Turning 30 feels like standing at a quiet rest stop in the middle of a very long road. When I look back, it’s hard to believe how much has happened in just one decade how many times I’ve had to restart, let go, and choose to keep going.
- In 2017, I graduated from university. By then, I was already working I got my first job during my final semester. At that time, my only goal was simple: be independent, help my family, and build a future I could be proud of.
- I stayed in that first chapter of my career until the pandemic hit in 2020. Those years taught me what it means to be responsible and to show up every day, even when things are uncertain. I had the chance to work at a design studio and be part of a team, learning not just about design, but also about collaboration, leadership, and ownership.
- Then, in 2021, everything changed. The company I had poured my energy into was dissolved. My first job ended, and at the same time, I experienced one of the biggest losses in my life: my beloved mother passed away. Suddenly, it was just my father and me, figuring out how to continue life without her presence. Grief has a way of slowing down time, but the world keeps moving, and somehow I had to move with it.
- Later that year, I entered the startup world for the first time. It was fast, intense, and challenging, but I stayed there for almost three years. I learned how to work under pressure, ship products quickly, and adapt to constant change. At the same time, I was building a relationship that lasted three years a relationship I thought might be “the one.”
- At the end of 2023, that relationship ended. Another goodbye. It felt like starting from zero again emotionally, just when my professional life seemed more stable.
- Then 2024 arrived with another plot twist. After taking a holiday and using my annual leave, I experienced my first layoff. One moment I had a job, the next I didn’t. I was jobless for more than two months. That period was uncomfortable and confronting. There’s a special kind of silence you feel when you wake up and have nowhere to go, nothing scheduled, and no idea what’s next.
- But in that silence, I also met another version of myself one who still refused to give up. After those months, I received a new job offer. It came with a big condition: I had to relocate to Jakarta. So in 2024, I packed my life, left my comfort zone, and moved. It was scary, but I knew growth rarely happens inside comfort.
- In the same year, I made another decision: to open my heart again. I started a new relationship. It wasn’t easy to trust again after a long and painful breakup, but love is always a risk. This time, I chose to take that risk with more awareness and hope.
- We continued our journey together, and at the end of 2025, I gathered my courage and proposed. Saying “will you marry me?” was one of the most vulnerable and beautiful moments of my life. Now, in 2026, I’m preparing to get married.
Looking back, my twenties were not a straight line of success. They were full of endings and beginnings:
- Losing my first job.
- Losing my mother.
- Losing a long-term relationship.
- Being laid off and facing months without work.
- Moving cities to start over.
- Choosing to love again, and choosing commitment.
But in between all the losses, there were also seeds of growth:
- Graduating and working before I even finished university.
- Surviving multiple job changes and industries.
- Learning from a design studio environment and teamwork.
- Spending precious years with my mother before she passed.
- Building a career strong enough to get new opportunities even after a layoff.
- Finding the courage to relocate, to love again, and to plan a future with someone.
Being 30, for me, is not about having it all figured out. It’s about recognizing how far I’ve come, even when the journey hasn’t been pretty or perfect. It’s about honoring the younger version of myself who kept going the student who took his first job, the son who stayed strong for his father, the worker who started again after layoffs, the man who decided to love and commit.
If my twenties taught me anything, it’s this: life will keep changing, but as long as I keep walking, I am still moving forward.
This is my reflection at 30 not a story of constant success, but a story of resilience, faith, and starting over, again and again.
And for now, that’s more than enough.
