Birthdays...

At what point do we stop loving birthdays, moving along to dreading them? I'm not sure, because I haven't reached that point yet. I was always in a rush to grow up and be older, and I'm sure someday I'll look back and wish I were younger. We so often want what we can't have - I suppose we'd be much better off just enjoying what it is that we have right now. :) I try to do that now.

When I was young, my birthday appeared to be a holiday. I had a class party, a party with friends, and a family party with all the relatives. The festivities seemed to go on and on. My parents always made my birthdays so special. They made amazing 3d cakes, before there were ever pans or tools for such things, and they treated me like I was a princess. I loved it, and I looked forward to every birthday...still do.

Now that I'm an adult with my own money, I like to treat myself for my birthday. I'm sure those of you who know me best are wondering how that's different from any other time...touche. ;-) But I really like to go overboard for myself on my birthday. LOL. When I turned 30, it was a first class trip to Key West. 31 I skipped because it was right before surgery, and that was the only thing I cared about at the time. When I turned 32, I bought me and Darce a trip to FL. I was thinking of doing the same for my 33rd birthday, but shhhhh....I don't want to ruin my surprise!

I think birthdays, like so many other things in life, are what you make of them. It's easy to get hung up on age, and getting older, and making the event of the birthday a bigger thing than it needs to be. It's the only day of the year when you are allowed to celebrate YOU! Take advantage of it, and have fun with it! Have fun with your friends and family. Give yourself an indulgent gift - it doesn't have to be expensive - it can be an afternoon without the kids, or a day of skipping chores to curl up on the couch with a good book or an Arrested Development marathon. (hilarious show - tragically cancelled)

So now that we're all over the hang up on birthdays , what is it about getting older that causes so many of us anxiety? Are we afraid of dying? Of our bodies deteriorating? Of losing our looks? Of missing out on something fun? Is it bigger than that? Are we afraid of getting older because we feel we are wasting our lives? I don't know - I suspect it's different for everyone.

I do try to live my life to the fullest, and by many measures, I succeed in doing that. I'm not where I want to be, though. I want to be monetarily self sufficient so that I can make a positive impact (friendly footprint, if you will) with the grandest scope. I don't want to work for the rest of my life. I just want to earn enough money while I'm young so that I can live the way I want to later on.

It's easy to say, and nearly impossible to do. I have to be very careful. I could end up making the money I want, and just decide to keep making more money. That's not what I want for this life. If I did that, I would probably panic when I started hitting the milestone birthdays because I would feel like I was getting on the wrong side of the hour glass and I wasn't on the right path.

I think it's important to be true to yourself, and take inventory of your life. Don't let too much time pass without spending time reflecting. If we find the things that will give our lives meaning, and if we strive to achieve those things, I think we will be fulfilled. Life is full of distractions. It would be very easy to be distracted your entire life - especially in this ridiculous day and age.

I'm turning 40 in seven and a half years. I plan to be happy about it. I love the wisdom my years reward me with. I know I'm still young, but I'm trying to cling to each lesson. I hope I will keep my open mind, and I hope I will always be able to look at things with a fresh perspective. I hope when I turn 50, I'll be even happier and more content, and the same goes for 60, 70, 80 and maybe even 90!

I know that by being in the top physical health I can be, it will make each milestone that much more enjoyable. I have decades of bad habits that I need to overcome, and I'm still rewiring my brain. I know that I will be drastically more healthy at 40 than I was at 30. That is something to be happy about.