We’ve all heard the expression ‘the wrong side of thirty” right? Actually, it could be the wrong side of anything – thirty, forty or fifty; but the idea is to denote that the so-called right side is passé. And more often than not, this phrase is used in relation to mentioning someone’s age.
I know I
have been hearing this phase for some time now; and I always thought that
anyone on the wrong side of thirty
was someone over thirty years old. Then when I turned thirty and I had a lot
going on in my life, I told
myself that, cliché or not; for me, 30 was
the new 20! And I decided that someone on
the wrong side of thirty had to be someone who was more than thirty-five
years old. And I had a long way to go!
But now it is
here. It is finally here. That phrase “on
the wrong side of thirty” is here to haunt me, forever! And so here I am, on
the eve of my birthday, wallowing in self-pity that I am finally going to be
that woman who is on the wrong side of thirty (no matter what way I decide to
take the meaning of the phrase to be.)
But hey, who
am I kidding! Self-pity is not my style! And wallowing is definitely not! So I have decided to take a look at
the phrase itself in new light. Why is it, that people think anyone above
thirty (ahem, or thirty-five) is in the wrong
side really?
I mean, come
on, I know by the time we reach thirty-five, we are not looking forward to
cutting a cake and making a wish (really?) because we have lived long enough to
stop believing in the whole make a wish
thing. (Well not me, but, I know plenty of my friends who say that.) By
thirty-five – let’s call them mid-thirties (sounds better), we are sort of
disillusioned sometimes; or have gotten used to the routine that our life has
become. But either way, we do not give much importance to the fact that we are
in our thirties.
In fact, if
possible, we try not to think about the fact that the thirties are passing us
by and we are, day by day, becoming lesser and lesser of what we thought
ourselves to be. We try not to take a closer look at where we started out from
and where are headed – scared to find how far off-course we may have come.
But the more
I think of it, I find this whole thing lame! I mean, look at it this way: By
the time we are in your mid-thirties, we are beginning to make some sense of
what we are doing in life, right? Till then, we are clutching at straws, not knowing
where our life is going, in what direction we want to take it. In our twenties,
we have ideals, goals and dreams; but we have no idea what we are doing with
them.
By our
mid-thirties though, we know where we are headed. The dreams are still there,
but we are building foundations to make them come true. The ideals are still
there, but we have by now learnt to come to terms with realities of life as
well. We still have goals, but they are more real now and achievable.
The wrong side of thirty, then; is actually the (b) right side of forty, isn’t it?
Truth be
told, twenties, forties and even fifties have their own charm. Because when we
are in your teens, we look forward to our twenties. By the time we reach your
forties, we have achieved something. We have become a semblance of what we
intended to be; or are getting there. But we forget that to get there, we have
to go through our thirties!
Twenties are
for dreaming and forties are to bask in the glory of what you have become, but
thirties? Thirties are when you are actually working towards achieving your
dreams. That’s where the real action is! And it makes sense to enjoy the action
while it lasts.
So really,
there is no right or wrong side for the thirties if you ask me. Thirties are the new twenty, clichéd but true;
and I firmly stand by it!
What do you think? Is there anything such as the wrong side of thirty?
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