Do you ever take a moment and reflect on your birthday? Do you think about where you are in life and celebrate the accomplishments, but also recognize the areas you can still grow? I wouldn’t say my journey is wildly different that anyone else’s, but because we all have and make different choices, no one life is the same. We all learn from each other’s experiences!
I took some time to reflect the last few days about everything I have learned in the first 30 years that has lead me to where I am today. This isn’t totally travel related, but it is to remind you that all the pretty photos and all the adventures I post on my blog are just one aspect of my life!
Don’t Try and ‘Keep Up With the Jones’s’
In today’s world, social media has never been more “influential.” I know personally, I am influenced by all the fashion bloggers to buy what they have and by the beautiful photos taken from all around the world. I have to remind myself that each person and their circumstance is different.
When I say “don’t try and keep up”, I say that because in my personal life, I have chosen travel as a main place I want my money to go. In saying that, I have chosen to basically live within my means for everything else in my life. I have never had a car loan, and besides a mortgage, no debt!
You Only Live Once
…and you owe yourself a life that you want. I have made some pretty large sacrifices in my adult life simply because I only have one chance at life and felt that I needed to make a big change.
Emotions Are Okay
OMG. This is a big one. If you ask people I have known for a long time, you know I use to be an emotion-less zombie. Sure, I laugh, but I used to never allow myself to cry and used to avoid anything that made me feel vulnerable.
I wouldn’t say I am an emotional person now, but I am okay with being a bit more vulnerable. I feel like it has helped my connections with people.
Setting Goals is Key
If you have nothing to work toward, you may find yourself never progressing. Setting goals has always been something that I have done. It has motivated me to buy a house at a young age, start a business, and start this travel blog. Within those larger accomplishments are smaller goals like:
- I want to hit 10k followers on Instagram by “x” date
- We want to go through in rental inventory on “x” date so we can buy more
- I need to save “x” per paycheck so I can have “x” amount saved for a down payment
Do What Makes You Happy
This one seems so simple, but you would be surprised at how many people I have come across that aren’t happy with some aspect in their life…but they don’t do anything to change that!
This goes back to “you only live once.” make the necessary changes to get rid of the things that aren’t making you happy.
At the same time, cling to the hobbies and activities that make you happy. For me it has become:
- Watching YouTube
- Playing the piano
- Driving Range
- Traveling
- Breweries
Learn To Take Risks
As you know, most people take risks because they can’t deal with what happens if that risk doesn’t go well. I have learned to think from the angle of: “if I didn’t take the risk, I may never know.” Being a curious person that likes outcomes no matter what, I have learned to just go for it. Officially filing a business was the best decision we as a team could have made. It is scary to officially be partially responsible for a business, but this risk could have big rewards. Also, having to move from my first home and basically start over was the biggest risk with the best reward. Buying a condo on my own and living alone for a few years provided the biggest character growth. I liked it so much, I almost didn’t want my boyfriend (at the time) to move in!
Comfort is Good…and Bad
I battle with comfort all the time. The biggest comfort is my job, but that’s another story.
Not All Friends Are Meant to Be Life Long Friends
I think everyone struggles with this one. You have friends that you make throughout all stages of your life. Because people are changing and evolving, the friends you have made along the way just some times don’t always last. It could be because you initially connected on a mutual interest at the time that you both now no longer share, it could be because someone moves away, etc. When I was younger, it was very hard for me to come to terms with that.
Guess what, the friends that I have now, are ones that I am investing my time in. They are friends that give the same effort that I do, and are not ones that I feel like I am the only one reaching out to to talk.
Sorry this isn’t the most organized post, but it definitely is good to get my thoughts down! Is there one you relate to? Leave it in the comments.
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