Why I'm excited for my Thirties.

I was jotting down some notes recently on one of my blog brain dumps, I was considering how I felt I was "old" and less fun in comparison to my twenties. I had considered that perhaps I had over spent from the fun bank over the past 12 years with the many wild nights out and the year-long party around Australia. But when I sat back to look over the notes one clear thing stood out to me. Although I had a decade of partying and making memories under my belt, I had been lost and certainly hadn't known what I wanted from life. Over the years I worked in jobs that I didn't really love simply because it was money in my pocket for my next weekend out. I didn't strive to become anything and I didn't have any goals or vision in mind. I didn't seem to look further than a couple of weeks at a time. In fact I was stumbling from year to year hoping one day I would wake up and suddenly have my life together.

I lived in a town where nothing too exciting ever happened and every week was the same. I remember a conversation with a close friend when I decided to go travelling, she said it be would good for me to see more than my hometown, she herself had moved away at 18 and never moved back. Then after Australia when I announced I was moving to the UK she was thrilled that I was getting myself "unstuck". Four years later it is the best decision I made. I love who I am here and I also love my hometown in Ireland more than ever because I can appreciate it more from the outside. That famous saying "distance makes the heart grow fonder" comes to mind.

At almost 32, I now know what it is I want from life. I know what I want to do and who I want to be. That fun-loving wild-child is a girl of the past, packed away safely into the memory box and in her place stands a woman. Rather than going through life on autopilot, I've woken up. I see the world, I appreciate those in my life and everyday I discover more about who I am. I make decisions for the future rather than living for the next weekend.

I don't regret my twenties, I did what any other young person would do and I had fun. I didn't take life too seriously, I made tonnes of friends and saw some of the world. One thing I will take with me as I lean into my thirties though, is to not take myself so seriously. One thing my younger wild self did understand was that we're here for a good time not a long time and living through a year of lockdown has taught me that no matter what life throws my way and obstacles I try to overcome, having fun and laughing about some situations is the best remedy.

I'm excited to see what comes my way in this next decade of my life, I wonder if I'll look back in my forties and think of myself then as I do now.

xx