EMBRACE GETTING OLDER
I am in my 30s now and I must admit - I love it. When I was younger 30s seemed so old but now that I am at that age, I feel like I still relate more to the teen version of me than what I previously perceived older people to be like. There is something about aging that makes me feel more and more comfortable in my skin that I just love, and don’t mean on just a physical level either.
My mind, body, and spirt feel like they are getting more in touch with who I actually am as an individual, rather than who the world has always told me I should want to be. It’s interesting how much emphasize society places on youth. We’re raised being asked what we want to do for the rest of our lives when we’re just teenagers. Then immediately after school we’re expected to find someone to settle down and have children. There’s absolutely nothing wrong with that timeline if that’s really what you want to do. However, if you’ve been following the blueprint someone else gave you for navigating your life how do you know that’s really what you want to do?
I am a huge advocate of taking some time to figure out who you are as an individual separate from the expectations of your family or friends. What fuels your passion? What brings you joy? Is it something you can make a career out of? If not, is it something you can incorporate into your daily life to add some happiness to it? It’s okay if your life flows along like a path like a river or if it has distinct sections. What matters is how you feel about the direction it’s going.
We put so much pressure on the shoulders of people in their twenties to find a career and start a family. It’s no wonder that most of us have a quarter life crisis in our mid-20s. When you get into your 30s you realize how over hyped your 20s were. Don't get me wrong, I live a lot and learned a lot in my 20s. However, I always felt like I was playing adult instead of feeling like I was actually one. In my 30s I feel like I'm on my “grown woman” stuff and it feels great. My 30s feel like what I thought my 20s would but it never quite did.
I didn’t magically start to feel more comfortable with myself just because I got older. One of my favorite quotes is, “If you don’t like something change it. If you can’t change it change how you feel about it”. In my late 20s I decided to put this quote into practice. My mentality today is the result of me starting to focus on self-love towards the end of my 20s. Affirmations helped with this a lot. For me saying “I am” repeatedly helps to train my mind into believing the words. I firmly believe it’s one of the best ways to change your mindset about things. I broke it down and worked on a couple areas of my life at a time to help it not be overwhelming. I’m still working on tweaking a few areas of my life so I continue to say affirmations regularly.
Your life is always what you choose to make it. Instead of being worried getting older think of each stage as a different form of leveling up. Decide what you want to leave in the past and figure out what you need to do to live your best life in your next stage.