The 30 Diaries

I started the 30 diaries three months back because I couldn’t wait for the answers that I hoped would come to me with the big Three-O. I turned thirty yesterday and guess what? There are answers. Just waiting for the right questions to be answered. Just like 42 is the answer to Life, the Universe and Everything. It’s difficult to explain without sounding weird and really, why bother?

I feel good. I don’t think 29 was ever an age I was at. It was just a period of waiting to be 30 and now that 30 is here, it feels like I’ve been here for a long time now.

I’ve had friends saying things like ‘Life begins at thirty’ and ’30 is the new 20′. Well, I wouldn’t know and for a fact, many of them aren’t 30 so how would they know? Funny, no?

All I can see that it is considered a big birthday, the way ten, thirteen, sixteen, eighteen and twenty-one are. Thirty in comparison, doesn’t bring you any additional powers or rights that the aforementioned numbers do. Or perhaps it does but it isn’t determined by your parents or your hormones or the law.

Thirty is when you have been you for long enough (and perhaps a few other people too) and you can decide to go on being who you are or change if you like.

Thirty is when you realize that it isn’t about generation gaps or world crises or deprived childhoods or unhealthy lifestyles or abusive relationships or failed career decisions. Shit happens and that’s all it is about.

Thirty is when you’re a little older than the average age at a disco or a birthing class. You’re also a little younger than the typical age for mid-life crisis, death or depression. But you’re also lucky to still have your figure and just as fortunate to have had as many experiences as you have. Thirty is when the arithmetic goes out of the window and you realize that there are no patterns except the one your own life follows.

Thirty is resigning from being a time-accountant and collecting your feeling-pensions to get you started on whatever the rest of your life is going be about.

I was asked after one of the earlier posts whether I was happy with the way life has turned out. I am okay with my body, my family, my talents, my deficiencies and my career. I have a few issues but none that overwhelm me. I am really okay with everyone who has been a part of my life, the good and the bad. And thirty, that’s okay too. In fact, the next ten years look like a lot of fun, compared to the twenties. That’s peace of mind and hope both in one. If that isn’t the definition of happiness, I don’t know what is.

Thirty is just an number but a lovely one it is.

The song that’s playing on my list and in my head right now is Yehi Meri Zindagi Hai. Happy birthday to me. 🙂