Millennial woman talks about the pressures of entering her 30s — and honestly, all '90s kids' can relate

How often do you feel like life is moving faster than you can keep up? As a millennial turning 30, Sophie Bee, a musician from Sydney, Australia, couldn’t help but feel the pressure. As her 30th birthday approaches, she’s not quite where she expected to be. In a TikTok video posted on her handle @iamsophbee, Bee humorously dubs a scene from "Friends," capturing her inner thoughts about life’s milestones. The clip pokes fun at the societal expectations that many women face, especially those turning 30, as she shared with Newsweek.

Bee channels the character of Rachel Green, played by Jennifer Aniston, in a scene from "Friends." In it, Rachel begins mapping out her life and the steps to achieve her ideal timeline. Sophie’s video applies this scene to her own life. "I should probably have the first of the three kids by the time I'm 35, right? Which gives me five years. So if I want to have a kid when I'm 35, I don’t have to get pregnant until I'm 34... Oh, wait. But now I do want to be married for a year before I get pregnant," Bee mimics. She continues, "So I don’t have to get married until I’m 33! That’s three years, that’s three whole years. Oh, wait a minute though. I’ll need a year and a half to plan the wedding. And I’d like to know the guy for like a year, year and a half before we get engaged, which means I need to meet the guy by the time I’m 30."

Her TikTok video resonated deeply with other people in their late 20s and early 30s, sparking several comments from others who felt the same pressure. @sav123123123 said, "I’m now very scared." @leah..rosa wrote, "I used to laugh at this scene but since I'm a 1996 baby, I'm laughing at myself now." @mike.whiskey.55 joked, "I'm Joey in May "WHY GOD WHY?!?" @medusagorgo1 commented, "As someone who’s 33, I fully understand this scene."

For Bee, turning 30 has been a time of reflection. She shared with Newsweek, "I was engaged and called off a wedding in 2023, age 28, where I thought I was gonna have everything sorted before I was 30." Now, back at her parents' house and starting over, Bee has come to realize that things rarely go according to plan. She related to Rachel's characters and explained, "I had been obsessed with Friends when it was airing. So when I was thinking about where I am in my life right now, I thought about Rachel and that scene. It’s funny how all the Friends characters were still figuring things out in their 30s. Rachel, in particular, was working through her own pressure about age and milestones on her birthday."

Bee further explained, "There’s definitely still pressure. The amount of comments I got from people who are around 30 'justifying' themselves by saying how many kids they have already and when they got married was so interesting. It felt like they were saying it to make themselves feel good." For now, Bee is choosing to embrace turning 30 as a fresh start. She said, “I’m actually so excited to turn 30 even though I’m nowhere near where I thought I’d be. Everyone's timeline is different and 30 is actually young despite what the media tells us. It’s just the start, and your life will play out exactly as it’s meant to."

You can follow Sophie Bee (@iamsophbee) on TikTok for more funny and musical content.