This Is 30!

So here we are… the big day is here… Yesterday, I turned 30!

My birthday has fallen in lockdown, which definitely wasn’t planned at the start of this year, but it will be one I will never forget. I had to strip everything back to basics, only see a few people throughout the day and couldn’t really leave the house, but it was magical. It reminded me that we don’t need a huge celebration when we reach our milestones, and we can be thankful for an unplanned celebration with loved ones!

I know a lot of people have a complex about turning 30, but I wasn’t really one of them. Like most young women, I spent most of my twenties not happy with the way I looked, seeing pictures of me and wishing I was slimmer or comparing myself to others on social media but I decided a long time ago that I didn’t want to go into the next chapter of my life feeling this way. The last few months I’ve tried to shift my mindset to think far more positively, and even though there are times where I feel down or my mental health creeps up on me, I’ve felt more at ease than ever before and it’s a feeling I want to amplify in this next chapter of my life.

When we’re younger, we put a lot of pressure on the age of 30. In your teens it feels like a million miles away and an age where you should really have your s*** together… well I’m here to admit not many of us have it together at all!

I was one of those teenagers who thought getting married, buying a house, trips abroad and having a baby by 30 was the dream scenario, alongside a career to be proud of, but when I actually break down these aspirational goals of my former-16 self, the real want is to be in a happy relationship, have a stable income to buy a property and be able to go on holidays with my husband, and really, I’m living that life now!

I spent a lot of my 20s jumping around from job to job, but it is coming up to 2 years in my current role, and I’m not planning on going anywhere. I think when I look back at being 16, I would be proud to say I’m working for the UK’s biggest charity, helping to make a difference to the lives of those who are battling cancer.

At the end of 2019, a lot of people were looking back on the decade they had, but I decided not to do that at the time. When I do look back on the last 10 years though, I can see how much I’ve grown as a person. At the start of the decade, I had just quit university, which is a decision I did not take lightly, and I had just started a job working in a call centre – not the glam life I was hoping for myself, but it is the company where I met my now-husband, so everything does happen for a reason. I was also able to apply to a better university and do a better course 9 months later, and thus started my love of writing, which later lead to this blog.

I’ve heard great things from people in their 30’s – it’ll definitely look a lot more settled in terms of career and where I’m living, but also I’m hoping to be able to start a family this decade and have some incredible life experiences which I’ll always remember – I for one am excited about the next chapter.

Turning 30 in a global pandemic was definitely not on the cards for me, and even back at the start of the year, I would have never guessed this could have happened. When I look back on the last year of being in my 20’s, it’s an odd one – the last 3 months seem like a massive blur of video calls, walks and muddling the way through (and throw in a new puppy on top of all that) so it feels as though this milestone birthday crept up on me a little.

I definitely had some of the hardest times of my life in my 20’s – but that made me resilient (maybe a little too much so sometimes) and when I think back to those dark times of my life, I realise how far I’ve come and how much of a stronger person I am as a result.

Looking back on the last decade, I’m not sure I would have done anything any differently! It’s been a crazy ride to get here but I’m excited for the next chapter that’s for sure! Here’s to the next 10 years and all the new adventures that will come with it.

–