The expectations of birthdays #growingpains

You are either a person who loves their birthday, gets a party together with their friends or hates their birthday and typically ends up shedding a tear. Well I am sort of in the middle.

I love a celebration, no matter the occasion. Birthdays are one of my fav celebrations whether that's others or mine. Party decorations, curated music, cake, and most likely a cheeky beverage. What is not to love!

However, party planning, people not being able to come, or even people forgetting can turn a birthday’s vibe around real quick.

I have had a majority of fantastic birthdays but my naturally high expectations break my own heart sometimes. I'm working on that lol but birthdays can sometimes be “eh” and leave you disheartened about a day you may have been really looking forward to. But guess what? There is always next year ;)

My birthday was on Friday! #TGIF #LIBRA. I turned 23 years old and Blink-182 said it themselves… “Nobody likes you when you're 23.” I lowered my expectations btw.

The weeks leading up to my birthday, I had a few more epiphanies than usual and experienced an ego death. All I like to believe is preparation for the next chapter in my life. I keep saying I am half way through my early twenties.

Being 23 feels like middle school where you struggle between adolescence and adulthood. I have a degree but I am still a server. I moved out of my parents house but I still need roommates. Now coming to realize, 23 is not the time to label myself.

I am still allowed to f#ck up, I am still allowed to have fun. I am allowed to float around this life learning something new about it and myself each day.

I was a little worried about my frontal lobe developing process and how on time it’ll be but thus far, I think I am doing pretty good!

I think the biggest lesson of 22 was really standing up for myself and self worth. Realizing how cool I actually am and not letting anyone dim that. Nor allowing people into my life that do not respect the woman I am. My appreciation for solitude has grown and I enjoy the presence of the person I am becoming.

Ok, I could talk about life and growing pains all day but let me tell you what my friends and I got up to hehehe.

My sweet friends and kind roommates threw me a surprise party as I got home from work on Thursday, the day before my birthday. I was reminded how special my friendships are and how important those really good ones are. They curated gifts that made me feel truly loved. I'm not the biggest cake person so they put candles on a dozen donuts (my fav) and I made my birthday wish.

#tobelovedistobeseen

On my actual birthday, I met another good friend for brunch at one of our fav spots from college where we giggled and caught up. She always makes the best birthday cards!

Later a friend from work joined me at my house to get ready for the evening with our other friends from work. We had a cute, girly time sharing clothes, doing each other's makeup and spilling the most up-to-date news on our boy drama.

We met our friends for a night filled with dancing as we celebrated at the Red Room, a collective I enjoy dancing at on Fridays.

The following morning, my mom and I went to get a tarot reading from a psychic. A tradition I have been treating myself to each year on my birthday. I'm curious to see a psychic perspective of what my next year of life will bring. It was an interesting reading as she brought up a lot of minute details that I never told her about.

The final two days of the weekend were spent with my two best friends, as we party dance danced in Downtown Pomona on the rooftop of the Fox Theater. We saw the iconic DJ Irene throw down like two feet in front of us!

Overall this year I did lower my expectations but in a way to bring myself more peace and live in the moment. No expectations needed to be lowered in the first place because my friends and family really made me feel special this year. As much as growing up scares me but also excites me for the future, I can confidently say 22 was one of the biggest learning years of my adulthood thus far and I look forward to all the knowledge life will hand me this year.

Cheers to 23!

XOXO,

S☮︎