Turning 30

Turning 30 years old never seemed to be a problem. But now there are many people around me turning 30, and most of them don't see it as a 'happy' birthday. That's why I started thinking about it too...

Why is 30 a difficult age? I always thought it's a nice number: 30. But when I asked people what's wrong with it, I got many (the same) answers.

'I thought I would have a life by the age of 30!'
A life?
'Yes, with a husband and kids and a real house and a nice job.'

Oh, okay... This person thought that 30 is the magical age on which you have your life all figured out. Then I understand it is kind of frustrating when you turn 30 and the dream life you had in mind isn't all there yet.

But why do people have these expectations, or better said: these demands? 30 isn't an age that you're old, there's still a whole life in front of you. Why would everything in your life at the age of 30 have to be perfect? It would be kind of boring if your life is all 'done' when your only 30 years old yet.

What would you do with the other 60 years of your life? Sit and enjoy your life? There's still a lot to explore and there are many possibilities for a perfect life after the age of 30. For kids you have another 10 years (10 years, that's a long time!) and for the husband, house and job you have many years after that (okay, it would be convenient to have the husband just before you will have kids).

Ofcourse there are people who already have this dream life when they're 30. But don't compare yourself to them. Your time will come too. Maybe at 32 or at 36. Age is just a number. Don't expect too much expectations. Let life surprise you.

Phone and laptop free

Anyone can contact me almost everywhere. My phone is always with me. Even when I'm relaxing in the bathtub, my phone is with me. It's a habit. But not a very good one. Why do we always want to be reachable? Why do we always feel the need to have our phone with us?

So we can call, send text messages, emails, Twitter, Facebook, search the internet, play games, make pictures, listen to music, and much more. But why? What's wrong with a couple of hours without a phone? A couple of hours of 'silence'?

One of my New Year's resolutions for 2011 was to have a phone and internet free weekend once in a while. When I made this resolution I thought about one weekend a month without phone and laptop. How often did I actually put my phone and laptop off for a whole weekend?

Once. That's it.

The first couple of hours I felt stressy and out of balance. But after a while I felt rest. I accepted the world without the internet and it felt good. Better said: I felt great. I found time to do things I never have time for because of my busy life. Busy? Yes. But it turned out that my phone and laptop were partly responsible for the 'business'.

Why didn't I switch off my phone and laptop more often? I really don't know. Maybe I found I needed the internet, although that sounds quite silly. Why wouldn't it be possible to live two days without the connection to the world wide web?

So here's my first New Year's resolution for 2012:
Every month (yes, évery month) two days without phone and laptop. It can be a whole weekend at once, but it may also be two seperate days.
And no more bringing my phone with me when I'm in the bathtub. The bathtub is to relax in, not to whatsapp in.

Where to meet someone

It's Christmas time. Christmas means being together with the ones you love: family, friends and... someone you'll spend your life with. But what if you haven't find that someone yet? What if you're still waiting for the right person to find you? Where do you meet someone?

Many people meet someone on the internet these days. But there're also people, mostly women, who want a perfect how-we-fell-in-love story. A modern fairytale. Not on the internet, but somewhere out there, in the real world.

I talked about this with two other women, a 22-year old and a 36-year old. I was surprised by their meanings. One of them thought that meeting someone online is a great option and the other one thinks the opposite: you have to meet someone in real life, that's more romantic. These meanings themselves are no surprise, but it was the 22-year old who doesn't want to use the internet. So it's not true that all young people believe in online dating. And even so it's not true that people in their late thirties are 'old-fashioned'.

The 22-year old shared two of her dream scenarios with us...
Walking in the supermarket, doing the daily grocery shopping. In the fruitsection you accidently drop an apple and when you want to pick it up from the floor, someone else already did it for you... It's him. The perfect guy you were waiting for. Perfect love story #1.

Or you're in a bookstore, searching for a great novel. You're looking through all the books in the cabinets. There it is! The book you're looking for. You reach for the book, but then you see another hand reaching for exactly the same book... The hand belongs to a charming man. And that's how you two met. There's love story #2.

Of course, it's all possible: online ánd offline. There's someone waiting for all of us. I am sure. It will happen! It can be any day...