On Turning Twenty-Four- Birthday feelings and reflections.

As I type this, it’s 2 hours to my 24th birthday and the “birthday feeling” was absent. Before this, I would have been shy to admit my age, especially when accomplishments are associated with age. Imagine the unnecessary pressure! Who actually made a big deal of numbers/ age? Okay before I digress, don’t lose me yet.

I’m writing this post for 2 reasons. 

The first is I am now more intentional about documenting my journey. I also want to process all the memories and keep them safe with words. The second reason is, writing helps me think about stuff in retrospect. I can think about the emotions I felt at a point and relive them while writing. That’s classic if you ask me. Thank God for it!

Now let’s start with the little miracles and things I’ve learned in the past year because I can be cheesy. Frankly, I thought this year was gonna be different when it comes to school. For context, I’m at home, the second time in a row thanks to COVID. Plus it’s the second time my birthday is falling on the “break”. I would be lying if I said it didn’t suck. Nonetheless, we wouldn’t focus on the annoying things in this post, okay? Good!

This past year, I’ve learned the value of being vulnerable. Asking my friends to take my pictures and videos for content creation without feeling awkward. Crying and laughing openly. Also, explaining what I mean without depending on my regular “I don’t know”. That’s a big win.

I also learned to say “No”. A friend of mine said I say no now with no guilt. It was a big struggle until I learned that “No” can be good, and I didn’t have to explain my reason.

I learned to unashamedly market my skills. By the way, why have you not subscribed to my newsletter? You’re missing out on gems. Sign up here.

Another thing I learned, is to experiment and learn new things. Examples are: my current ear piercings, coloring my hair (with a temporary dye though, lol), taking pictures of everything I think is beautiful, taking up skills, and asking questions no matter how silly I think they are. My self-sufficient-stay-in-your-comfort-zone personality would have cringed, but look at God!

This past year, I learned to hold tensions and see the beauty in them. The tension between hope and grief. Between love and loss. Between joy and heartache. I also learned to be empathetic. To keep dying to self as hard as that is.

I’ve also learned to not share my story with everyone. Just to a few people, we were not meant to bare our souls to every single soul we meet. For our sake and theirs in the long run. I learned to continuously be unashamed about my faith. A Jesus girl I’ll always be.

Okay, this post is getting longer than I planned so I’ll stop here.

I’m super grateful that I get to celebrate another year regardless. Like David in Psalm 42:5, I’ll remind my soul to yet hope in God. Who better to write our story than the One who oversees the world? Sending virtual cakes and hugs your way!

PS- you’re reading this 5 days post-birthday, but who cares? wink