That post about 30 year old coming of age stories?
I’ve been thinking about it all morning. What would the plot points be for that? What makes a 30 year old coming of age story?
Old folks sound off in the comments
A few ideas:
- Burying a parent that never encouraged independence
- Acknowledging a trauma you've spent your life ignoring
- Finally opening yourself up to a truly mutual, non-transactional relationship (platonic or romantic)
- Leaving a community (religious or otherwise) that has kept you from growing
Obtaining a diagnosis for a health condition (mental or physical) and finally getting treatment and recontextualizing your life.
Student loan forgiveness kicking in, suddenly you can afford to live. That one small change snowballs into something big.
Starting over after the end of The Big Relationship you thought would define your life. Engaging in a new hobby/social group that adds context to how small life felt in that relationship.
You find yourself with a pet you have to care for, which teaches you to care for yourself.
You take a class somewhere that unlocks skills you didn't know you had.
People are tagging it, but I'm just gonna say it.
GENDER TRANSITION.
Coming out as any stripe of queer.
The post-incarceration experience after any significant amount of time.
Changing careers after spending twice as long in training and preparation than you spent in the career because it very quickly ground you to a pulp and/or you learned that it had a dirtier underbelly than you were prepared for.