“Turning 30 did not cause an existential crisis or major life reassessment for me…”
Anonymous
My 30th birthday arrived four months before our wedding day. Since we were spending most of the time finalizing details of the wedding and arranging the honeymoon I didn’t have much time to organize a big 30th birthday celebration. Dinner and dancing with close friends at a venue with an outdoor terrace was the winning plan. The next day I treated myself to a nice facial and massage. With the benefit of hindsight, booking those treatments the morning after the celebrations was not very clever; at 30 your body simply doesn’t handle alcohol in the same way. When the therapist saw me sitting quietly in the couch drinking water she must have known. She simply said “don’t worry; I’m going to make that hangover disappear”. I guess that was my first lesson as a
30-year old: alcohol is not your friend anymore. And the second lesson was even clearer: look after your skin better.
Turning 30 did not cause an existential crisis or major life reassessment for me. At a younger age I never had a very clear idea of what I wanted to achieve by the time I hit 30 so when the time came there were no un-ticked lists to stress about. Travelling and living abroad were always on the agenda so I moved to Europe at the young age of 23. I’ve been here ever since. The freedom, the food, the people; it all still amazes me eight years after.
Finding love had no deadline either, my outlook towards marriage had always been defined by the mantra of “better to be single at 25 than divorced at 35”. When I was planning our wedding there were lots of articles in magazines and blogs about the benefits of marrying after 30 or the joys of finding your partner early and marrying young. I never found an article that discussed what it meant to marry exactly at 30 like I was doing. Maybe there’s something to be said about the happy medium?
Perhaps the reason why it simply didn’t bother me to turn 30 last year was the fact that I was in a truly happy place. I was about to marry a wonderful man whose love made me realize that all those stories about soul mates were true. I liked my job and despite it being a demanding role I still felt challenged and engaged; and lastly, I had good health. It’s easy to take health for granted, isn’t it? I think turning 30 also brings a bit more confidence and self-assurance. The twenties are about friends, parties, insecurities, studying; it felt non-stop. At 30, life feels a bit more relaxed… at least until children enter the picture.
