I am part of a blogging group called Let Your Blog Shine, and the *awesome* moderators post a weekly blog Challenge. This is the first time I am participating, not because I don’t love the challenges, but I’m usually already running my mouth about something and have my post pre-planned. THIS challenge, I just absolutely fell in love with…

Next month I hit the big THREE OH! Oh, yeah… I’m going to be 30! I know, a true lady never tells her age, but no one has ever accused me of being a lady… so no worries! Growing up, I always thought 30 would feel a certain way, because it’s SO OLD. I definitely don’t feel old, I actually feel younger than I’ve felt in a long time. However, as I am fast approaching this new decade I have noticed some signs of getting Older, and I FULLY embrace them, as these lessons have made my life significantly more enjoyable!

1. I don’t care (as much) about what other people think. I know who I am and Who my identity is in. I also have learned that there will always be someone hating on you for what you do, say, or believe. Either their words will be a stumbling block… or it won’t. I choose the latter.

2. I started caring for my money. Daniel taught me a while ago to stop crumbling my dollars up and throwing them in my bag (seriously, I did that). He said that how we take care of our money shows how much we appreciate the money we have. Whoa, that was a big gratitude lesson for me. Since then, I’ve learned how to better manage it, what budgeting is, and how awesome it feels to have a savings account. I learned that money can be a great thing, and it can enable you to be able to plan your future, go on trips, be prepared for an emergency, help out friends/family when they are in need, or just to have the freedom to be able to do things we really enjoy because we can afford it. I’ve also learned to really cut back on the frivolous spending and to not worry about the “materialism” that I used to associated with money, but to be able to learn about the true value of “things”… as in, those things are probably not as valuable as you I initially thought.

3. I started caring more about my health. When I was younger (High School, early College – the first time) I was really athletic, but I ate like crap. I mean, Mountain Dew and Pop-tarts every morning for breakfast… YUCK! I mean… YUCK! I now am in the process of getting rid of soda from my diet completely. It’s a process… recovering diet soda addict here. I went from 4-6 cans a day (don’t judge me) to having one every couple of days… PROGRESS! We’ve been getting up in the morning, most mornings, to work out together and I’ve been focusing on eating cleaner foods. It feels really good, and I actually feel healthier mentally and physically now than I did when I was young.

4. I enjoy learning. I have always loved school (major nerd here) and I have LOVED reading… but now, I want to get better at things; our business, math (eew), marketing, accounting (double eew), history, music, art (mostly for trivia crack)… I am not concerned with being labeled as “smart” (see number one) but I want to have the tools to create the business and life of our dreams.

5. I say no. I take my time MUCH more seriously. I really value the time that I have, so I focus more on what I want to do, what will be enriching and what will bring us closer to our goals. Things that will tear us down, won’t be fun, or will be a waste of time… not doing it.

6. Boundaries. I have them and I keep them. I have every intention of creating a policies manual in black and white that I will have on hand as a reminder of these boundaries (suggestion from Chalene Johnson’s SMART Success Academy). I used to be terrible at keeping my boundaries, because I always felt guilty. I’ve learned, that if I value myself and my family… this is crucial. Boundaries to my time, family/friends, business and boundaries of respect.

7. I like naps and quiet time. It is so good to be able to unwind and just relax. As I mentioned in this post, I’m not always good at relaxing, but the better I get at it… the more I value this time to unwind and refocus.

8. I choose my friends. This may sound cold… but this is a big bonus of being an adult. I don’t HAVE to be friends with who I don’t want to be friends with. I prioritize my time around the people who I like. People who are uplifting and positive. People who challenge me. People who are honest with me and aren’t worried about making me mad. Most importantly, people who want the same from me. Mutually affirming relationships get my priority time. People that are always negative or like to tear people down, get very little of my time. You become like the people you spend the most time with.

9. I am much more mellow. I have my moments, don’t get me wrong, but for the most part I don’t fly of the handle or get dragged into drama even a fraction of the time I used to. I don’t make time for drama. I try to avoid the Facebook posts and articles that are intentionally trying to instigate something. Most importantly, I’ve learned the art of silence (my husband would disagree). Not every question or argument needs a response. I won’t debate with someone who isn’t interested in listening (and visa versa). I won’t waste words… why? Because if both parties aren’t actually going to listen and hear each other… then it’s a complete waste of time… and as you see above, I value my time. Throwing pearls before swine, etc.

10. I appreciate my parents more. I hear this one quite a bit from people my age or older. The older I get, the more I see how great my parents are. I understand that they were MY AGE for some of the strongest memories I have. I understand that they did the best they could with the knowledge they had. Our relationship now is really neat, I love hanging out with my parents as a fellow adult. It’s something I really cherish.

I realized that life gets sweeter with age. My life has been developing into something amazing. In becoming less stubborn and more open to following the path God has been showing me, I have been able to accept my lessons with more grace than I ever could in the past. I have learned to appreciate the challenges I’ve faced, because I now have enough experience to see what the after effects look like. When I say “It will be okay” or “God is bigger” or “Don’t worry” I actually mean it, because I’ve SEEN it.

I’m so excited to see what this next decade will have in store. 30… Here I Come!!

XOXO,

Danie

Let’s Get Social!