had just been promoted and was looking forward to settling into my new role. I was so proud of making it so far in the events and entertainment industry. But the industry suffered during the pandemic and many of us lost it all.
However, one bad year doesn’t determine how much I was able to achieve in my 20s. My first big achievement was graduating college with a bachelor’s degree. While to me it was just taking one day at a time until graduating, I think it really made my parents proud. My parents and I are immigrants so having me be a graduate in the United States made their sacrifices all worth while.
After graduating, I decided to go into the events and entertainment industry by getting a job at a convention center. As many of my Medium readers know, I LOVE going to conventions and expos. I had a three part post of all the events I’ve been to from 2007–2020. Because of my love and appreciation for events, I wanted to be a part of it. So I did it. I applied for an office specialist position and got in. A few years at working as an office specialist, I went to another venue as a sales coordinator before getting promoted to a sales manager. I was so proud that my hard work and determination got me far in this industry in a matter of a few years.
Aside from my professional achievements, I had a lot of new experiences and accomplishments in my 20s. The first was paying off my car. Having one less monthly payment was one of best feelings I could ever have. I was already paying off my college debt which for a part timer was more than enough to deal with.
Another thing I was able to experience was moving from California to Illinois. This was the biggest change in my life. Yes, I moved from the Philippines to the United States but I was only 4 years old so I had very little memory of the move. Plus, I was going to be with my family so it wasn’t so scary. I was alone during my move to Illinois. I had my husband waiting for me but I had been so reliant on my family for so long. Once I left, I felt like I was all on my own. But honestly, I think it was what I needed. Not having my family as a crutch there made grow up as a contributing member of society. My dad particularly has always been happy to do things on my behalf and without him, I had to learn how to do lots of things by myself.
With my move to Illinois I was also able to experience something that’s rare in Southern California: snow. To be honest, I’ve seen snow before when I lived in SoCal. My family has visited the mountains when there was snow but I’ve never seen snow fall or had to go through the struggles of dealing with snow like shoveling. It was a memorable experience and I still remember the first time I saw snow falling from the sky. Aside from snow, I even experienced change in weather. It really makes you appreciate the beautiful days more in comparison to when I got that in California every day.
I also got married! It was a very low key thing. All we did was go to the courthouse and got married in front of a judge then met up with a small group of friends in the area and had dinner. My husband and I didn’t want to spend a lot of money for a wedding but we hope that one day, we’ll have some kind of reception to celebrate.
Lastly, I bought my first home. It was mine and my husband’s goal that our first home together was owned and not rented. If you told me 10 years ago that I was going to buy my home before I hit 30, I would never believed it. While I knew I wanted to buy a home and not rent, I always thought I was going to end up renting a place. But we met our goal and we bought a condo. I still remember how stressful and scary the process was but we got through it and here we are!
Looking forward, I want to experience and achieve more things in my 30s. I hope to do as much in my 30s as I did in my 20s. With the pandemic still ongoing, the immediate future is still unknown but there are lots of opportunities I’m looking into professionally. As for my personal life, we want to start looking to a bigger home and fill it with our own family.
Anyways I hope you guys enjoyed my post and I will see you all next Saturday!
