Hey there! Well today I turn 40. Usually my friend Chris and I do a combined birthday quiz but this year it got away from us. Because we're old.
I'm not one to stress about getting older -- I welcome it actually. Hello…you're living another year. That's a good thing. :) I believe with age comes wisdom and experience and I don't think you can ever have enough of either of those.
I'm sharing a few of the things I've learned by this point in life. There are some wonderful realizations that occur as the years pass, and if you can embrace them earlier I promise your life will be better for it.
I'm gonna start with biggest one because I think this has brought me the most joy and peace over the past few years. It's a very simple but important realization…and that is what others think of me is none of my business.
As a blogger especially, who puts their life and home out there in the world, you have to develop a thick skin pretty quick. It's a lot easier to be negative when you're not standing face to face with someone, right?
Over the past few years I've really embraced this -- if someone doesn't like me it has no impact on my life. Mine is good and happy and the people in it are there for a reason. I want people to like me and know I'm a good person, but if they don't, it's none of my business and it's not my job to try to change their minds.
Another thing? When I don't care for someone (usually it's someone I don't know well, there's not many people I don't like in my life) it's something that comes from within me -- usually it's jealously that manifests into dislike. I know it, and I try to curb it. But the point is usually when someone doesn't like you it's more about them than you. And then sometimes people are just jerks and that's why they're not liked. So there's that. :)
When you live life for those that love you and care about you, it becomes much more joyous. I have friends who have lost those close to them. Friends who have fought cancer and survived. Friends who have fought and didn't. That's the stuff that matters in life -- not if someone doesn't like you. It's an incredibly freeing notion and I really wish for women especially that we could embrace it sooner in life.
On that same note, I care a lot less what people think of me in general. Sometimes I should probably care more, maybe? Like when I leave the house with messy hair and no makeup and yoga pants and catch myself in the mirror and think YIKES but ah, oh well. Who cares. I'm comfy and happy.
By the way, you look much younger without makeup. I promise you. ;)
This is a biggie too. The older I get the less I can handle so much crap in our house. I told you about the book that really put things in perspective for me here. I'm still not even done with it, but reading it and growing older converged at the right time and I cannot even tell you how much STUFF I've removed from this house over the past few months.
I've NEVER been happier in our home. Never. It's freeing and every car load I donate lightens me even more. I am tired of having so much in our home. It doesn't look much different to friends and family who walk in, but it feels different to us. It's SO much easier to keep the house clean and picked up. And there really is something about getting older -- you think about your children and what you'll leave to them. I want to leave them the things that made me happy and joyful, not a house full of stuff we never used.
I still try new things all the time -- the day you stop doing something new is the day you start getting old, in my eyes. Ten years ago I hated dark chocolate, avocados, onions and beer. Today I like all of them, but the beer has just started in the past few months. I don't HATE it anymore. It's crazy. And this is the most amazing chocolate you'll ever eat in your life:
It's true that your body does start to feel a little different as you age. When I wake up and walk across the bedroom floor in the morning there's some…adjustment. I weigh more now than I did ten years ago but I FEEL ten times better. I work out much more and have way more endurance than back then. My 30-year-old body could not do what this body does. I'm much stronger and healthier and I feel great.
I do love my naps though. And the forgetting why you walked into a room really does amp up a tick. ;)
I'm proud of my age. I'm so thankful for more time on this earth. I thank God for the little things every day -- that I am able-bodied so I can work around the house. This blog and that it allows me to share what I love with all of you. That I have a truly fantastic, loving and supportive husband and kids.
Have a great weekend my friends! I'm hoping to be back with a backsplash in the kitchen next week! :)