Saturday 9 April 2016

30 and loving it

30. I turned 30 this week. To be true, I don’t even know why I am writing this post. Maybe it’s because 30 is a so-called milestone. Maybe because I am loving the idea of calling myself a 30 year old.  


When I sit to write a post, I always have an idea as to how I want the post to turn out to be. Today, I have none. So this is going to be my first unedited post. Yep. No cuts, no pastes, no edits. I write while I am still drunk on the thoughts of being 30.

Do I want this post to be something like - what wrong things I have done in my twenties? Or what lessons I learnt? May be the good times I had? The regrets of things not done? I have no idea. So I am just going to write whatever comes to mind. May be all of it. May be none. 

I also know that I am not going to be a changed person suddenly. I shall not suddenly start showing different personality traits. Because the changes in you as a person happen only when you are not looking for them. That’s what you call growing up I guess.

When I look at the last decade, all I see is naivety and passion. The naivety of believing in people and passion of loving them with all my heart. I lived the last decade with so much precaution. Doing all the right things. Behaving the way I was supposed to behave. Shielding my heart from hurt. A life without risks. A life with caution. But that’s the worst part of it. Even the life lived with least friction couldn’t stop me from getting myself wounded. I was broken and bruised, tired and tattered. I got hurt and didn’t walk for some time. But eventually I did. Eventually. One step at a time. 

Whatever I am today, I am because of the falls. And I wouldn’t trade my current self for my younger self at any cost. I don’t want to go back to being what I was. When I heard older ones say this, I used to laugh. Why would anybody not want their younger selves? I mocked thinking this was like the sour grapes incident. You can’t have your youth back? So why not say you don’t need it anymore.

But when I say this today that I don’t want to go back to being a younger version of myself, I say it with conviction that only comes with age. I know I sound like I am 60. But that’s the truth of it. I never thought I could write such a pensive post. I never thought I would write serious things about me on the blog. And yet I sit here doing the same.

I don’t wish to preach people in their twenties anything. We all know there are enough posts about the topic and some of them are really good. Plus I am not somebody who is good at advices. To each his own. That’s what I believe.

In the societal version of myself, I should have been settled in a marital bliss by now. But I am not. And I don’t regret it one bit. I know I would do that eventually but not because it is the right thing to do in the eyes of the society but because I would want to.   

If I had to say something to my younger self, it would be this.
  •  Read. Read whatever you can lay your hands on. Read because you are going to love it. Read because sometimes it would be the only thing that would save you from drowning. So read.
  • The second advice to myself would be this – Take risks. At the most it would turn out to be a wrong turn. But so what? It would at least add to the experience.
  • Travel a bit more. That’s one thing you haven’t done at all. So go for it.    

So if the above is what I wanted to do with my last decade, I hope I shall be able to do the same in the next. So when I sit down to write a post a decade later, I hope I would have followed the above and will have new advice to give to myself. That is of course if I am still around that time ;)

Now that I have given advice to my younger self, let me share some for my future self too. Like let me just say what I want to do next. I don’t know how much of it will actually work out, but still, here we go.
  •  Learn to express yourself. I know, that coming from a writer is weird. But yeah, I suck at expressing myself in person. Whether it’s expressing love or being assertive.
  • Be the badass that you have never been. Don’t take shit. Give it right back to those who deserve it.
  • Indulge yourself a bit. You’re worth it.  

 I don’t know if this post makes any sense to you. Its unstructured and all that.  I don’t know if it would make sense to me if I read it again some time later. All I know right now is that I am 30 and I am loving it ;)

16 comments:

  1. I so much loved it Jyotsna. Honestly. And honest post is always a delight to read. And this one came straight from your heart. And don't tell me you've posted this without editing it a bit! It just doesn't look unedited. It is perfectly fine.

    Advising something to yourself at 30 and looking back at the same time is interesting. I'm sure you'll love this post after a while when you come back and read it again :)

    Cheers

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  2. Loved the advice section, Jyotsna :)

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  3. Happy birthday, Jyo! Sometimes it's these random, on-the-spur-of-the-moment posts that flows effortlessly. Being 30 is something I have been dreading for a while now. You have made me look at it in a positive manner with your writing :)

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  4. Really nice unedited post. Keep it up :-)

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  5. This may sound silly but many of the teens today say they wish they got their childhood back. Every stage of life has a beauty of its own, and I've never wished to go back to the past, however awesome it might have been.
    I admire the ones who love being what they are :) ! Happy birthday and I hope you have a wonderful decade ahead !

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  7. Happy 30! ๐Ÿ˜„ This was so nice to read. I picked up a few points for myself too. It's interesting how you say you don't want to be the younger version of you. It's important to accept and be content with where we are for life to throw miracles at us. ๐Ÿ˜€

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  8. I loved it ... so honest and straight from the heart. May this thirty be the best phase of your life :-) It's a pleasure knowing you buddy, a wonderful friend and a nice person you are :-)

    Enjoy :-D

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  9. A straight from the heart post. Loved every bit of it. Happy Birthday, Jyotsna. Enjoy the 30s. :)

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  10. I would use your tips not just for past or future person. They are always relevant

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  11. Bang on!! 30 is the new 13 and be the rebel in town. Don't give a damn to the world. Jyotsna, you've nailed it.

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  12. Trust me, and this isn't no flattery. I'm going to copy this post to my daughter. She is younger than you but at 23, I think she must take people such as you who have more to say about life pretty seriously.

    I must confess that Though I endorse your words I was a trifle timid in my life and in my youth. That perhaps led to missed opportunities.
    Yet another couple of points of your post I must react to is about your suggestion of reading, travel and taking risks.Here you cannot be blunt and truer than this.

    Well written post .

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  13. Congratulations! Loved the post! Candid and straight from the heart, without any frills! Wish you all the best with your upgraded wisdom! The points suggested by you isn't good only for the younger crowd out there but for many older ones too. After all, older doesn't always mean wiser!

    Great post, Jyotsna!

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  14. Lovely post, I turned 30 last week. Even I thought I'll write a post on my 30th birthday but somehow i couldn't.
    You expressed it beautifully. :)

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