I turned 30 yesterday.
And honestly, I don’t know if I’m supposed to feel old, mature, emotional, excited, or all of it at once. 😂
But if there is one feeling that is louder than everything else, it is gratitude.
I look back at my 20s and I don’t see a perfect decade. I see a messy, beautiful, chaotic, painful, transformative decade. I see a girl who made mistakes, loved deeply, got hurt, learned, grew, fell down, stood back up, changed her direction, found herself, found God, found love and somehow made it to 30 with both hands full.
So, instead of writing a list of things I learned by 30, I want to write about 30 things I’m grateful for at 30.
Because my 20s didn’t just teach me lessons.
They gave me a life.
1. I’m grateful that I grew enough to see my own flaws.
There was a time when I thought I knew myself.
Then my 20s happened.
I realized there were things I wasn’t good at. Things I needed to unlearn. Things about myself I needed to confront instead of defending.
And that realization changed my life.
I studied Pharmacy for my graduation and, at some point, had the brutally honest realization that I was probably the worst pharmacist to ever exist. 😂 I didn’t know my field the way I thought I should.
But instead of staying there because I had already invested years into it, I started figuring out what I was good at.
I discovered that I loved marketing. Business. People. Strategy.
And I found my way into business school.
I’m grateful that I had the courage to say, “This isn’t me. Let me find what is.”
2. I’m grateful that I didn’t let my mistakes become my identity.
I made mistakes.
A lot of them.
But my mistakes became experiences, not labels.
I learned, I moved forward, and I became someone I am genuinely proud of.
And today, I can look at the girl I was in my early 20s and say, you had no idea what you were doing—but you did pretty damn well.
3. I’m grateful for my mother.
There was a time when I was genuinely scared I would lose her.
I remember what that fear felt like.
Today, touchwood, she is still here. And she is healing, growing, and becoming stronger in her own way.
I don’t take that for granted anymore.
I pray that I get to watch her heal completely, laugh loudly, grow old, and be around for a very, very, very long time.
4. I’m grateful that I could be there for my sister.
Sometimes being family means standing your ground when someone you love cannot stand theirs.
I’m grateful I could be there for my sister when she needed someone.
Even from far away, distance never became an excuse for me to stop showing up.
5. I’m grateful that I learned what family means.
Marriage didn’t make me abandon my family.
Distance didn’t make me abandon my family.
Life changing didn’t make me abandon my family.
I learned that you can build a new home without leaving your old one behind.
6. I’m grateful for my spiritual journey.
This one is different.
Because I wasn’t always this spiritual.
Somewhere during my 20s, Krishna found me.
Or maybe I found Krishna.
I don’t know which one happened first.
But I know that I have never felt closer to God than I do today.
There is a kind of peace that comes when you stop believing that you have to control every outcome.
I still want things. I still dream big. I still have ambitions.
But now I also know that there is something bigger than me walking beside me.
7. I’m grateful for Krishna.
Krishna didn’t just become a God I prayed to.
He became my friend.
My guide.
My comfort.
And somehow, when I look back at my 20s, I can see His presence in places where I didn’t even recognize it at the time.
He found me in my 20s.
And now I’m entering my 30s knowing that I’m not walking into them alone.
8. I’m grateful for every person who left.
Yes.
Even them.
Some people leaving my life hurt terribly at the time.
But today, I understand that not everyone is meant to stay for every chapter.
Some people were lessons.
Some were warnings.
Some were simply chapters that had reached their last page.
And I’m grateful I kept turning the pages.
9. I’m grateful that I survived things I once thought would destroy me.
There were moments when I thought, this is it. I’m not coming back from this.
And yet…
Here I am.
Thirty.
Happy.
Peaceful.
Loved.
And somehow stronger than the version of me who thought she wouldn’t make it.
10. I’m grateful for my strength.
Not the loud kind.
The kind that quietly gets up the next morning.
The kind that keeps going.
The kind that chooses herself again.
The kind that says, Fine. That happened. Now what?
That strength has carried me farther than I ever imagined.
11. I’m grateful for love.
Real love.
The kind I once wondered if I would ever find.
I’ve had bad relationships. I’ve been hurt. I’ve carried wounds from the past. I’ve had my own fears and patterns that weren’t always easy to deal with.
And then I found my person.
12. I’m grateful for my husband.
There are some things you can’t explain without sounding like you’re writing a Bollywood movie.
So I’ll just say it.
I found the love of my life.
And yesterday, on my 30th birthday, he said something to me that I don’t think I’ll ever forget.
I was doing what I sometimes do when my old fears get triggered—pushing, testing, waiting for him to reach the point where he would say, enough, I’m done.
But he didn’t.
He stood his ground.
And he told me, in his own very Rahul way, that no matter what I say or do, he knows the person he chose.
He told me that I would sit there at 95 still trying to convince him that I could push him away—and he would still be there.
He said he would fight with me.
He would call me out.
He would show me his own red flags.
He would pull me back when I needed it.
But he would not give up on me.
And then he said something even bigger that he wouldn’t give up on me physically, emotionally, spiritually, and that even beyond this life, his love wouldn’t simply disappear.
And I thought…
God, I really did get the love I prayed for.
13. I’m grateful that my husband doesn’t romanticize my flaws.
This might sound strange.
But I don’t want someone who says, “You can do no wrong.”
I want someone who can look at me and say, “I love you, but no. You’re wrong here.”
Someone who doesn’t get manipulated by my fears.
Someone who doesn’t get threatened by my past.
Someone who stands his ground.
Someone who loves me enough to challenge me.
That’s the kind of love I have.
And I’m deeply grateful for it.
14. I’m grateful that someone sees the person I’ve worked so hard to become.
People sometimes look at my life today and assume everything came because of my husband.
The lifestyle.
The happiness.
The comfort.
The things I have today.
But they don’t know the girl who existed before all of this.
They don’t know the choices she made.
The lessons she learned.
The situations she walked away from.
The work she did on herself.
My husband didn’t create the person he fell in love with.
I became her.
And then I found someone who recognized her.
15. I’m grateful that I chose the right man.
My experiences taught me wisdom.
My past taught me boundaries.
My failures taught me discernment.
And somewhere along the way, I learned how to recognize what healthy love feels like.
So when the right person came along, I was ready to recognize him.
And maybe that’s one of the biggest gifts my 20s gave me.
16. I’m grateful for the life I have today.
I’m healthy.
I’m loved.
I’m surrounded by family.
I’m spiritually grounded.
I’m respected.
I’m peaceful.
And when I look around, I realize…
I have so much of what I once prayed for.
17. I’m grateful that I don’t have regrets about my 20s.
Would I change things?
Of course.
There are things I would do differently.
But regret is not what I feel when I look back.
I feel gratitude.
Because every wrong turn somehow brought me closer to the person I am today.
18. I’m grateful that I lived.
Really lived.
I didn’t spend my 20s waiting for the perfect moment.
I experienced things.
I loved.
I cried.
I studied.
I worked.
I traveled.
I made mistakes.
I celebrated.
I changed.
I grew.
And I lived my decade fully.
19. I’m grateful for the lessons that hurt.
The easiest lessons are forgotten.
The painful ones stay.
They teach you boundaries.
They teach you self-respect.
They teach you what you will and won’t accept.
And some of the hardest moments of my 20s became the strongest foundations of my 30s.
20. I’m grateful I never stopped believing in myself.
Even when I didn’t have all the answers.
Even when people doubted me.
Even when I doubted myself.
Some tiny part of me always believed that there was something bigger waiting for me.
That little voice was right.
21. I’m grateful for my ambition.
I still want more.
More experiences.
More growth.
More knowledge.
More adventures.
More happiness.
And I’m not embarrassed about that.
Gratitude doesn’t mean you stop wanting things.
You can be grateful for everything you have and still say,
“I want more—and I’m going to get it.”
22. I’m grateful for the universe conspiring in my favor.
For years, I didn’t even realize how much life was working for me.
Looking backward makes it obvious.
Things that didn’t work out protected me.
Things that ended redirected me.
Things that arrived changed me.
And the things I thought were delays were sometimes simply detours.
23. I’m grateful that I became unreachable to the people who wanted to see me fall.
Not because I’m bitter.
Because I’m busy living.
There were people who thought they would see my downfall.
Instead, I grew.
And I think that’s one of the most satisfying things life can quietly do.
You don’t need revenge.
Sometimes your growth is enough.
24. I’m grateful for my parents’ happiness.
One of the biggest things I’ve always wanted is to see my parents happy and peaceful.
And today, when I look at my life, I feel grateful that I didn’t have to make them go through endless pain just so I could choose my happiness.
Life gave me a way where love and family could coexist.
And that’s a blessing I don’t take lightly.
25. I’m grateful for the woman I’m becoming.
I’m not finished.
Thank God.
I don’t want to be.
I’m still learning.
Still changing.
Still discovering what I’m capable of.
Thirty isn’t the final version of me.
It’s simply the beginning of a newer one.
26. I’m grateful for peace.
If you had asked me in my early 20s what success meant, I might have given you a completely different answer.
Today?
Peace is success.
Being able to sleep peacefully.
Love peacefully.
Come home peacefully.
Pray peacefully.
That is wealth too.
27. I’m grateful that I can dream without fear.
I’m entering my 30s with dreams that are bigger than the ones I had at 20.
But this time, I’m carrying experience with me.
And faith.
And my people.
And Krishna.
So I’m not scared of dreaming big anymore.
28. I’m grateful that I am proud of myself.
This one deserves its own moment.
Because I don’t think we say this enough.
I’m fucking proud of myself.
I made it through my 20s.
I didn’t just survive them.
I nailed them.
Maybe not perfectly.
But completely.
And I like the woman standing here at 30.
29. I’m grateful that my energy feels different now.
My 20s gave me strength.
My husband multiplied it.
My faith grounded it.
And now I want to take that energy into my 30s and see what happens when I combine experience, love, faith, ambition, and a little bit of my madness. 😂
I hope this energy doubles.
Triples.
Explodes.
I want to enter this decade more mature, but never boring.
More confident, but never arrogant.
More successful, but always humble.
More powerful, but always kind.
30. I’m grateful that I get to begin again.
Thirty doesn’t feel like an ending to me.
It feels like a beginning.
My 20s were about discovering who I was.
My 30s will be about becoming everything I know I can be.
I don’t have a list of demands for this decade.
I have faith.
I have dreams.
I have people I love.
I have Krishna.
I have the man who has promised me that even at 95, he won’t give up on me.
I have a family.
I have a life.
And I have myself.
So, universe, I’m not asking for permission.
I’m not even making a wish.
I’m claiming it.
More happiness.
More love.
More growth.
More adventures.
More abundance.
More wisdom.
More laughter.
More life.
Because if my 20s taught me anything, it’s that somehow, even when I didn’t know it, the universe was always on my side.
And now?
Now I know it.
So here I am.
30.
Grateful.
Peaceful.
Loved.
Unstoppable.
And honestly?
I fucking nailed it. ❤️
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