A friend of mine,
, recently had her 35th birthday and had some thoughts about it. For her, it was one of those birthdays that forces you to think about where you are, where you’ve been, and where you want to go… and inevitably freak out about it.I get it. I’ve had those birthdays, just not when I turned 35. My last freak out birthday was when I turned 30, embarking on a new decade of my life. It felt big and momentous, especially because at some point in my 20s I made a bucket list of things I wanted to accomplish by the time I was 30:
Run a half marathon
Buy a house
Have a kid
Travel to Europe
Go back to our honeymoon spot in Mexico
Be spontaneous
Find a better job
Surprisingly, I accomplished almost everything on that bucket list, despite how vague some of my list items were… I’m looking at you “be spontaneous.”
Since my 30th birthday, I’ve stopped freaking out about my age, mostly because now I have to do the math to even remember how old I am. I’ve noticed that my focus is shifting from quantifying my age and what it means to looking inward and examining the quality of my life and what I want to get out of it without fear of judgment… my own or others.
There’s a line from a book I recently read, Very Sincerely Yours by Kerry Winfrey, that sums up my current outlook on life:
Note: I edited it slightly to put it in the present tense
“If you like something, whether it’s the Taco Bell Crunchwrap Supreme or the music of boy bands from the late nineties…, why feel guilty about it? The world is a tough, cruel place. Why not find joy whenever you can, grab that joy by the metaphorical joy reins, and hold on?”
That’s the mindset I’m trying to embrace, realizing that I’m solidly in my mid-to-late thirties and starting to not care as much about what society thinks of me. I dye my hair purple and blue. I sing songs out loud for everyone to hear while skating around a roller rink. I go down water slides intended for kids because it’s fun.
I’m on a journey of embracing who I am and shedding expectations. And I see people a few years older shining a light on the path ahead while I stare in awe. I see women breaking out of society’s cocoon, stretching their beautiful Eastern Black Swallowtail butterfly wings for everyone to see — showing off their personality, their individuality, and embracing who they are.
That’s where I want to be, fully.
Enjoying life without judgment and embracing the things I like. Now excuse me while I freshen up my hair dye while belting out AJR songs.
Thanks for inspiring this one!
🫶 this one. And find it inspiring you’re becoming more comfortable in you. I will def be googling that band 🤣
I... definitely have an unofficial bucket list for 30 somewhere. I love how you're embracing life as it unfolds and grabbing joy by its metaphorical reins!