Recently it was my birthday and I turned 27. I’m a Libran child and we are known as the most popular of the zodiac, the most charming, beautiful and measured. This is besides the point, but it’s still important to mention that we are up there in star quality…
Zodiacally speaking I’ve heard that it takes the average human 29 years to figure out who they are. Twenty-nine years to figure out the type of career they want to have, the sort of partner they’d like, the music they prefer and all those other bits and pieces we call the rich tapestry of life. It’s called the Return of Saturn and if it’s at all true, it means I have two years to figure everything out because the truth of it is, I have no idea what I want in these departments. Granted, I’ve always been a slow learner, which means I should have stuff sorted by the time I’m 40, but who’s going to want me then?
It’s literally a case of it’s my party and I’ll die if I want to.
Which got me thinking about creating an inventory of things I’ve learned in 27 years. If I can come up with ten, then life up to now hasn’t been a complete waste of time and I can get away with cruising through for a little bit longer.
Ten, er, Eight things I know for sure at 27 include:
One. If karma is a bitch it’s probably because you acted like one first. One thing I know for sure is that you reap what you sow – the universe has a long memory and at some point the negative energy you send out bites you on the ass. Hard.
Two. The true mystery in life isn’t why relationships fall apart, it’s why they work in the first place. Someone wise told me that, and I’ve never forgotten it, that relationships can break up for the most logical of reasons, but they stay together when love is strong enough. Sure, other things come into it but what you’re really left with is love.
Three. Nothing is fair in love and war. And why should it be? This is what happens when you put yourself out there – you take responsibility for your actions knowing things could get messy. In my experience, they often do but maybe I’m dating the wrong people.
Four. I have a bad habit of dating the wrong people. Most of us have this problem. If we met the right one we wouldn’t be dating anymore, we’d move camps to join that despised group of people in relationships.
Five. Relationships don’t just happen. Believe it or not, this was news to me. I thought they were some beautiful organic force that takes over two people, gels them together perfectly and creates butterflies and rainbows. The reality it is often like fitting the square peg through the round hole – it takes work and you can really screw up your round hole by trying to hard. You have to really love someone to let them fit their square peg in your round hole…
Six. Cigarettes will kill you. Now all I have to do is quit smoking them. I tell people that smoking will never be as bad for you as a bad relationship and I stand by this, but they are still bad for you. Never smoke on a first date.
Seven. There’s nothing wrong with your phone. If he hasn’t called you it’s because he doesn’t want to. It doesn’t matter how great you thought the connection was – it’s either gone or it was never there to begin with. Screw him, and I don’t mean that literally.
Eight. Time passes really quickly and there’s no point appreciating at sixty what you had in your twenties. It’s for this reason I enjoy my body now more than ever – because it doesn’t look half as bad as I thought it did. God knows I’ll never have the chiseled good looks of gym junkies, but I don’t have Mattel stamped on my back either so there’s nothing wrong with a little junk in the trunk.
Considering this is my list and considering I’m a slow learner my list of ten things I know for sure only gets to eight. Maybe by 29 I can add a couple more things to my list but if not then maybe I should be given more time – some things can’t be rushed.
