Today I have something a little different for you. This is a guest post about turning 30 written by Gary over at garyjones.co.uk/blog/
If you too would like to write a guest post, please e-mail me letting me know!
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Let me start with an apology. It's my birthday next month, and I'll be 29. That puts me outside the usual author demography for this site, which is why this is just a guest blog post to look through someone else's eyes.
I've still got one more year to ponder it, but at this moment in time, turning 30 holds indifference for me; I'm neither looking forward to it nor dreading it. Age is just a concept developed as a measure of time that's loosely related to the motions of astronomical bodies. Instead of the default omitted unit of years, we could equally count the number of jobs we've had, the amount of time we've spent on holiday, or the number of people who love us. Sure, all of these will be different values for different people, but what does age really tell us?
Experiences is where it's at. It's this qualitative aspect of our lives that describes who we are, where we came from, and where we think we're going that shapes the impression you give, far more than any quantitative expression. It's the key that unlocks many doors.
All experiences are good. We may not enjoy some of them, and they won't all be positive, but they do benefit us; what doesn't kill us only makes us stronger, as the saying goes. Our personality is part nature, part nurture, where an infinite amount of these and other factors resolve to how that experience feels to any single individual.
I'm fortunate - I've got a decent personality for the most part, and I was well brought up. I'm laid-back, take things in my stride, am appreciative of what I've got, and try not to take things for granted. I look on past experiences as the sculptor's knife as he carves out his next work of art, chipping, smoothing, refining. The experiences I took from working as a teacher in schools helped me in teaching and managing in prisons. The experience I gained there helped me to understand how management in other companies work, and this in turn is helping me with my current work. Building upon these skills and experiences helps me to find new goals and new achievements.
When I'm thirty-something, instead of twenty-something, it will just mean I'm a few years older, nothing more. I'll have had some more experiences for sure, but I won't be making any stereotypical mid-life crisis thoughts about approaching 40 unless that's what my experiences suggest I should be doing.
For me, 2007 and 2008 were the most experiential I've had for many reasons, and 2009 may well be no different. Next month I'll be a little more experienced than I am now. How experienced will you be?
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Special thanks to Gary for taking the time to contribute to my blog.
If you would like to hear my thoughts on this same topic please visit my post titled, On Turning 30.
I thought the following line was particularly interesting (and true):
"Instead of the default omitted unit of years, we could equally count the number of jobs we've had, the amount of time we've spent on holiday, or the number of people who love us."
A few years ago I was starting to get anxious about turning 30. I had set goals for myself that I believed should be accomplished by the time I turned thirty. I had an idea in my head what a thirty year old should be and I hadn't met those expectations. To relate it to what Gary said, I wasn't as experienced as I thought I should have been by that point.
I knew in my head that everyone experiences things at different times and has different experiences altogether, but it was still really hard to shake those previous ideas.
Hmmm interesting stuff