Aside from being slightly jealous of the millenials who can legitimately sing along to Taylor Swift’s “22” as they head into the third year of their twenties, I am, in fact, feeling great about turning 32.
In the last 10 years I have ended a long-term relationship where I thought I would end up with that person, completely changed careers, did a 180 on my (un)healthy lifestyle, married the real love of my life and am now expecting my first baby.
I actually remember getting out of that long-term relationship and saying to my friend, “whatever I know I can still be married at 25 and have a few kids before 30.”
Why the hell I thought that was a good (or necessary) idea, I have NO clue. But either way, that was the plan.
Looking back, I would have shaken me and been like ‘girl, seriously, you have no idea what the next decade is going to bring. STOP PLANNING AND START LIVING.’
So in honour of my 32nd birthday that is coming up in a few days, I thought I would share a few things I would have also said to 22 year old me:
- You don’t need to know what you want to do or who you want to be. Not at 22. Not at 32. Not ever. We are constantly changing and growing and that is okay.
- You need to do something. Sitting around thinking about getting a job, starting a business or going to workout does nothing but waste time. Take action. It’s the only way to move forward.
- You have the right to be happy in your job. Yes not every aspect of every job is glamorous, fun or cool. But if you are miserable, do something about it.
- Side hustles rule. There is SO much time in the day. If you want to make something happen, get off Netflix and social media (k fine those things didn’t exist 10 years ago but you know what I mean), and use all the hours you have where you aren’t at work to make it happen.
- Travel alone. This is something I did but wish I had done more. I spent a month in New Zealand by myself in between jobs and it is still one of my favourite things I have ever done.
- Go on more trips with your girlfriends. It’s crazy how fast some of my friends became moms at once and now our girl’s trips are few and far between. Thank god for bachelorettes – those were some of the best girls trips ever!
- Do all the partying. Not condoning anything illegal but holy sh*t hangovers really catch up to you when you hit 30. Like really, not kidding. Do it all now while you still can! But like, keep it classy, ya know?
- Let your loved ones know how much you love them. Call them more. See each other face to face. Be there. Life is freakin short.
Whether you are 22 or 52, I think these are lessons we can apply at any stage of life (aside from the whole partying thing, I mean, just assuming hangovers don’t get much better in your 50’s…).
As much as I joke about regretting starting my career in fitness in my 30’s compared to many of my peers who started in their teens or early twenties, I don’t actually believe in starting too late – or regrets for that matter. It may be cheesy AF (and we can blame it on my hormones) but I truly believe that it’s never really too late to follow your dreams.