I turned 30 on the 24th of February. The BIG 3-0. Dirty Thirties. However you try and dress it up, the crux is I’ve been on this earth for 30 years. That’s 10950 days. Enough to make any 20 year old feel depressed. I, however, don’t feel depressed about it at all, and this post is to explain why I feel excited about entering my thirties. We live in a world where people believe they need to reach their peaks in their 20’s. If you aren’t driving a fancy car, living in your dream house and popping bottles every weekend then you’ve somehow failed in life. If I reached my proverbial "peak" in my 20’s what would I have to aim for in my 30’s, 40’s and 50’s? I believe my life is made up of multiple, small peaks instead of one large Everest. Life is a unique experience for us all, so when one person may have figured out what they want to do in life early on or seen a fair amount of financial success early on, it doesn’t mean that the next person is a failure because they have not.
To celebrate my 30th birthday I decided to write down one thing I was grateful for or blessed to have every day for 30 days leading up to my birthday. It's so easy to get stuck in a rut that you forget the daily blessings in ones life. It’s easy to feel depressed about where you not are in life, what you don’t have and what you haven’t achieved. I was determined to focus on what I had achieved and how far I’ve come. As women, we constantly down play our achievements (I do it all the time) and do not spend enough time celebrating ourselves. I started my challenge strong. I had all the big things on my list first and some days I had multiple blessings I was grateful for. By day 15 I was racking my brain, cursing myself for not “saving” those surplus blessings for dry days. By day 20 I found myself wondering if it would be cheating if I Googled some ideas to help jog my brain. My birthday came and I somehow managed to have all 30 gratitudes written down.
Completing this exercise made me appreciate the small pleasures in my life, the people who contribute positively and the things I usually take for granted. I’ve decided to keep writing down everything I’m grateful for. Maybe not every day but on a regular basis. I challenge you to do the same. If you are unhappy, in a rut or feel demotivated I urge you to cultivate an attitude of gratitude and watch your outlook on life slowly shift. Turning 30 made me realize how blessed I was to have achieved everything I had and made me look forward to working towards the things I have not achieved yet. I’m not where I want to be, but thank God I’m not where I used to be.
Can we discuss how cool this tropical shirt and pant combo is? I didn’t think about it while shooting, but the look and location are appropriate. It's the tropical jungle meets concrete jungle, with Johannesburg city as my backdrop. I can’t wait to wear this set while lounging in a tropical destination while sipping on a cocktail wearing a massive straw hat. It’s the perfect laid-back, island look. For the purposes of the shoot, I decided to pair it with chunky heels and tie the top up crop top style.
Tropical Set | Country Road
Chunky Sandals | Witchery
Photography | Jeff Rikhotso
👌🏾👌🏾👌🏾
What an awesome way to mark one’s birthday! There are so many little things we take for granted daily. Thank you for sharing and many blessings – and birthdays – to you beautiful!
Author
Thank you Tracey!