Birthdays… hmmm. How do you feel about them? I’ve found that my approach to birthdays has changed over the years. When I was in my 20s and early 30s it was all about the year ahead. Feelings of auspicious optimism for the future as I made a wish whilst blowing out my birthday candles. Where will I be this time next year? What steps can I take to get there? What’s my next move? Then towards the end of my 30s it was “Well this is it!” I wasn’t where I was expected to be, but it is what it is. 

Oh and then I remember absolute horror at hitting 40. Despair at not having achieved all that I had been hopeful for…. Not just material things. Fulfilment and contentment were missing. I didn’t even bother to really celebrate a birthday throughout my 40s. I honestly think I was in total denial about my age, and just wanted them to slide by unnoticed. 

Then I hit 50 and everything changed. I had a party, why not it’s a milestone birthday right? Then a month later I stopped dying my hair dark, revealing my natural silver tresses, and with that one decision came a momentous shift in my outlook. It was almost like an unveiling of who I should have been all along. I no longer focussed on what society expected of me. I was showing up as me! I was no longer going to allow our youth obsessed society to make me feel obsolete, irrelevant, not enough… or invisible even. I haven’t lived all these years only to shrink into oblivion! 

Now with every birthday there is a growth spurt of  gratitude. I am more reflective than I am ambitious. Each year that I’m lucky enough to live, I look back on and celebrate… my personal development, what I have achieved, the opportunities that have been presented, the decisions I’ve made, the beautiful people I’ve met, my loved ones, the places I’ve been, the lessons learned, who I’ve impacted on positively and visa versa, all the good stuff! When you get to a point in life where you most definitely have more years behind you than ahead of you…. When you have had beloved friends die young… you understand the fragility of life, and how precious each day is. Today is my birthday. Another year of life is a gift beyond measure… today I celebrate that. Life…. the best gift of all!