25 Birthday Reflections
I’m not a huge New Year’s Resolution person. There’s a lot of unnecessary pressure put on the self trying to come up with the perfect resolution and stick to it. In my opinion, birthdays present a much better restarting point. After all, it is the time when your previous year comes to an end. Since I was a little girl, I’ve always loved my birthday. Gifts are great and birthday wishes are amazing — it’s great to see the love that you pour into the world refocused on you for one day — however, my favorite part about my birthday is the reflection. It’s a time for me to give thanks to God and my body for getting my through another year and to think deeply about what I’ve learned.
This year, I wanted to share my reflections with you. Some of them are quite general and helpful for everyday life, others are specific to situations that have impacted me this year and may have affected some of you.
25 Birthday Reflections for 2020
If you can inspire one person, you’ve made a monumental change in the society around you.
Practice makes progress - You know how the old saying goes, “Practice makes perfect.” The things is, no one is perfect and no amount of practice is going to get us there. However, we can practice to continually get better and better.
Start that thing you’ve been thinking about creating. No time will be perfect.
Break your goals into baby steps that are easier to complete.
Grief and sadness don’t have a time limit.
When you achieve (read: get a raise, accomplish a goal, get paid, etc.), reward yourself — This was a mantra from my Granny, she would tell me that anytime I achieve I should thank God and reward myself, even if it was with something as small as a handkerchief. It’s so easy to have a myopic view of what we should do with what we earn; we must remember to celebrate ourselves for earning it.
Self love is a journey not a destination.
Believe in yourself, your knowledge, and what you say. When you’re finished speaking, ask people if they have questions, not if what you said makes sense. (Most applicable for a business setting)
Prioritize finding joy instead of happiness.
Meditate.
Hug your grandparents — Grandparents are probably the coolest people we get to interact with in our adolescent and formation years. We have to cherish the time that we have with them because they’ve been where we are and have so much to teach us.
Sometimes our opinions are unnecessary.
Listen to your body — We’re always trying to be on the go, but sometimes our bodies warn us that we might be doing too much. We have to listen to them and stop.
Don’t take yourself, or life, too seriously.
Be comfortable alone — The most thoughtful moments are often those spent alone. Take yourself to the movies, shopping, on a walk, etc. Get to know who you are when others aren’t around so you can take those morals and ethics into all situations.
Don’t worry. Pray.
Dream so big that it scares you.
It’s a lot easier to love people than it is to hate them — Sometimes, we want to go red with anger when people wrong us or the people we love. I read in a devotion this year that we should pray for the redeeming qualities of people we think we hate. We should hope for them to shine through for others to see.
A lazy day doesn’t make a lazy person.
Surround yourself with people that lift you up.
Try therapy.
Call your mom.
When you start to get down on yourself, ask if the things you’re worried about are rooted in fact — It’s so easy to talk ourselves into believing bad characteristics in ourselves. If you find yourself doing that, ask, “Is this feeling rooted in any tangible facts?” If it is, change it. If it isn’t, stop believing it.
Work to live, not the other way around.
Spread love.
These are things that I think about daily lately. I hope that these reflections and revelations aid in helping me to become a person that adds to the community around me instead of subtracting from it.
As always thank you for the honor of your time. SUBSCRIBE down below (at the very bottom of the page) to get these blog posts delivered to your inbox on Mayaesthetic Mondays!
Yours Truly and Truly Me,
Maya G
