It’s been one more year around the sun for me and I decided I would do a little thought piece. It seems like the number 30 has this sort of weird connotation within our society. It means all kinds of things to lots of different people, to some it’s an age where you should have everything figured out already. It’s supposed to reflect some sort of attainment of maturity, you no longer get to use the ‘adulting’ excuse. 30 is the age where you can wear your accomplishments with pride, waving around your bucket list with all the points crossed out. It may also be the most lamented birthday year, at least amongst non-retirees.

But for me, and maybe you too, 30 just isn’t all that. Where you are at 30, depends a lot on where you were during your 20’s. Were you spending your younger years experimenting? Trying out different walks of life until you found something you liked. Were you spending that time in the service of others? Looking after those more vulnerable. Or maybe, like me, you just took a long time to get started. It took some time for all the gears to click into motion and move forwards for me. 30 is an arbitrary number that doesn’t need to signify a move from one sphere to another. After all, on the minute scale, it’s just another click of the second hand. Another rotation around the sun.

In light of all this I am taking a light-hearted, but hopeful, look at all the half-baked accomplishments that I still haven’t finished yet. I want to show that I’m still on a journey, and there’s no need to listen to what others expect you to have achieved simply by being a day older.

Didn’t do the 30 countries by 30

This is an exciting spin on the “30 by 30” concept, and one that I fell in love with during my early 20’s. Wouldn’t it be cool to have gone to X amount of countries by X arbitrary number? Suffice to say, I didn’t make it to 30 countries. I didn’t even come close!

Let’s take a look at the concept of international travel and remember that even today it’s still quite a blessing. Yes, there are budget flights, and yes if you start in Europe and go by train you could almost tick off all 30. However, the financial and time commitment of this bucket list item demands a certain amount of organisation and strategy that didn’t exist in my early 20’s.

Let’s say you were going to do this solo, starting your tally the moment you hit 18. You would still need to visit 2 countries every year before you hit 30, and some years you’d have to do more. I can see why “30 by 30” is such an achievement; especially if you are doing it all self-funded.

I’ve been to a total of 9 countries, however, 3 of them were just transfers. I haven’t seen outside the airport in UAE or Qatar, and technically I’ve been to Pakistan but that was just to refuel the plane. I’ve never even stepped foot on the soil there.

I can claim this as a victory though. 3 of the countries I’ve been to I have stayed there for at least 2 months, some longer. While I may have not been to as many countries, I have stayed in one location for extended periods of time. I have been blessed with the opportunity to truly experience and soak up a country, at my own pace.

For those of you who want to focus on travel, don’t make it about doing X before X years old. You have all the time in the world to go and see it. Every country has so much to offer in terms of culture, heritage, and food. To reduce that all down to one tick on a bucket list is hardly fitting.

Besides, there are benefits to taking things at your own time. Growing in years, and maturity, can only be good for travelling to other countries. Also, what marvels and dazzles us at 18 is going to be way different than at 30. While I’m still vulnerable to FOMO (fear of missing out) sometimes, I feel like I’m much happier to take things slow when I travel. For me being in a place and letting things happen around me is just as important as visiting the major tourist spots.

Am not a millionaire, yet

Even the best-laid plans can get extended, derailed, and ultimately changed. Not that I really had a plan to become a millionaire by 30, but you know, it’s good to have plans. Like age, the monetary number isn’t what’s important here. When I was younger, I wasn’t really so interested in making lots of money. I liked the idea of business but never really committed to anything early on, and sort of only woke up to the idea of doing your own business a few years back.

However, there are so many gurus and experts online now, whose stories are all the same. Struggled for a few years in their 20’s, had a lucky break, and now are living the dream before 30. I’m going to say this is still the exception rather than the norm, but social media is a crafty thing and it can seem otherwise.

Rather than getting down about not being super rich by 30, if this is something that interests you, take it as an opportunity to move forward. Don’t chase the actual dollar amount, but chase the freedom it can give you. Reaching 30 has taught me, that in all aspects of life, you’ve only just made the first step. You can finally see just how long the journey of life can be, so don’t get bothered by the fact that you haven’t reached your destination just yet. You have all your life to do it, as long as you keep moving forwards.

Comparison syndrome can hinder our progress in many facets of life. To read more about how it interrupts with our progress in learning a new language; check out my article here. Now that we’re talking about languages…

Speak 3 other languages, none well

When I was younger, my ultimate goal was to be a polyglot. My definition for polyglot is and has been someone who can speak 4 or more languages. I wanted to be like those guys on YouTube. More than anything else, I wanted to have my “Aussie Guy speaks 15 languages” video and get a million views.

Looking back on it, I may have been able to achieve this one. But that’s the wisdom of hindsight. Only now am I able to say things like; “had I just stuck to a schedule I would’ve gotten somewhere”. So the question for all you 30-year-olds now is, what do you do with this information? If you could go back and tell your 18-year-old self that “if only they had studied 5 minutes each day”; what would your 40-year-old self come back and tell you today?

It’s hard to visualise, but if you can somehow put the time and energy into an activity, you will eventually accomplish what you want to. Maybe not on the timeline you desire, you might not be able to speak fluent German in time for this year’s Oktoberfest, but you could eventually be fluent in the long term.

As I grew along the way, I learnt something really interesting. Something I still struggle with even today. It’ll be harder to be successful at something if you’re only in it for the applause. I said harder, not impossible. Internet celebrity culture tells us this kind of thing is far from impossible. I no longer want to be able to compliment a host on his party in 50 different languages, I’d rather be extremely good in just a few. As nerdy as it sounds I actually like the studying part of learning languages.

Much like finances, learning languages, has really helped ground me in where I am on my journey now. Don’t worry too much about past lost potential, worry rather about putting the right steps forward now so you can look back in another 10 years and be where you want to be.

Am not an expert in any field, just yet

Explore your options, try out different things, eventually, something will come to you. That never happened for me. I still believe that your 20’s is the best time to dive deep into a bunch of different areas. You have the freedom to try something and then get bored with it. Whether it be crocheting, writing movie reviews, or eating increasingly spicier foods. There’s enough time to do something, then finally decide you don’t like it. You also have the time to really build something from a passing hobby into a serious skill. For me, I feel like I didn’t venture out of my comfort zone early enough, and when I found what I liked, I never really fully committed to it.

So what can I do now? I feel like I have a few areas of interest that I really like. I like writing and I like foreign languages. While I might’ve started a bit late, the next best day to start is today. So no, I can’t claim to be a master in anything yet, but I feel like I’ve found my calling and am willing to put all my energy behind it. So for you other fellow late bloomers, is there something you’ve always wanted to do? Or something you’ve always wanted to be really good at? There’s no better time than the present to start that journey, so that one day you look back and be happy with your accomplishments.

So what have I done?

Look back at yourself and ask, surely I’ve done something? After spending about 7 years in university, I did finally get my bachelors degree. I also managed to pick up 2 different diplomas along the way. I got married, dabbled in English teaching, and most importantly I’m living a life I’m happy with.

In your collection of day-to-day experiences, was there ever an interaction where you did something for someone else? Is there any way you are better than who you were 10 years ago? Even if it’s just because, at 30, you get up an hour earlier. If you haven’t collected any money, what experiences have you gathered that define who you are today?

Take any arbitrary day to reflect on your accomplishments in life, it’s healthy. See where you are, where you’ve come from, and where you want to go. The final destination might seem like a long way away, but you can only get there by starting your journey.