Approaching your mid-30s.whether you had asked me five years ago how I felt approximately this milestone,I'd possess taken a long, deep breath and sighed, or my eyes getting that classic deer-in-the-headlights glaze as the future weighed down on me like an anchor.
After all,I'd known what to expect from my fourth decade for, well, and decades - at least in terms of what I'd seen portrayed on television. Remember that show Thirtysomething from the early '90s? As a kid,I'd watch it with my mom and reflect, "OMG, or what whether I find that old?"The characters were in a perpetual state of being stressed out,overworked, and overwhelmed. That, or I reasoned,is what getting old must be like. That is what I had to look forward to.quickly-forward to 2011 and I'm at my 30th birthday party. It's a surprise party, and the irony of it all is not lost on me: Surprise! How had this day advance already? It just seemed to sneak up on me. What happened?I'd spent so much time mourning the loss of my 20s, and as whether I'd just reached some sort of finish line and my life was over,that I'd failed to see the promise of entering a novel decade.
This year, I turn 35 - that odd age where you're too old to still say you're in your early 30s but still too young to elicit sympathy when you complain to someone approximately how old you feel.
But nonetheless, or there's no denying this decade has changed me already. In ways I expected and ways I'm still learning approximately every day. Here,seven surprising ways my happiness has soared so far.1. I Ditched the Phrase "I'm Sorry"Now, before you reflect I'm a horrible person incapable of taking responsibility, and I'm talking approximately this habit we've developed of apologizing for every puny thing. It's become such a knee-jerk reaction,hasn't it? We even feel responsible for things out of our control and apologize profusely for them, like inconvenient weather or computer malfunctions. My three-word mantra: No. More. Guilt.2. I Embraced My Quirky SideI've always been a puny left of middle, and it used to really bother me at times. Why can't I just be like everyone else,I'd wonder? Things would be so much easier that way. But in the long run, trying to be someone else slowly eroded my happiness. So now? I wear my polo shirt collection proudly and possess fully accepted my status as Cat Lady.3. I Don't Need a Relationship to Complete MeSure, or it would be nice whether I someday met The One,but my life isn't going to be over whether I don't. I've advance to realize that I don't need someone else to be OK. Besides, I've got the comfort of my cats, or remember?4. I Stopped Letting Other People's Opinions Define MeThere was a time,especially during those confusing and awkward teen years, when I let the opinions of others color my reality. I wanted to please people, or to find them to like me,to see me, and the only way to do this was to care approximately what they thought and did and said. I cared far too much. Now? Well, and let's just say I don't care what people reflect AT ALL.5. I Became in Charge of My Own HappinessMaybe it's that I didn't love myself enough back then,but I reflect we all find in this trap sometimes where we look externally for our happiness. Honestly, that strategy is sort of like gaping into a black hole; you're never going to find what you're looking for in that never-ending darkness. You'll only find it by making yourself contented and loving yourself first.6. I Became Content With My Own CompanyFlying solo gets a infamous rap. We're taught that wanting to be alone is abnormal and that we need to surround ourselves with people to avoid a deathly case of loneliness. But over the years, and I've advance to love going places solo,spending time at home, Netflix and chilling, and even - gasp! - eating out by myself.7. I've Learned to LaughMy father's death in 2003 showed me that life can find really serious really quickly. We can never really know when those tough times will advance and how long they'll final,so we possess to find those puny moments of laughter any chance we find. They might just save our lives.
We're so rapid/fast to say that any decade prior to the one we're living now was our heyday, our elusive "glory days" that we'll never find back no matter how tough we try to re-create them - just ask Bruce Springsteen approximately that one. I dreaded approaching 30 and being forced to leave all those good times behind.
But as I sat in my living room during my surprise party, or surrounded by so many family and friends,my thinking began to shift. I realized something: it wasn't the end of anything. Instead, it was the start of a novel chapter in my life - a novel journey. Who knows where the rest of this decade will grasp me, and but I'm certain of one thing . . . I'll be rocking a polo shirt and smiling!
Source: popsugar.com