What I Wish For You
Hello My Beauties,
I was having coffee with my mom last week and she asked me, “How are you feeling about turning 50?”
“Thrilled!” I responded.
It was an honest and heartfelt answer. I am thrilled because I feel like I’m just getting started. I finally have my own sh*t figured out, and even if it presents its stinky self in my everyday life, I can and do deal with it. Because of that, life has become full of grace and ease and joy and my focus is now on that, and not on, how am I going to make it through another day?
Gratitude.
I am filled with such gratitude that I have lived as long as I have, that I have experienced everything that I have. Some of it I wouldn’t wish on anyone, but it’s helped make me who I am today. The sh*t, the ick, the deep dark crevices I have traversed have all made me stronger, wiser, more able to feel compassion. These places/episodes/chapters of my life have all worked for my common good. Because of the topography of my last fifty years, I have ended up in the here and now.
Today, I am at the National Romance Writers Convention in San Diego and am having a blast. I have finished my young adult fantasy novel I’ve been working on since I last attended in 2014, I’m currently writing its prequel, I continue to write my, The Beautiful You Project blog….
Life is good!
And, that’s just where my writing is concerned. This year will be my 10th year at FPCS and my 13th year of teaching. Saying I have learned so much about life by teaching is an understatement, but what’s really been the most powerful ‘aha’ is how good I have gotten at listening and being present. There is nothing like a teenager sitting two feet across from you baring their heart and soul to keep you present. There is also nothing like a kind word, a smile, a ‘I totally get that… and you still have to do your school work. How can I help?’ speech that is taken in, to know I make a difference.
I have an amazing relationship with my man. We talk, we laugh, we love, we live, and we don’t take each other or this life we have created together for granted. To be so loved and honored, respected, heard, and understood is a miracle in and of itself.
I have a really beautiful, awesome family who live from California to Kauai to New Mexico to Ecuador. We are all very different, but we still love and accept each other – something all too rare, and thus all the more precious.
My son just celebrated his 21st birthday and is prepping for his next big adventure—he’s going to China to work with some friends to create something beautiful. The coolest part? He had the gumption to figure out what he wanted and then not only ask for it, but make it happen. He is one of the most wonderful, kindest, people I know and being able to spend even part of his summer with him has been a miraculous time for us all, full of love and laughter and, oh, can I just say how proud I am of him?
And, how proud I am of me.
I’m sharing this with you because I don’t think we give ourselves enough credit.
Sure, we listen to our friends and family who say, ‘job well done,’ or ‘you’ve done good, kid’ (and let me tell you, when your parents say they are proud of you, it DOES make a difference.)
But let me ask you this: How often do YOU take a moment and really appreciate what you’ve accomplished, the things you’ve come out the other side of and are still walking, talking, laughing? How often do you just breathe and say, ‘thank you’ to yourself?
I bet the answer is, “Not very often.”
I’d like to change that.
Sure we all know some people who have no problem with telling the world how wonderful they are, but that’s not what I’m talking about here.
I’m talking about a heartfelt moment of gratitude to you from you ~ from your soul, from your body, from your heart.
Because without what you have done, been through, felt, gotten on your knees for, struggled back to your feet for… you wouldn’t be YOU.
And in case no one has told you lately, “You Rock, My Beauty!”
You are the only you in this universe and every other. There is no other Beauty just like you.
YOU are a miracle.
YOU are worth loving. Not because of what you do – though that, I’m certain is pretty frickin’ awesome – but because of who you are, because you simply exist.
Now, the question is, with the miracle that is you, what are you going to do about it?
For my next 75+ years, because I plan on living to a 125 or older, I am going to laugh as much as I can, love as whole heartedly as I can, share as much wisdom as I have gathered to myself, listen to others whose wisdom will imbue my own with light, and embrace this life with all that I’ve got and all that I am.
I wish the same for you, My Beauties.
Be proud of who you are.
And if there are some things you aren’t too keen about? Well, then, change them. One step at a time if need be, but change is possible.
It begins with, I can.
YOU have the power to be the most joyous person you know and it starts with the little things. Waking up in the morning and saying, ‘thank you.’ Going to bed at night knowing you gave it your best and that tomorrow is another day where you get a do-over. It helps to take a moment and actually see the beauty that surrounds you. To love those who love you back and to let go of those who don’t.
Self-care. Self-love. Self-recognition. Self-forgiveness. And for f*ck’s sake, have fun!
As I start a new day surrounded by my tribe of writers who not only believe in HEA ~ Happily Ever After ~ but that love DOES make a difference, I send you a birthday wish.
May this year of your birth be the best year yet. May you know, I mean REALLY know, you are loved. May you become your own best friend. And may you face each new birth year from today forward with an open heart and arms wide open embracing LIFE to its fullest.
No matter your birth age, we are all just getting started!
Your turn: What are some things you’d like to say to yourself? Let’s be positive here, there’s enough sh*t to go around, we don’t need to unload it on ourselves too. Think, I’m my own best friend. Start from that place of love and appreciation and go from there.
If you feel like sharing, please do so in the comments section below. Thanks for being here! And Happy Birth Day!
Lovingly and with such beauteous gratitude.
Blessings always and in all ways.
IN Joy,
Shannon
Awesomeness Sis!