Yesterday was my birthday.
I am officially 39 years old.
One year before I turn 40. Yikes.
But inside I feel like I am just 30 (OK, OK, we all feel like we’re younger than we really are, right?) though sometimes my energy levels tell me, OK, maybe not.
As a Piscean, I am one heck of an introspective person. I like being calm, contemplative and sifting through memories to see how I’ve grown, hopefully mentally and not physically.
I can’t believe I once wished I was 60 kg.
No kidding. When I was a child, I was skinny. Really skinny.
Whatever I ate sort of left nothing on my frame. Hence, I was really thin and people often asked if I ate at all. I wished someone told me that the pounds would be piling on my frame once I hit 30. Yes, the pounds did. They came with a vengeance. Everyone often told me how lucky I was to be able to gobble up food and not show a single bit. Well, those were the days.
I blame metabolism. I had a gungho metabolism in my teens and 20s and now that metabolism has left.
Anyway, metabolism aside, each year, I take time to journal and compare notes.
Like what mattered to me last year. Did it still matter to me this year? What did I achieve in a year’s time?
At the heart of it all, I love seeing growth. I love seeing growth in my thinking.
One of my thoughts is, over the years, I have become comfortable with myself.
Until and unless you are comfortable with yourself, you will never be able to rejoice in your own successes. You will always judge yourself harshly.
You will always be wishing for something else instead of thanking your lucky stars you are you.
(Reminds me of that movie, The Love Guru, where Mike Meyers who plays Guru Pitka says, “GURU stands for Gee, U are U (you are you)”. Love, love, love that movie!)
To say that I love journalling is a major understatement. If you know me well, you know the written word is crucial to me. I have loads of journals. Friends buy me journals. I have more journals than I know what to do with.
So I spent a good part of my birthday doing what I know best – journalling.
Jim Rohn, an American motivation speaker, often said that a life well-lived is a life worth writing about.
If your life matters, make sure you write down your innermost thoughts. A year from now, you will be amused or sometimes awed by the thoughts you had.
Our lives these days fly past in a blur of people, motions, experiences and at times, I feel overwhelmed by all the demands of everyday living. My escapes are journalling and reflecting. Of late, I have picked up crochet again. Crochet is meditative (at least to me) and my latest project is a mandala crochet.
I had a surprise (and early) birthday celebration back home with my niece, nephew, sisters and parents when I was home in Banting about a month ago. That was fun. As I grow older, it really isn’t about the cake or the amethyst ring (which I got as a present from Nic, though it gives me such pleasure).
It’s about having good relationships (with my husband, family, good friends) and knowing I matter in their universes.
So tell me, my friend, how about you? How do you spend your birthday?
