I am 30 now so have to stop travelling and settle down right?

I recently turned 30 years old and at the time had returned home for a one month stay whilst travelling from Asia to South America. I am from the UK however i haven’t lived there in over 6 years.

Prior to me leaving many of my close friends were expecting the birth of their first child and coming up on their one-year anniversary with their current partner.

When I returned to visit everyone, I was amazed at how much their kids had grown and was surprised and delighted to discover that every one of them is now a homeowner. I suppose that is the next logical step in raising a family however considering when I left they were just expecting their first child I was filled with a sense of pride that my old drinking buddies from high school now had a miniature version of them and a home with their name on the door.

Naturally as the “catch up” process begin many drinks were had and we discussed everything from past conquests to current through the grapevine affairs.

Then came the question that inspired this story. “You are 30 now isn’t it time that you stop travelling come home and settle down”?

This question stopped me in my tracks although it was asked by a close friend of multiple years and supposed to just be another passing question it was received in a joking/not joking sense. As if it had been thought about for quite some time delivered in the way it was over multiple drinks should I be offended it could be passed off as a joke and if I was not offended by it would open the door to a serious discussion around the topic.

As I wasn’t sure how to react the conversation quickly moved on however the next day, I couldn’t get this question out my mind.

It got me thinking is there a time limit on when you have to accept the pre conceived norm of settling down in your home time and conforming to what the mass consensus do or is it ok to live differently like I have moving from country to country and making the decision as easily as ordering takeout food instead of cooking.

Is there a shelf life to travelling freely and living abroad and does this come at the expense of potentially missing out on raising a family and all the joys associated with that?

I found myself questioning if I had indeed become too old to continue my lifestyle and maybe I should return from my “galivanting” and return to “real life” quotes of phrases used when discussing this further with other friends from home.

I realized that the advice from friends at home was to return home and perhaps this was a biased response as they could just want their friend back so decided to take the question to my friends that live away from home in other countries and have done for years.

Hoping for a solution to this problem I now found myself pondering I was amazed to discover that out of 8 friends I asked who lived abroad it was a 50/50 split half sided with my friends at home citing that having a family and getting a house was crucial in life and the other half the more free spirited of the group I will say couldn’t disagree more the very notion that living away from home was somehow a vacation and that you one day have to return to reality infuriated them.

One friend did recommend a video on YouTube as to avoid any issues let’s just say the video discusses timelines (feel free to watch it if you wish I found it to be very helpful).

So, after digesting this video I concluded that Is indeed ok to work on your own time. What is deemed as the normal for someone doesn’t have to be the normal for you.

Just because all your friends around the same age as you have kids and mortgages and cars etc. doesn’t mean that you are failing in life because you don’t have those things.

I like to think that I have experienced some things on my travels that my friends couldn’t even begin to imagine and that one day yes I do want a family but not under the social confines of a pre-determined notion that this has to happen by a certain time and in a certain place and if not you have someone failed.

I guess the point in this piece was to re assure anyone that was doubting themselves in the same way I did when this question was put to me and to summarize everyone is different and at a different stage in their life age is irrelevant as a progression marker everyone wants different things at different times so don’t be down or disheartened if you don’t have the house the car the children yet.

Ask yourself this would you really trade it for the life you are living now?