Here’s to the Last 40 Years!

Happy Birthday to me!  Today’s the day I officially say goodbye to my 30’s and say hello to another decade of life.  While entering another decade can make some roll into a little ball and cry at their perceived loss of youth, that’s not how this chica will be spending her day.  Life is too precious to waste on worrying about the passing of time, which is something we cannot stop. Instead, I’m choosing to celebrate all the things I’m grateful for experiencing and learning these last 40 years. 1st on this list is – What do you know, happiness does come from within.  True happiness is something that only we can give ourselves.  Waiting on someone or something to bring it only ensures that we’ll never truly experience it.  Why?  Because as much as we’d like, we can’t control life or those that cross our path.  The only things we can control are our own thoughts, emotions, and reactions to our life experiences and those around us.  So instead of getting mad that someone did me wrong, and spending minutes/hours/days/months/years stewing over it, I now try to process my emotions and realize that I control my reaction to it.  The longer I choose to stay in the negativity, the longer I’m giving away my power to a person or event that doesn’t care whether I’m happy or not.  Once I realize that I love myself more than I love thinking the negative thoughts, everything comes back into balance and happiness returns. 2nd is the equivalent of the old adage – Stop and smell the roses.   If you only live life in pursuit of the next extraordinary moment, you’ll never truly see the beauty and wonder of ordinary day to day experiences.  When you allow yourself to live in the moment and truly see the beauty that surrounds you day in and day out, from the simple things ( clear blue sky, nature, a child’s laugh, wag of a dogs tail, ect.) to the love of family and friends, nothing can shake the gratitude you feel for all that wonder. 3rd is When someone shows you who they are believe them.  Trust me, it’s taken me years and years, excuses after excuses, to learn this lesson, but I’m starting to get it now.  It’s human nature to want to see the best in people, so when they initially tell you I’m no good for you, I’m a liar, a cheater, lazy etc. we automatically say no you’re not and try to do everything in our power to erase that perception they have of themselves.  The hard lesson to learn however is that only they have the power to make that change.  No matter how hard we try or how invested we get, we’ll never be the reason they change.  If they want to change, they have to do it on their own and we have to be wise enough to stay out of their way until they do or suffer the consequences of seeing their downfalls play our over and over again first hand.   Yes that may mean that you end up losing lovers and/or friends along the way, but those are exactly the ones you need to let go of. 4th is trust your instinct.  You know, that gut feeling that tells you not to go down that darkened alley or trust someone you just met.  No one knows exactly how that works or why it works, but more times than not, it is correct.  It gets harder to decipher when you throw love into the mix because we again start to make excuses and/or try to quite our feelings because the fear of the relationship ending is more overwhelming than finding out the truth, but trust me, it’s worth it in the long run.  So when your Spidey sense goes off, don’t second-guess it or ignore it.  Confront it head on so that you can continue to live the life you want vs the life someone else has chosen you to live. 5th is that life is ageless and ready to be lived, not feared.  It should be lived to the fullest every step of the way and not placed on pause until we get rid of the extra weight, wrinkles, gray, acne, etc.  See the secret is that each day that passes, we all get older – from babies to the elderly.  Time marches on, regardless of what we try to do to stop it, and the final stop is inevitable death.  Yes, we all end up there at one point or another. Being young, beautiful, skinny, rich, perfect etc. has never stopped it from coming and it never will.    So instead of worrying about things that truly don’t matter in the end, why not make the best of the time we do have and work toward creating great memories and experiences for ourselves and those around us. You know I heard someone define the circle of life like riding on a ferris wheel.  Everyone gets on at the same point, climbs higher and higher until you’ve hit the highest point, then begins the descend. It’s constantly moving. Some are always getting on and off as you go for the ride. The only thing that changes is your view of the world and right now I feel like I’m still climbing toward the highest point – the best view I’ll ever have – and I’m ready to soak it all in and continue to enjoy the ride. Here’s to enjoying the view from another angle and one day soon finding a life partner who is on the same page and willing to live an ageless life filled with happiness.

What has life taught you?

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Rocio Chavez

Digital Content Creator & Multimedia Designer at Your Sassy Self

I'm a Mexican-American, Sassy, Bilingual, Professional Woman with a passion for life long learning, sharing, and living my best life. I'm the founder and digital content creator for Your Sassy Self and work full time as a Multimedia Designer. Let's connect and see how we can change the world...or at least change our perspective of it. 😉

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