Turning 30

Has not been wonderful for me. I had a very small night out with my girls that drove up all the way from Swakop, which was great, and we had fun, but due to age instead of staying out until the sun rose I was home by 2am and got myself into bed very quickly. It took me two days to recover.

So first things first; after turning 30 you can expect miserable hangovers and adverse reactions to alcohol that you never used to have any effects from. Yippee. So now I approach a bottle of wine or a shot of Jaegermeister with extreme caution and thought; how much of my time do I want to waste the next day by lying in bed???

I can't even drink Coke anymore - it must be due to the caffeine or sugar, but 4 glasses of coke will be enough to have me staring at the ceiling all night long, unable to sleep. There goes my favorite drink!! I also can't drink Hunters Extreme as two of those will have the same effect on me.

I need sooooo much sleep too! Gone are the days when you could be up early and party until the following morning, sleep for a few hours and do it all again - oh no, now you need at least eight to ten hours of sleep and ten liters of water to restore your system to normal! Staying home in a warm bed is now vastly more appealing than venturing out to socialize, as at the least I know I will be able to get up in the morning!

I have never been someone to get up during the night and go for a pee. I could do long haul flight without peeing once as I hate public toilets. Now??? Pfft! Every night without fail I am up to go to the bathroom ... problem is, then I have an additional problem - once I'm up there is no way I will sleep again. So I get to lie in bed and contemplate life from anywhere between 2m and 4 am until it's time to get up. The things that you can come up with at that time of the morning when you can't make a noise or do anything constructive is quite impressive. However, it does tend to make for a grumpy day when I have only had 5 hours of sleep ...

Oh - and then I put my back out. Fabulous! Turn 30 and you lose your back as well! So that has resulted in severe pain and many visits to the doctor and osteopath only for it to get better on it's own eventually, although now I have to be very careful when lifting or carrying ... no more gardening, painting, moving, and doing everything myself as I have always done. Joy!!! The up side to this is that I am allowed to have help for cleaning and gardening when it get's too much for me, although standing by and watching is not really my style.

Life does change after 30 - for me anyway. I feel that now I can't be out and about and irresponsible. I must behave myself, act like a lady, and basically, be my age!! There are days when I would love to forget responsibilities and people that rely on me and fly off the handle and go do something crazy. Then I look around me at some people who don't act their age and hold to their responsibilities and it tends to disgust me, so I ignore those urges and do the correct thing. This may possibly be because of the way that I look at other people, and know how I dislike what they do or how they look, and so do my best to not be judged.

So here's to being 30 and a new chapter in my life; it may take a bit of getting used to. I am very nostalgic for the teenage years when you have everything in the world at your fingertips and don't see the advantage in it or use it to the fullest. I think that may be the biggest regret for most people. But you have to take everything in your stride and live it to the full (even whilst trying to avoid a hangover) and hope that one day you will look back on a life filled with love and happiness.