The Wrong Side of 30, Is That Right?

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?