30
This is the year that many of my friends and I turn thirty years old. I have no trepidations about it. I fully expect that I’ll be my hottest *cough* at age 35. ๐ I know that supposedly I will be anxious and worried about what this means for me as the day draws closer, but I don’t feel anything yet.
And yet, for some reason, I thought to myself that I have about a month to decide on something I’d like to do before I turn thirty (which would give me just under another month to actually do it). I started to google around for other people’s lists of things to do before turning 30, but you know what? I think I will write down a list of things that I’m proud that I’ve already done (most of them since turning 20).
Warning: Self-congratulatory pats coming up. ๐
- Put myself through school entirely on my own.
- Bought my mom that two-story house I told her I would when I was in the fourth grade.
- Wrote two [bad] novels.
- Fell in love with a great man and worked on making things work.
- Moved out to another coast on my own and overcame my biggest fear of making friends/interacting with strangers.
- Learned to really appreciate true friendship, the kind that lasts over distance and time, and even the fact that we’ve never met face-to-face.
- Learned that I don’t always have to be strong.
- Learned that I’m not always right and it’s ok.
- Lost weight gained from new job.
- Travelled (Canada :D, Vietnam, Korea, England, France).
- Joined a gym.
- Achieved financial stability and began savings & retirement plans.
- Became an aunt twice over.
- Held my little infant brother and tried to be a good [absentee] sister to him as he grew up.
- Learned to appreciate my older siblings.
- Learned to understand somewhat the depth of my mother’s unconditional love.
- Made a difference in my friends’ lives.
Of course there’s more. But it’s late. And these things? It’s not just a list. They really mean a lot to me. I never thought, when I was a kid, that I’d do these things. I remember being depressed and feeling like there wasn’t a lot I can hope to achieve, not knowing how to make things be different. But here I am. Things are different.
And I am happy.
Made a difference in my friends’ lives.
To say the least!
I remember being depressed and feeling like there wasn’t a lot I can hope to achieve, not knowing how to make things be different. But here I am. Things are different.
I never realized you felt that way growing up. Talk about triumphing over psychological barriers! Now you see the world as your oyster, which it is. Congratulations!
I used to be really depressed and cynical. I used to feel hopeless and wonder if the only way out was to die. I used to feel like a complete nobody and wondered if anyone would ever see value in me. I wondered if I had any value for them to see. Sounds melodramatic, until you consider how old I was when I thought these things. ๐ I’m sure every tweener/teenager has felt that way, so I don’t feel like it had to do with particularly unique circumstances, but every time one of my younger cousins seems to be facing a problem, I wish I could tell them to buck up because it’ll be better. Except in a way that sounds convincing and not like a lie.
Speaking of every tweener/teenager feeling a certain way, there is what Seppo & I think of as “Generic Teen Angst Song” that is on the radio a lot nowadays. I know, way to be specific. But it’s so… generically angstful that it’s hysterical. Every line is so cliched that I can’t help bursting into laughter every time it comes on the radio. Then I feel bad because I’m mocking some poor 13 year old who feels like no one understands them except this Generic Band That Caters To Angstful Teenagers.
Tee.
Congratulations! And Happy (early) Birthday!
“Became an aunt twice over.” — Hopefully, you didn’t have too much to do with that. ๐