In exactly one week from today I will turn 31. I have always been a "birthday" person and start counting down the days until my birthday sometime in the summer, but this year, I'm taking a look back. I set some lofty goals for myself on my 30th birthday and used a 'now or never' attitude to work toward my goals. I've shared my testimony several times on this blog so needless to say I wanted to use my 30th year on this earth to get back to some sort of normal, take better care of myself and start turning my dreams into reality.
I adopted a healthier and more active lifestyle, lost almost 50 pounds and started my own fitness company. Through my quiet time with God, the support and encouragement of loved ones and not allowing even an ounce of an excuse into my world, I drastically changed the way I live.
As I look back, I can truly say that I am extremely grateful and appreciative of everything I was able to accomplish this year. These thoughts, however, quickly turn into memories of people who didn't and will never know what 30 looked like. My cousin, who died of cancer at the age of 27, an old classmate who died in a car accident right after we graduated from high school, my first junior high "love" also died at the tender age of 25...they never got to see what 30 looked like. I am grateful for my life (the good and the bad) and thankful that I got to experience this past life-altering year.
Like I said, I have always enjoyed a big party celebrating my life and I have experienced so many blessings throughout my journey. With that being said, I have decided to spend my last week as a 30 year-old planning how I'm going to spend 31 celebrating the lives of others. It was important for me to take time to take good care of myself and say 'no' to certain things so that I could focus on me, but now I feel that it is time to use all of the lessons I learned, the strength I gained and the resources I have to serve others.
I will never forget the people in my life that didn't get to celebrate their 30th birthday, but what I can do is make sure that I use whatever time I am given to live my life 'on purpose'. Social media may need to quiet down, the television may need to be turned off a little earlier and texting may need to be replaced with more in-person conversations. I am so grateful that I got to see what 30 looked like, but I want to be able to FEEL 31.
