I’m now in my 30s and I see many people around me in the similar age group (yes this also includes you pre-30 babies) saying “Take me back to the good old days” a bit too much. But I’m on the opposite spectrum. I’m good. No time travel for me! I’m perfectly happy right here in the chaos of adulting.

You might think this sounds a bit odd, and you wouldn’t be wrong. I get that a lot. Weird thoughts are kind of my thing, so feel free to roll your eyes.

Now that we’ve acknowledged the quirky elephant in the room, let me explain what I meant with the opening line.

Childhood or young adult days weren’t the best and where I am right now. I feel I’m much better off. 

I’ve observed that people mostly just want to focus on the part where they are playing in the mud, or enjoying ice cream in their summer vacations. First of all, who is stopping you from playing in the mud? Did you even try? Is the thought ‘what will others say?’ bothering you? If yes, then you aren’t ready to completely enjoy that ‘OMG! It was so much better in the good old days feeling.’ 

As an adult you can very well enjoy playing in the open. Your control over muscles is much better hence you can dig better ditches in the sand and can make better sand castles. The best part is when you eat mud you can very well identify the taste profile as well. Oh come on! Don’t give me that bullshit logic that you cannot do it. If you can swirl that fancy wine / coffee in your mouth to identify those fine notes of orange and cinnamon in a whiskey, coffee or wine, you can eat dirt and assess it as well! Still worried? Well, you’re well over qualified for using Listerine or that fancy jojoba oil, rosemary extract, graphite infused herbal hand wash you ordered from Big Basket! 

And help me recall what you all got for eating too many chocolates / toffees? Scolding (if you’re lucky) else a good old hand imprint on your cheeks (oh the good old days? no?) And what are the possibilities of getting the same now? Very low (never underestimate mothers, okay?) There are more apps that deliver food than the total stable relationships we all have been. And if an item is expensive in one, there is some or the other offer on a different other app. See, no one told me about the Amul White Chocolate with lemon zest when I was younger. But adulting and online delivery apps introduced me to it and it is one of the best chocolates that I’ve eaten. So you can take your good old days and wrap it in one of those candy wrappers which gave you a cavity in the past and throw it away!

Oh and if that’s not enough, I still buy hot wheels. Heck! my wife gave it to me as my birthday present and that is one of the best gifts that I’ve ever received. You know what’s crazier? I can buy a hot wheel whenever I want! Even without waiting for a sale. 

You can still pick your nose, wipe your hands off the sleeves / back of your pants and your mother will not beat you. Ok, she will still do it, but the frequency would be lesser.

There is not one reason where your childhood is better than adulting.

You might now say that what about income tax, corporate life, the difficult work life balance, having to attend functions, commuting to office, getting rejected from opposite gender, taking care of yourself, taking care of others, ITR filing, indirect taxes, washing clothes, cooking for yourself, cleaning the house, seeing everyone around you travelling to exotic places and eating foodgasmic food, not having a dressing sense or abs or a beach bod, not enough money, not getting a good person to marry, unhappy relationship, having to upskill, the uncertainty in the times of artificial intelligence, people earning tonnes to money doing random dumbass shit on internet, a possible next pandemic, wars, the fact that size 39 shirt is now tight for you and 40 is loose or the fact that the children in your building calls you uncle or aunty, or maybe some other schmooly gamooly thing which I’ve not listed but you’re worried about.

First, take a deep breath because if you stress too much you’ll be one step closer to having a blood pressure medication. So Caren, please relax. Ramesh you too. Don’t fret.

Don’t get me wrong but we all had most of the above mentioned issues earlier as well.

We had no income but lots of expectations from our parents, the difficult school life balance, having to attend functions we didn’t like but had no choice to skip those and had to crack a joke or recite a poem to a relative, we also had to guess who they were and how they were related to us, the commute to school and coaching classes, getting rejected from cool kids who didn’t like you, didn’t know how to take care of yourself, no ITR filing (okay, I agree this is an advantage), having to wear odd sized clothes because you’ll anyway outgrow the shirt or pant and who will buy each year, right? Seeing everyone around you getting the latest Beyblade, Pokemon cards, fancier cycle, remote controlled toys or bigger and original Barbie dolls, your classmate getting better junk food in his/her lunch, you never had a classy dressing sense as a kid as well, your friends travelled to fancy locations because their fathers has LTA, not getting a good bench-mate, your friend getting transferred to different section / school / coaching class, having to give exams every 3 months, not having the cool beard, your father not allowing you to use razor and have the cool haircut / beard style (not sure what the equivalent is for females, but pretty sure there is one), uncertainty in the times of entrance exams, people getting to better colleges because the entrance exam has more luck factor than you can imagine, wars (we had Kargil war during our childhood, remember?), using hair gel made you think you looked cool (be honest and admit this was one of the shittiest scams you fell for) and this list is never ending as well.

So what’s the point?

You’re comparing both the things in the wrong way.

We always compare the pros of one thing with cons of other and then cry on social media – look everyone! Our old days were so much better. Sorry Caren and Ramesh, you are wrong.

Just compare pros with pros and cons with cons and you’ll realise that adulting ain’t that bad and you weren’t farting rainbows all throughout your childhood.

This comparison rule applies to so many things – your next partner, your next job, the better beer, that new matte, smudge proof lipstick you’ve had in your cart for over 6 months now, Android vs iPhone and the list goes on.

Basic rule of thumb is, if you can live with the cons of the next things and the pros of it are at least in the same range or better than the current one, only then new is better. Else, you are f-i-n-e!

Will give you a practical example.

You are in a bad relationship and you think your partner is socially awkward but look at Caren’s boyfriend. Oh my God! He is a charmer. Everyone loves him. 

Well yes, but then ‘Everyone’ loves him, a lot of women too. Can you handle that Rachel? Or do you still want to go on a break and end up with someone who is a charmer and then again look for a guy who gets lesser attention than you?

See the pattern? 

I guess you’re wise enough to assess if your childhood was still better or not. If not, please continue crying. It is in fashion anyways. Heck more than half of the relatable content is anyway people crying over different things.

P.S. Do file your taxes before July 31st. It really sucks to pay a penalty on the tax you’ve already paid but simply didn’t confess to the government.

P.P.S. Now get your thumbs busy and please like, share, comment and subscribe.

P.P.P.S. (Promise this is the last one) Please ask me to write about how it feels to be in my 30s!