So I turned thirty this January and honestly, I wasn't exactly enthralled - age is catching up. Sigh. Nonetheless, I had reason to be happy, with my super awesome family and friends around me. For me, my thirtieth has been a huge milestone and I feel a lot wiser than what I was just a couple of years ago. Here's a gist of what I've learnt so far. Surely, this list will get updated as I grow older, but so far so good. 1. Academic intelligence does not guarantee real world success Well of course, I'd expect most people to have had this revelation by now. I was a very proud- almost arrogant- A grader for much of my life. Until real life happened. I realised that my pedantic knowledge was absolutely no match for the things that life throws at us. At the most, good grades will get you to a good college. But they will not keep you there, nor will they teach you how to tackle adult life. It's way more important to learn all kinds of life skills than to be immersed in b...