Why turning 30 is cool
My last twenties birthday was noted as the day I received my baby Chanel and the day I officially removed my date of birth from my social platforms. I decided to stay 29 forever and made no secret of the fact that I would be celebrating my next birthday on a deserted island, hidden under a rock, with no service pretending it is not really my birthday. I hated it. The slightest notion that I would have to tick off the box ‘ 30 years or older’ within a 365 day breech was terrifying and brought me to tears. My 29th birthday, a bright contrast to the beginning of my Chanel era, was an agonizing countdown.
This was now almost a year ago and in exactly 4 weeks I’ll be at the finish line. I’ll be 30. But I’ll get there without having a fit, I’m actually looking forward to this day. A turnaround that has come about after a deep conversation with my oracle of a friend. You know, the type that always says the right thing at precisely the right time. That conversation (with gin and lots of ciggies) was the beginning. The end is an elaborate wish list making me want to embrace that special day to come, with all of my limbs.
Don’t get me wrong; I am just as surprised at myself as you are. But I really believe turning thirty is great. Not at all the drama I envisioned and this is why:
your life certainly isn’t over
I have read, thought and learned a lot in a year about the overall misery of turning thirty. It has seemingly become a verb, causing negative facial expressions. Because, after 30 your life is over. Well, that’s what you think when you reach your mid-twenties, you think you only have five more good years to go. But that’s not the reality. I mean the most geniuses and creative people have their breakthroughs in their late thirties. Most Nobel Prize winners are all in the category 30+. Your skeleton goes through bone-renewal until you’re 35. And research states you’ll be at your happiest at 50. Now who’s say you life ends at 30?
you have a house
Not some kind of student cave with lost brown teabags on the counter. No more roommates who secretly use your pricey bath products under the shower. No leaking faucets, mousetraps, empty refrigerators or mountains of laundry. No strips of aspirin beside your bed, collage sheets under your desk; all gone. Your house feels like a real house, with a shiny cooking island. As the saying goes ‘the older the bigger’ and I’m talking about mansions here.
that shame back then is hilarious now
It’s like being in an elevator that shoots down three stories. I’ve felt this way after a night that got out of hand and after a very inappropriate phone call after a date. Public crying spells over ex-boyfriends or that time my gala date ran off with a student friend. All these things caused you great shame, became forbidden subjects but have now turned into funny anecdotes; great for a laugh and a tear with wine and friends.
impulsive buying
Moneys worth. We know what that is now. And of course we all get blindsided and swipe a card without looking. But thousands of the same shirts from well-known departments stores? A basket filled with trashy earrings, necklaces with rhinestones? 65 bikinis that have lost their stretch after one dip in the pool? Nope from now on we leave all that stuff where it is, in the shops.
relativity
Where you used to hysterically use the SOS friend helpline you now just shrug your shoulders and think: “tomorrow is another day and there’s a solution for everything”.
Relativity is an art mastered at 30.
mom and dad, we get it
That parents are like gods; perfect. What if they weren’t? That gave you the right to go totally berserk as a child (and twenty-something) because, “hello, you’re my mother?!” Now we see things differently, now we understand. They are really just people who act crazy sometimes.
the radar is on
With that I mean that you spot the person behind that oh so friendly face; see who they really are. Unfortunately most of us have had to learn this the hard way but you know your stuff now. Maybe that’s why you go for quality instead of quantity when it comes to friendships. I mean having a few good friends instead of being a friend collector; eventually people who will only stab you in the back.
grownup stuff
Cruising in cabriolets. Luxury huts on the beach. Getting married. Designer boots. These are things grownups should and must do. Things you do when you’re 30. What a blast, those thirties.
