🥂Daniel Turns 30
Reflections on turning 30 and a 30% discount, because everyone loves a discount
Hey folks. It’s true, today I turn 30. Like most of my birthdays as an adult, today doesn’t feel much different. Except 30, for so many people — myself included — was always more of a milestone than a birthday.
I remember throughout my teens and early-20s, I wanted to be married by the time I turned 30, so that I’d be a young enough dad to play with my two kids — I’d have them both before turning 35. I wanted to have a house with a garden, maybe a family dog, a well-paid job and be financially set.
As I entered my mid-20s and inched closer to the big 3-0, these aspirations became part of a looming deadline on the horizon. Instead of being patient and letting life play out, I was always searching, forcing, because I thought I had to have everything solved by 30, and then I’d magically be happy for the rest of my life.
Man, how I wish I could have been there beside 21-year-old me. I was so silly.
I’m not married, I run a journalism newsletter and last night I slept on a blowup mattress at my friend’s apartment in Denver, as part of an indefinite world road trip. I couldn’t be further from that scrapbook-life I envisioned. I can’t help but laugh — 21-one-year old Daniel would have been completely horrified.
But you know what? I woke up this morning, looked out the window to see sunshine and a clear-blue sky, and thought genuinely I’ve never been happier. Heck, I smiled just writing that.
The reality is that, like with all of the deadlines we place upon ourselves, plans seldom follow the path we foresee. And that’s absolutely okay. In fact, that’s the exciting bit — I literally don’t know where I’ll be next month, this summer and beyond.
Knowing how everything is entirely temporary and unrepeatable, really does make you enjoy the special moments, in the moment, even more. Houses, jobs, partners and money come and go. But what doesn’t always come around are those memories that stay with you for a lifetime and make you smile each time you think of them.
So that’s all I really plan for as I cross into the other side of 30. By the time I turn 40, I’ll probably be laughing at my 30-year-old self once again. Until then, cheers. 🥂