If you know anything about me, you know that I love birthdays. It doesn't matter the age, it matters the wisdom and the abundance of life that you get to celebrate. I have always had this philosophy and it has served me well. In 2012 I left my teens behind and began the next decade with excitement, as I always have. The only thing that I recall anticipating from my 20s was what I had been fed throughout my life. Things like, in your 20s you'll have the most fun, meet your lifelong friends while simultaneously losing the friends that you thought were forever friends, have a variety of failed relationships, and figure out what you want to do for the rest of your life. Looking back at my 20s now I can see where some of the aforementioned things did happen, but I can also see all of the things that happened in between the times where I was anticipating something else to happen. Over the next few weeks I am going to take a trip back through my 20s, detailing the different life experiences that I learned from and how I've grown in ways I never thought I would.
Next week I'll be kicking off this short series with lessons in friendship. This is an area of tremendous struggle for me. I have had a very difficult road with friendships over the course of my life and I feel that I am constantly in a state of refinement when it comes to being a friend and having a community of people that I trust and learn from. However, in this struggle I have learned a lot about myself. Battles with friendships has incited a level of introspection that I know I wouldn't have been as inclined to embark on if things were "perfect".
Week three I will dive into the lessons I've learned in marriage. Jesse and I started dating when I was about 3 months into 22. By the time I turned 24 we had a 3 month old and were married. Much happened during that time in my life and taking on my early 20s as a wife and a mom was an experience unlike anything I could have ever imagined. What seemed like haste for many, was actually the development of a foundation that has yet to waver beneath us. Some days are hard, some days are harder, but never has the impact been too much to bear for the foundation that we painstakingly poured over the course of our early 20s.
And finally, I will wrap up this series in week 4 with lessons I've learned in parenting. I remember growing up thinking I was going to have kids and feeling so much excitement about the prospect of "family". However, growing up in a broken home and proceeding to have incredibly fractured relationships, I had resolved that maybe having a family wasn't in the cards for me. Furthermore, I was battling a number of health issues that were associated with being on birth control. I was seeing my primary care provider and attempting to get my body back to "normal" - whatever that meant. When Jesse and I started dating, all of my fears of a broken home seemed to melt away. Finding out that we were pregnant with our son was an absolute game changer. I realized that motherhood was something I was destined for and I knew that no matter how difficult it may be, I was up for the challenge.
Over the course of my 20s much has happened. Many lessons were learned, many plans fell apart, and immeasurable growth has been the most glorious highlight of it all. I have become a different person in my 20s and I feel blessed to look back on my 20s with pride and gratitude. There have certainly been deep valleys fraught with pain and difficulty, but all of that has aided in the refinement and development of the woman I am today. I am eager for what 30 has to offer and I am heading into this next decade with my eyes, ears and heart open to whatever lessons lay ahead.
I hope that you'll join me as I recount these lessons learned during my 20s!
Cheers to October!
Xx,
Alex
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