by Sadaf Farooqi

Created on: November 13, 2008

I remember watching Oprah Winfrey's show more than a decade ago, in which a woman was constantly talking about how depressed she was at having just turned thirty. According to her, she spent the whole day crying, and canceled all her plans with her family. She kept saying, "I just want to be twenty one!". I was in my late teens then, and I was quite struck by the fact that turning thirty could be so traumatic for anyone.

Well, I turned thirty recently. And I am not at all depressed about it! I have, on the contrary, actually come to like my grown-up status. There are things you can do when you are thirty or above, that you can not do during your teenage years or even your twenties. There are many positive aspects of hitting this age, like the ones I've highlighted below:

Physical and Financial Independence:

Most thirty-year-olds are living independently from their parents, whether single or married. It's wonderful to be able to do your own thing, your way. Contrast that to coming home at the age of 16 in your ill-fitting school uniform, to find your bedroom furniture re-arranged without your prior consent, or something removed or added. Any protests fall on deaf ears, as, well, Mother Dear always had her way back then. Well, now she doesn't. So if you are a budding artist having your own studio with wacky-colored walls and creative raw material sprawled everywhere, or a passionate wannabe chef arranging your spices and ingredients in your kitchen cabinets the way you desire, or an Internet junkie like myself, having a small corner in the house with a computer and 24-hour Internet connection on which no one stops you from browsing for hours on end, being thirty does bring in its advantages, particularly in the realm of personal freedom and privacy.

The same goes for modes of entertainment, hanging out with friends, or traveling. In your teens and twenties, you always had arguments with your parents about where you could go for how long, or which friend you could hang out with at which restaurant, or whether you could take the car by yourself. "Mom, can I go to XYZ's house and stay there till 11:00 p.m?" or "Mom, can I have five hundred rupees for new shoes for my friend's wedding?" Well, at thirty, not only do you have more money in your wallet, in addition to your own bank account and personal car, but you can also spend it as you wish, without taking prior permission. You can also stay out for as long as you want. Stretch that to flying off to another country

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