Why turning 30 is super cool

My last birthday as a twenty-something went down in the books as the day I got my baby Chanel in my hands and officially removed my birth date from social platforms. I decided to stay 29 forever and didn't hide the fact that next year my birthday would be celebrated on a deserted island. Hidden under a rock, unreachable by phone, and under the illusion that that day wouldn't be my birthday. I found it horrifying. The thought that within 365 days I would have to check the box ’30 or older’ brought tears to my eyes on certain days of the month. My 29th birthday. The contrasting beginning of Chanel AND the tormenting countdown.

In the meantime, this was almost a year ago and in exactly four weeks it will be here. I turn 30. But without having a stroke, I look forward to this day. A turning point that has been slowly but purposefully initiated after a conversation with my ‘oracle friend’. You know, the kind that always has wise words at the moments when it's needed. That conversation (with lots of gin and more shameless cigarettes) was the beginning. The end is that there is an extensive wishlist ready and that I am already embracing that day with all the limbs I have.

Don't get me wrong; I am also very surprised that I think this way now. But I really believe it. Turning thirty is a celebration. Absolutely no drama even, and this is why.

Your life is certainly not over

In a year, I have read a lot, learned, and thought about the overall malaise that many associate with turning 30. It seems to have become a standalone verb, where you mainly have to pull a disgusted face. Because after your 30th, your life is over. At least, that's what you think especially when you've reached your mid-twenties and you ‘only have 5 years left’. But that is far from the reality. I mean, most geniuses and creatives have had their biggest breakthroughs in their late 30s.. Most Nobel Prize winners are thus in the age category 30+. The skeleton continues to grow in bone tissue until at least your 35th. And research shows that you are happiest in life at 50. What do you mean, after thirty it's over?!

You have a house

And no more student hole. Stray brown tea bags from housemates on the counter. The sporadically present guests of housemates using your expensive soaps in the shower. Leaking bathrooms. Mouse traps. Mouse poison. Empty fridge. Mountains of laundry. Stripping aspirin next to the bed. College sheets under the desk. All absent. Your house feels like a real home, may have a shiny cooking island, and the rule is: the older, the thicker. And by that, I obviously mean the mansion.

All that shame from back then is now hilarious

As if you are in an elevator that suddenly crashes down 3 floors. That's how I felt after a night that got out of hand and that late-night heavily inappropriate call to a fling. Public crying fits over ex-boyfriends. Or that time your gala date ran off with a student friend. You know it well. Things you were terribly ashamed of and would rather never, ever talk about again. And just those things now belong to the best anecdotes. They guarantee laughter attacks including tears during wine and snacks with friends.

Impulse purchases

Value of money. We know it now. And of course, we all close our eyes once and swipe that card through the machine without thinking and just doing. But a thousand of the same shirts at well-known retail chains? A basket full of junk earrings and necklaces with rhinestones? 65 bikinis that lose their elasticity after one dive in the pool? No, we don't walk out of the store with that anymore.

Ability to put things into perspective

Where you used to slightly hysterically go through the ‘SOS girlfriend call list’, you now shrug your shoulders and think “tomorrow is another day, and there is a solution for everything”. Putting things into perspective. The art of being 30.

Mom and Dad, we understand you

Parents are supposed to be gods and make no mistakes. And suppose that did happen. Then you, as a child (and twenty-something), had the right to completely lose it, because “hello, you're my mother?!”. Now that's different and you start to understand it. They are just people who can act crazy too.

The radar is on

And by that, I mean that you can easily spot the true personalities behind the oh-so-friendly appearances. Unfortunately, you had to learn it the hard way, but your people skills are just fine. Maybe that's why you go for quality instead of quantity when it comes to friendships. I mean, better to have a few good friends than to be a friend collector with a bunch of knives in your back.

Doing grown-up things

Road tripping in convertibles. Luxury cabins by the sea. Getting married. Designer boots. Things that ‘grown-ups’ can, may, and must do. Things that you as a 30-year-old can, may, and must start doing. What a celebration, turning thirty.