In my Thirtys, Flirty and Thriving

There’s something about birthdays that makes me very reflective. Turning 34 felt like nbd but 35 has me all whoa, wait a minute how did this happen so I’m feeling extra reflective this year and thought this might be a good space to share some of the conclusions I’ve come to over the past year. Plus cake smash pictures, because why not?

 

Looking back I think I spent a lot of my 20s caring about the wrong things and taking myself too seriously , at 35 I shrug my shoulders at a lot in life so I thought jumping on this goofy trend of adults  doing birthday photo shoots would be a good way to acknowledge my freedom from seriousness. I’m not saying that there’s never a time and place to be serious but life is short , live a little.

 

The older I’ve become the more I’ve adopted an IDGAF mentality and the less of a people pleaser I am. At the end of the day I am my own responsibility, my happiness , my well being , my life is all my responsibility so I’ve found myself putting myself first. I know this might sound selfish but truth be told I think the world could use of people focusing on themselves instead of being up in everyone else’s business. I used to think if someone didn’t like me that there was something wrong with me but I’ve now realized that we are not meant to be liked by everyone. We can’t have a world full of people with different ideals and values yet expect everyone to be best friends. I’d rather focus my energy on a small circle of those I am closest to rather than trying to please everyone I ever met.

 

When I get stressed out or things don’t go the way I planned I think do myself – does this matter – like does it matter just in this moment or will it matter a year from now – I find taking the time for this simple reflection has saved me A LOT of stress!

Time matters more to me than it did when I was younger. I remember my first  job out of college the company would buy back unused vacation days and I took advantage of that, now I wouldn’t mind giving back a week’s salary for an additional week of. I also value the way I spend me time more too and I’m less tolerant of my time being wasted.

The biggest realization I’ve come to is that there’s no set path in life you have to follow. I never thought I would be 35 and not have children and I certainly think I’d have life completely figured out by this point and today I have neither but I’m at peace with that. Instead of obsessing over things not happening at a certain time I’m trying to enjoy the the phase of life I’m in now and know that things will happen when they are meant to happen.