MAY 12 — At 35 this year, I am at an age of which not many people care to talk about.
People reminisce about rolling in the mud as children, and experts often describe childhood as the formative years.
The hormonal explosion of the teen years present a whole new perspective on life, and for many, defining moments that could very likely chart their future direction.
Your 20s gives you your first taste of "freedom", which for me, at least, equated to one thousand and one mistakes.
And if the wisdom of baby boomers is anything to go by, life starts at 40, and beyond the menopause or andropause (if that's even a valid term) you transition into your golden years and hopefully pass on content that you have lived your life.
But hit your thirties, and suddenly the description is not so optimistic.
Once you hit this age bracket, society considers you too old to be making "silly mistakes", and at the same time too young to be taken "too seriously."
It's as if some subconscious mechanism kicks in and you suddenly become an active member of the rat race, live the "healthy lifestyle", make the "responsible choices."
Of course, it is in their thirties that a lot of people would be married and have become proud parents, making it necessary to be "healthy" and "responsible" to be able to juggle the needs of their young children and increasing responsibilities at work.
This apparently leads to those between the ages of 30 and 39 to be considered the most dissatisfied of all age groups, described as "The Discontented Thirties" in a 2011 study by the Wharton School in the US.
Do your thirties really have to be defined by all the doom and gloom though?
Sure, the older folk would have gone through similar experiences when they turned 30, otherwise the baby boomers wouldn't have gone on and on about life finally making sense a decade later.
But should each generation of people who hit their thirties allow their experience to be pre-determined by their predecessors?
I can't even understand half the things that get people in their twenties all excited, and I've only exited that age group six years ago.
Assuming that they are responsible people, I don't see how I can in any way dictate to them what they should be doing in their thirties.
And while I wouldn't dismiss the experiences of those who have made their passage through the thirties and survived to tell the tale, I really don't see why I or anyone else in my age group should do just as they did.
I'd rather look at what they've achieved towards the end of their journey.
Just over the weekend, my parents celebrated their ruby anniversary. If their marriage were a person, it would have just made it out of the trap of the thirties.
Notwithstanding the fact that it's my parents, being married for 40 years is one hell of a feat.
And they reached that impressive milestone by largely not giving two hoots about people telling them what is the "right thing to do" with their lives and that of my two sisters and me.
They may not be rich, but they're comfortable and can proudly say that they are still living fulfilling lives without having to rely much on anyone else.
If there's anything that I and my fellow thirtysomethings — or anyone for that matter — can learn from this; forget about keeping up with the Joneses and keep your eye on the prize, whatever it may be.
*This is the personal opinion of the columnist.
