Happy 12th Re-Birthday to Me!

Happy 12th Re-Birthday to Me! 

Before I was reborn, there was so much I wanted to do with my life. I wanted to bike and travel and see the world. I wanted to explore my curiosities, live my values, and give life to my dreams. I did not want to spend my days plugging away at a career I didn't love. And so I said "no more." Twelve year ago today I quit my job. I downsized my belongings and responsibilities and began living as a funemployed, home-less, and sometimes car-free bohemian. 

Re-birthing myself was not easy. It is, after all, hard to swim upstream when everyone and everything else is moving in the opposite direction. But I gave myself permission to take the leap, and I trusted that I would find my way. I'm so incredibly grateful I did. This new life I chose to live twelve years ago has given me a level of contentment that I never would have imagined. Simplicity has brought with it richness that money could not afford.

Happy 11th Re-Birthday to Me!

Happy 11th Re-Birthday to Me! 

Eleven years ago today, I said goodbye to my old life and began living anew. I stopped mindlessly swallowing what society had been spoon-feeding to me. I quit my job and began living intentionally.

Happy 10th Re-Birthday to Me!

Happy 10th Re-Birthday to Me! 

Wow, it's been a decade! 

Ten years ago today, I quit my job and began living my new semi-retired life. The last decade has been chock-full of experiences: travels, adventures, and new connections all over the world. Looking back, I feel as though I sleepwalked through the first three and a half decades of my life. With my re-birth, I woke from the slumber and began to live deliberately. Living intentionaly has made it feel as though I've packed numerous lives into the last decade.

Happy 9th Re-Birthday to Me!

Happy 9th Re-Birthday to Me! 

Nine years ago today, I closed the door on the life that I was living. I wasn't certain where my path would lead, but I trusted that by closing the door, another would open. Little did I know that closing that single door would lead to the opening of not just one door, but door-after-door-after-door. Each of those doors led to unexpected places far more wondrous than I could have ever imagined.

Happy 8th Re-Birthday to Me!

Happy 8th Re-Birthday to Me! 

Eight years ago today, I stopped letting life happen to me. I rebirthed myself into a new life lived deliberately. Oh, what a journey it has been! 

Happy 7th Re-Birthday to Me!

Happy 7th Re-Birthday to Me! 

Seven years ago today, I fully embraced that this is it. This is the real deal. This is life. It's happening right now, and I need to fully accept responsibility for how I live that life. Seven years ago, I resolved to accept responsibility for living my own life. No longer would I trudge through the days wishing I could be someone else, doing something else, somewhere else. I was going to be that person, doing my thing, right here, right now.

Happy 6th Re-Birthday to Me!

Happy 6th Re-Birthday to Me!

Six years ago today, I held my breath, crossed my fingers, and mixed together the ingredients of the early retirement elixir -- a dash of hope, a dash of crazy, and a whole lot of courage. Voila! All of the sudden, I found myself free of a job, free of the tedium of normalcy, and free of the confines of time.

A Year of Self-Love

We spend the majority of our childhood years in school. We learn about math, science, english, and history. Rarely does the curriculum include the skills necessary to function successfully in society and live fulfilling lives -- how to handle finances, how to have healthy relationships, how to communicate effectively, how to manage emotions, how to cope with failure. Most of us spend the majority of our adulthood acquiring these skills. Often we attain these skills by trial-and-error. Rarely do we master them.

I enjoyed school. I was fortunate to develop behaviors that helped me do well, such as typing my papers on a word processor and saying "yes" to opportunities that came my way. While these behaviors helped me ace my classes, they paved the way for the development of unhealthy habits later in life -- perfectionism and people-pleasing, to name a few. Eventually these habits, coupled with relentless societal stresses, became toxic.

I think often about my life story. I wonder how it might be different had I learned about self-love alongside my calculus and physics classes. I would have learned about identifying my personal values and setting priorities aligned with those values. I would have learned about focusing on the things that are important to me and letting other things go. I would have learned about self-awareness and being true to myself in my interactions with others. I would have learned about listening to my body.

What I've learned about self-love has mostly been acquired in the last few years. As I've been working to shake my bad habits, I've been realizing just how much I beat myself up all those years. I want to heal what those years of stress have done to my body. I know I can't unravel the damage that has been done, but I can decide to live my life differently moving forward.

Happy 5th Re-Birthday to Me!

Happy 5th Re-Birthday to Me!

Gee willikers! Has it been five years already? As Gretchen Rubin said, "The days are long, but the years are short." 

Happy 4th Re-Birthday to Me!

Happy 4th Re-Birthday to Me!

Four years ago today, I quit my job and was thereby born again into a new life. Since my re-birth, I have luxuriated in the freedoms afforded by unstructured time and financial independence. Wow, what a joy ride it has been!

Happy 3rd Re-Birthday to Me!

Happy 3rd Re-Birthday to Me!

It's cupcake time, my friends! It's time to celebrate!

It has been three years since I quit the rat race. It has been three years of semi-retirement bliss. It has been three years of waking up on Monday mornings, endlessly grateful that I don't have to drag my butt into the office after a nice weekend. Nope, siree -- my life now consists of perpetual weekends!

Happy 2nd Re-Birthday to Me!

Happy 2nd Re-Birthday to Me!

It has now been two years since I took the plunge and quit my job. As this event was pivotal in achieving my new lifestyle, I like to celebrate this re-birthday! Happy 2nd re-birthday to me!

Happy Re-Birthday to Me!

Happy Re-Birthday to Me!

I'm not one who enjoys celebrating my birthday. But this is an occasion I'm proud to celebrate: it was one year ago today when I took the plunge and quit my job. This event was pivotal in achieving my new lifestyle. Happy re-birthday to me!