Remember when we were kids, and our parents were in their 30s and 40s, and how we thought that was SO old? Well, jokes on us! Today, I’m turning 38 years old, and wow, that seems like a big number. It’s also my twin sister’s birthday, too – happy birthday, Alyson!
Dress // Sneakers // Bag (use code ASHLEYR15 for 15% off) // Necklace
I don’t know about you, but birthdays are always a time of reflection for me. I look back on the past year and start planning for what I want the next year to look like. Thirty-seven was a year of transition. I starting moving away from being just a mother and caregiver to my kids (and I use the word ‘just’ with caution as it is a HUGE job, especially when your kids are little) to also doing a side gig with my blog and building this little business that I hope can provide for my family in the future. It’s been SO amazing having this space here on the internet to share and connect with other women, and although, I would have never dreamt of saying it out loud to actual people, this has been a little dream of mine for quite some time.
Although I cherish this blog, the most challenging aspect of creating content here and on Instagram is trying to balance it all with being the primary caregiver for my kids and also managing most of the household tasks (although, more recently, Danny has started to take on more of these duties and that has been so helpful.) I constantly feel like I’m jumping from one task to another without any real blocks of time to get into a productive mode. And as much as I’d like to think I can improve on this, I’m pretty sure this will be the case until our youngest starts kindergarten in a year and a half.
However, I am so grateful to have this space, to have a supportive husband who even bought me my own desk for my birthday, and to have two fairly independent kids who give me time to work on this blog, albeit with quite a few small interruptions.
This age also feels like a bit of a milestone. In your 20’s and early 30’s, you still feel like one of the young ones, like you just got out of college and are starting out in the world. As you get older, you start to think, I should be ‘somewhere’ by now. I should have a successful career, a family, and a beautiful home. I’m definitely not there yet, but I’m learning that the best mindset you can have is to find joy in the process. I’ve recently started a daily mediation habit (going 2 months strong!), and it’s changing the way I think about life and how I react to different situations. I’ll share more about that in a future post.
All this doesn’t even begin to scratch the surface of the challenges that come with aging like society’s constant pressure to look youthful and the wrinkles that seem to pop up out of nowhere. Although it’s hard to see these signs of aging in the mirror, I’m starting to realize that those wrinkles are a sign of a life well lived. Though I won’t be giving up my eye cream anytime soon.
I’ll end this post with a quote from Eleanor Roosevelt, whom our daughter was named after.
The purpose of life is to live it, to taste experience to the utmost, to reach out eagerly and without fear for newer and richer experience.
eleanor roosevelt
