Birthday Behavior

By Erika, Fashion Expert

This coming Friday (March 3) is my 34th birthday and I am eagerly anticipating its arrival.  I have always loved birthdays, especially my own!

As I reflect back, 33 (and 2016 in general) was a weird year for me.  I celebrated some huge successes and also had some massive disappointments and failures.  However, as with every year, I learned a lot about myself, faced things I never thought I could handle, and the good (mostly) outweighed the bad (though, I’m still looking for the silver lining from election night).

The thing that I love about being into my 30’s is the fact that I continue to come into my own.  In my 20’s I wasn’t confident in who I was and who God made me.  In my 30’s I have taken the time to embrace that more.  I’ve made my 30’s about taking risks, taking leaps of faith, and just going for “it!”  And, with each year of my 30’s I have gotten better at all three.

I am by no means perfect.  I do not get it all right all of the time.  In fact, I get it wrong often! But that’s OK.  I’m human. I’m not supposed to be perfect. And if being in my 30’s has taught me anything it is that those who love me do it in spite of my flaws.  And those who loved me until my flaws were exposed never really loved me to begin with.

With just a few days left at 33 I’m toasting to my future! Cheers to love, laughter and light. To adventures around the world. To taking chances. To leaps of faith. To loving myself more and judging others less. To genuine smiles. To belly laughs and cleansing tears. To chasing dreams. And to living a full life on nobody else’s terms but my own (and God’s, of course).

This is 34.

 

Photography Credit: Rob Bergsted