Dear 30 year old me, I am proud of You!

First off, Happy Birthday! You live to see this day.

I am grateful for 360 months of your existence. I know you were depressed and a little anxious for a time, but I am glad you realized that you just had to embrace yourself with new bucket lists.

Looking back, damn I am proud. You survived everything that you thought would break you. You surprised yourself with your strengths and learned to cherish the failures as much as the happy memories. You grew to embrace the little things in life and made sure you pause and celebrate each of the milestones.

I am proud of the fact that you incorporated change in every part of your life, be it big or small. After four years of engineering education, you took a leap of faith and embarked on a new career path. You’ve changed jobs a few times, and your mind more often than not. And yet, here you are, not scared to take another leap when the learning continues.

I am proud you survived all the roller coaster rides, from the day you received your first cheque towards your start-up to the day you decided to shut down a year and a half later. Kudos for not going by the VC money and being bold enough to bootstrap, and for the many more start-up ideas that never shipped out of the drawing board.

I am proud that you kept experience as the cornerstone of everything you invested in, be it the way you looked at the materialistic things or the activities that you indulged in. Perceiving things through that dimension opened up a whole different way of living your life and expanded your bucket list. The older and wiser you would be thrilled to look back at these experiences and journeys.

I am proud of all those risks you took, whether it was investing in crypto-currency back in the day or working with founders you barely knew. Irrespective of how things turned out, you never stepped back from taking those calculated risks.

I am happy and proud of all the travels you did in your Twenties. Travel opened up your heart, broadened your mind, and filled your life with stories to talk about for years later. The World Cup trip to Russia with your best friends, the starry nights in the Spiti valley, and for all the places that life took you to, you have been really blessed.

I am proud that over the years you have learned to say NO, to prioritize yourself, to expect nothing from others, and to focus on your mental health.

Today, I am excited for you; to know and experience everything that the future holds for you. I wish that you give me more reasons to be proud of. I wish you give more attention to your diet and gym routine, maybe cut back on the social media and live like you always preach (Hehe), “Alive is Offline”. Travel more, stress a little less, be a better person. Just enjoy this journey without clinging on to “buts” and “what ifs”.

Today, when you bid adieu to your Twenties, I just want to tell you one thing. Your Thirties, Forties, and all the decades that follow will fondly look back at your young Twenties that lived the struggles, learned the lessons, and initiated the bold changes in your life.

Don’t give up; Your story is not over yet!