Celebrating life
Embracing the lessons that come with blowing out the candles.
Normally I aim to write a post a month, but February got away from me. So much on my mind, so much on my plate, I had to pick and choose where I spent my time. I actually started writing two different posts for here and got about 3/4 quarters of the way through both, before pausing and deciding to hold off on them until a bit later. Then I realized that it was already the end of the month (bless February for reminding us how fleeting time is!), so I sat down at my keyboard and stared.
This is what poured out…
***
I recently celebrated my birthday. Another circuit of the sun under my belt.
Introspection is the rabbit hole I tumble down when I celebrate a birthday, indulging in a bit of deep thinking while blowing out the candles. This year, that rabbit hole led to the life lessons I carry with me everyday. The lessons that make me the best version of myself and make my world a better place. These are also the things that, when I slip and fall, help me get back up again.
And so, in an unusually brief post for me, here is what I pondered as I blew out this year’s candles:
Embrace empathy. You never know when you’ll be the outsider or the one in need. I lived as a literal outsider for almost two decades, overseas in foreign cultures, and if it weren’t for the people who gifted me their empathy, the tale of my life would be a far different one. Live by the Golden Rule.
Live without fear…or at least try to. As Frank Herbert so famously wrote in Dune, fear is the mind killer. Embrace fear as a backbone to courage.
Life IS short, so don’t waste it. In the grand scheme of things, we only exist for a moment, so make sure you enjoy it to its fullest.
Perfection is highly overrated. Just do your best. Make the wisest decisions possible in the moment.
Mistakes are highly underrated. To further build on the previous point, I’ve learned more from the times I’ve flubbed than the times when I did everything right. Errors have kept me humbled and allowed me to grow, plus they provided the platform to move forward in the right direction. Without mistakes, I’d be lost.
There is not one story. Everyone and everything has their own version of reality—and that is okay, in fact it should be embraced. Do not dismiss a story simply because it doesn’t match your own, instead listen to it and see where your worlds collide.
Eat the cake. This is the key. Eat the cake—otherwise stated as enjoy your life.
Birthdays are a gift.
These are all fantastic takeaways, but my two favorites are at the end—there is not one story and eat the cake. ALWAYS.
I hope your birthday celebration was lovely, and I hope you had all the cake you wanted. So very grateful that our paths crossed in Pebble Beach!