Mere umar ke naujawanon, 8 things you should do before you’re 30

We’re not going to ask you to get married – we’ll leave that to nosy family relatives. What we want to do instead is remind you that there’s still a lot that can be, and should be, done before you hit 30. Why 30? Well, you still have the energy, a little less responsibility, and a little more freedom. The older we get, the harder it is to change our ways, learn new things, and even reverse some damage. But more importantly – cliché alert – kyon ki Kal Ho Na Ho. So keeping that in mind, let’s look at how you can get the best of life and become a certified adult before age gets the better of you.

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Start saving

Let’s get the most important thing out of the way first. You don’t have to think as far ahead as your retirement to save up. It’s important to be financially stable for the unexpected that life will throw at us in the years to come. You may need to (or want to) suddenly quit your job, buy a house, or contribute to your family’s hospital bills. When you have money stacked up, you will have the peace of mind to concentrate on all the good things in life. Sure, now is the time to live and not worry about the serious things, but when you make the habit of saving money, every year from now will be the time to live. Sounds good doesn’t it?

Read as much as you can

Reading has never needed a reason. If you want to enrich your life, you read. Period. We can’t go everywhere and do everything in our lifetime. The knowledge we gain from reading, be it from books, news, magazines, or the internet, makes up for this immense loss of experience. Read about world or national history (even your own family history!), classical literature, read books of different languages, and read about people’s lives. There’s no shame in accepting this truth – if you can’t do, you read. Cultivating a voracious reading habit now will ensure you have a young and supple mind for the rest of your life.

Travel solo

Travelling solo helps you discover many things about yourself. It builds your confidence and makes you more self-reliant, and there’s no better time for that than now as you have the rest of your life waiting for you. It gives you the space and time to ponder over your life choices with newer perspectives. People that travel solo come back with a resilience to face life. Travelling by yourself to a foreign country makes this big wild world a little less intimidating, and makes you, more willing to explore fearlessly.

Move somewhere new

Moving to a new place and living by yourself can be scary as…well, you know. It’s scarier than travelling all by yourself – and that’s exactly why you should do it. The best thing that comes out of it is a changed lifestyle, but more importantly, a lifestyle that is defined and crafted entirely by you. All that you benefit from solo travelling – looking out for yourself, the experiences, the people – will be ten-fold when you move to a new place. This is an opportunity to learn of the harsh realities of life, but on your own terms.

Get over at least one of your biggest fears

While we’re on the topic of doing scary things, let’s address this as well. Let’s admit it our fears have made us all Usain Bolts, haven’t they? If we don’t tackle them now, or at least begin to, we’ll be running for the rest of our lives. Whatever they may be – fear of confrontation, of responsibility, of speaking in public, or even of spiders – now is the time to put on a helmet and dive into them.

Learn to cook

Please. Learn to cook for yourself. You do not have to be a fancy chef, just one that can put some food on the table. Earlier, a prerequisite to living by yourself was knowing how to cook. But now, with food being delivered to our doorstep, it’s seemingly no longer a necessity. But trust me, it still is. Moving into our 30s means shedding whatever dependencies we can, and food is one of them.

Fight for a cause

No, we don’t need to have lived a full life to start giving back to the society. We have the energy that’s needed to support a cause – be it social or environmental. Work to improve your city, support or work for NGOs that help children, old people, and stray animals. Fight for freedom of speech and the right to dissent, form your own political views, and fight for justice. We are now the youth of this society. If we don’t get our hands dirty, the generation to come will deem us lazy and, rightly, hold us responsible for shortcomings.

Become physically able

Not making full use of able bodies still makes us disabled. Our busy lifestyles are crippling our bodies that are already declining naturally, so now is the time to set it right. Being physically fit will keep us healthy, we all know that. But with physical strength comes greater opportunities to explore life. If you like to travel, then your range of activities and opportunities will expand with physical endurance. You can surf, you can swim, and you can climb. You’ll be able to continue travelling even as you get older. With physical strength also comes self-reliance. You’ll be less dependent on people for day-to-day activities and will also be able to help out. In a nutshell, you’ll be doing more and getting more out of life.

If you’re an early millennial and have already walked past the age of 30, don’t fret. Age is no ultimatum; it is only a reminder that now is all we have. If you’re on the wiser end of the spectrum, do let us know in the comments below if you have some advice to give to us millennials.