5 things that changed my life | turning 35

I recently had my 35th birthday. 💁🏻‍♀️

Five years ago, I turned 30 while working in Lebanon and ended my day by the Mediterranean Sea. This year, I woke up to 35 in South Carolina with the sound of a river outside my window.

Today, my life is as different from five years ago as the locations where I spent those days. The last five years have been some of the most beautiful, fulfilling, and transformative of my life. Not always easy. But entirely worth it. To commemorate, I thought I'd share some lessons that have changed my life.

Who knows...maybe they'll change yours too. These are five things, life lessons if you will, that have found a home in me these last few years:

1. Let yourself heal without deciding what healing will look like. Because healing will change how you see the world and your place in it. Do it anyway. Be relentless about it.

2. If they wanted to, they would. (Friends, family, life partners.) Don’t live in a fantasy world that justifies other people treating you poorly. There are people out there who want to and will.

3. Let yourself change. It will probably cost you some relationships - but this only makes room for more authentic connections. It’s okay to let your interests, values, and beliefs change and have your life reflect it.

4. Authenticity over everything. Over who you think you’re supposed to be, who others think you are, or what you think you should be doing. Ultimately, you’ll never regret staying true to yourself and your values.

5. Make sure you are in the top three things that matter most in your world. Nourish, invest in, relax with, understand, be kind to, and love yourself. Because how we do anything is how we do everything. If you don’t feel free to give yourself these things, you won’t show up for other people and places with these things. At least not fully. And if you don’t feel like you can do this, refer back to #1.

I’m so grateful for these lessons and how they’ve bloomed over the last five years. I’m grateful for the way I’ve learned to live according to my values, to know what true friendship looks like, to find the greatest love I could have imagined and get to be present with it every day, to do work that has been meaningful, and to get to choose me. 🎉🥂💜