Dear Reader,
I recently celebrated my 32nd birthday & it was one of the best birthdays I’ve had in a while. I know, something could top turning thirty in Paris? Well surprisingly, yes. This birthday was special because I realised that I’d gained a renewed outlook on life. That realisation made me reflect on what my age was doing for me.
- I Know A Lot Better
I may not want to always admit it but I know better now. The latter doesn’t mean I’m not going to royally mess up, it simply means I know what to do to fix my mistakes a lot faster than I did when I was younger and I genuinely know how to make sure things do not happen again if I sincerely don’t want them to happen again.
2. Invisibility
People just care less and less and that sounds horrible on first read but read it again. This is the best time of my life – no one cares what I do – no one’s coming to tell me what to do and how. I am, for the first time, quite free (as long as I pay my bills on time).
3. Money, Money, Money
The thirties are proving to be the time everyone said they would be when I was younger, a time when one still has a lot of space and room to exist as they wish but also has a lot more money meaning there is so much more room to do more where and how I have always wanted. Experience also makes sure I know how to spend better, what not to buy and how to approach financial issues and goals. Does this mean it’s always blue skies money-wise? Darling, darling like you I too am on this crazy train of an economy. We may as well make the most of the sharp corners and quick turns, we’ll never be this young again.
4. Authority
It is both touching and alarming how often teenagers run over to me on the beach with their bags in tow and ask me, a ma’am, to watch their things while they frolic on the beach and in the water. Sun hat and sparkling wine in tow, I’ve never let any of my beach children down. Day after day, I see how meaningful we become to the younger generation and how important it is to be a reliable and safe place for people younger than us. City aunties are up!
5. With Time, There Are More Options Not Less
Initially my attitude towards having children was a little like…
But I eased up about it as I learned more and more about ways that allow us to choose when and how we want to start a family. From the traditional means to freezing your eggs to surrogacy to adoption, you’re never out of options or time to start a family should you choose.
As I grow older, as technology advances and as I learn more about myself as part of a collective and as an individual I realise that my options increase, not the other way around. This isn’t the only area where one gets more with time and it’s motivating to know that as one navigates her life, options will continue to abound.
As each day comes by, I hope you realise how profound it is to get time to unpack things & truly understand them. These years where we get to steady our pace after the hustle and rush and lessons and scars of our twenties do not exist to inhibit us at all but to demonstrate how far one has come and how epic life’s about to be.
From a connoisseur of life’s pleasures,
xo,
Nona Zuri 