A few weeks ago, I read an article on Young Money called Can’t Take It With You about the author’s trip with their grandma when they were 11 years old. Apparently grandma let him pick anywhere and he picked an African Safari and, besides being a wildly awesome thing to get to do, I was left thinking a bit about time.

What a cool financial flex to be able to offer to take your grandkid anywhere in the world? I have low-key added this to my goals. I don’t really want kids but I am all about spoiling my brother’s future kids and their kids, so this still seems doable. But that grandma also really nailed timing here. 11 year olds are still total dorks and I feel are less likely to find it weird going on a trip with grandma if you’ve got a good relationship. But 11 is really old enough to go anywhere. So that’s some pretty awesome core memory building.

I was also thinking about how the author of the post mentioned the difference between going to a hostel in your early 20s versus at 30.

I spent a fair amount of time in hostels from 20-27 and they were all some really awesome times.

Around 29 I stayed in a hostel for one night to save some money and thought – I don’t think I really want to do this anymore.

At 38 – you probably couldn’t pay me to stay in a hostel. No, thank you. And yet some of my core young adult memories were made in hostels.

The timing was everything there.

In that same timeframe, I started working at sea when I was 23 until I was 28. While there are plenty of lifers out there, but I genuinely cannot imagine joining a cruise ship now. I am far too old. I am so puzzled when I think about how we would work 16 hour days, go ashore for a few hours, and then drink all night – where did sleep fit in? Like… during the hour of BINGO every day? How did I do this? And yet, especially at first, it was absolutely brilliant. I loved it. I saw so much more of the world than most people I know (other than old co-workers). I learned so much about working with different cultures. I am an impressive problem solver with minimal resources.

However, the lack of resources, crazy hours and perpetual ridiculous requests are a hard no from me these days career-wise and my liver certainly can’t live like that either. It wouldn’t be fun or worth it.

So I was thinking about timing and a tiny bit bummed that in my late-30s, have a lot of doors to adventure closed?

Maybe some but I quickly realized that my current adventure has so much timing to it too.

When I think about life living in England when I was 26, racking up student loan debt, with no savings to fall back on, and struggling to get anywhere to hire me for the 20 hours a week I was allowed to work versus now, I realized that the timing of getting my doctorate in my late 30s is… pretty awesome.

I have savings. I know for sure what I want to study. If a professor makes me feel bad about school not being my 100% priority at every second, I literally don’t care. I’m cool with what my priorities are in life and with school being a priority, not THE priority – in a way I legitimately couldn’t have fathomed in my 20s. It’s a priority – a high priority, often the highest priority – but, you know what? So are my family and friends at times because they actually won’t be around forever. I have connections and skills that keep my 20 hours a week of work booked up solid at all times. I have enough money to live alone and go do fun things in my free time.

And we all know that last one is a game changer but like… the quality of life difference is insane. I remember joining the community band in Sheffield and being so frustrated by the monthly fee to play with them that I only played one month even though it was the only place I went other than school. And £10-15 a month felt like too much money. I taught myself to like mushrooms during my MA because they were a much cheaper protein than meat.

Now, I take roller skating lessons. Hop on the tube without a second thought to go explore some area of London in my free time. Book the occasional weekend away to explore areas I wanted to see but couldn’t possibly afford a train ticket and cheap hotel room 10 years ago. I did this crazy thing where I went out on dates and now I actually have a boyfriend. Go figure. These things aren’t extravagant but they bring so much job.

And they are available now and they just wouldn’t have been 10 years ago.

I also find this to be a lovely thing to think about when I think about how it took three different attempts to actually get into grad school and if it had worked out any of those other times, it wouldn’t be like it is now and lately, life is kind of delightful. Which I haven’t been able to say in… years? I think mid-2016 was the last time things were actually pretty good and I was happy.

Are there any examples in your life when timing was everything?