Yes, I have turned the age of 30 for a month now. Yet, things are pretty much the same. I guess all the fuss about worrying about turning 30 is kind of silly, and I still remember all the things that I worried about when I reached 30 … since 25.
Still I don’t understand why it is like a tradition for most of the human kind to welcome their 30th in that kind of fashion - Mostly with fears, like losing youth, no accomplishments, etc. 30 is such a deadline, and for me, I never really had any goals that I needed to achieve by that age. Ok, not goals, but I did have fears. One of them is having someone in my life by that time. I know it is very silly, but let me amuse you with my theory of this particular fear.
I was brought up with a line in Chinese; something like, “Men are like a blooming blossom in their 30s. Women have turned to a dead flower”. It is like a curse. It is a very old fashioned tale, and it doesn’t apply to our current society where women have their careers, which force most of the women to have a family at a later age, or no marriage at all by marrying themselves to their jobs. I guess the line had some truth to it when, in the old days, women’s main focus of their life was to find someone to marry and build a family. People married young back then, beauty and youth became one of the important assets to girls, and it wasn�t safe to carry a child after the age of 30. My mom had me in her early 20s. I do look up to my parents as my role model.
With that theory, the age of 30 became my expiry date. I somehow believe NO Mr. Right in their right mind will want to have an expired girl. It certainly doesn�t help when many men are attracted by young and beautiful girls, and Hollywood promotes that. I pretty much told myself that if I hadn�t met Mr. Right by 30, I can marry my job.
I had a great time celebrating my expiry date with Kevin, Jens (flatmate) and my sister. After the count down, I blew the candle on my cake, and nothing changed … everything was still the same, and my cake was very good. Maybe that curse wasn�t there the entire time, but just something to put myself on the edge … or, maybe this is only the beginning …
I remember that chat we had where you cited this Discovery Channel programme — after the age of 25 you have to work really hard to keep in shape.
At least as Chinese people we *look* like we’re in shape =D. Happy very belated birthday!
I’m 32 life is eternal and age is just a number, it’s who you are inside that counts!