I spent the early half of my 20s wondering what people did when they turned 30, and the second half dreading it.

Well, I’m now two weeks into what I thought would have been a cataclysmic event the likes of which the world has never seen, including that time Adele won Album of the Year at the Grammys over Beyoncé’s Lemonade, but guess what? Life goes on!

People say “Age is just a number,” but that’s not entirely true. On my thirtieth birthday, I felt more or less the same, yet different. Something about how I perceived the world began to change. I became one those internet memes that say ‘I’m too old to tolerate things that don’t make me happy’ or any of its 300 variations.

Needless to say, I’m beginning to think your 30s are the three weeks’ vacation you spent your 20s working towards.

Much of the previous decade was spent trying to define myself, who I am in all spheres of my life when not with the people who helped shape me into that person.

I am the loudest person in any room when with my friends yet when alone I have very little inclination to speak to any of them. A steady stream of Netflix original programming and St Mary’s Banana Chips are my constants, and I’m perfectly OK with that.

My interests have yet to morph into attentiveness to CNN and international news, stocks, mortgage, or any of the things I associated with this newfound maturity.

I feel young at heart but with increasingly better credit and financial stability, and a growing appreciation for living in the moment and saying ‘yes’ to things that keep me up past 9:00 PM (save your judgement for someone who can sleep until sunrise).

I am ready to take on pretty much anything that isn’t Maths or Maths-adjacent at this point in my life, and it’s a self-assuredness that came through years of putting in the work, gaining the experience, and being the voice of reason that was constantly overlooked solely because I did GSAT instead of Common Entrance.

Thirty also came with a confidence that in my 20s I did not have. I’m old enough to know what my better judgment says but also young enough to understand why sometimes you must throw caution to the wind. If you never take risks, are you even living?

Perhaps the best thing about turning 30 is not having to do as much of the organisational things that life requires. The paperwork can really bog you down.

It’s freeing to know that you are not just solid, but have a group of people around you who are equally so. That’s just how I felt looking around at my friends who gathered for my not-so-surprising surprise birthday party. I spent much of the time looking around and admiring my accomplishment at finding people who I can tolerate for extended periods of time and who randomly check in because they now accept I rarely will. It’s not something I take lightly.