Lessons at 40

I’m turning 40 this month and shared in my recent newsletter many of the ways I’m choosing joy in this season of life, by loving others and loving myself, raising kiddos, leaning into the waves that ebb and flow and just owning my imperfections. Would love to hear anything different on your list.

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  1. Celebrate all the things!

  2. Create - seriously, Picasso said it. We are all artists. make art, make cake, make music...

  3. walk in the woods - "it is a great art to saunter." - Thoreau

  4. "walk in the sunshine, swim in the sea, drink the wild air" -Emerson - healing for the soul, yes?

  5. hope - Psalm 71:14

  6. choose joy...a brave decision

  7. work hard and with purpose, but avoid the hustle

  8. reduce and repurpose - minimize things and maximize adventure, learn to love this beautiful earth and take care of it

  9. travel - down the road and around the world

  10. take naps (hard for me, but so helpful)

  11. step outside your comfort zone sooner than later, and invite a friend to join you - solidarity!

  12. view interruptions in life as opportunity, to extend kindness and grace (always working on this one), meaning, make peace with the [inevitable] waves

  13. pursue truth (2 Corinthians 13:4-6)

  14. visit the library often..." ' I just like to know' said Pooh humbly" -A.A. Milne

  15. try new foods, from different cultures

  16. shop local + eat local + support small businesses

  17. be still - the only way to listen

  18. make room - in your mind, in your heart, in your spaces

  19. clutter = delayed decisions and most of us have decision fatigue, so reflect on which decisions to eliminate

  20. be teachable

  21. stop overthinking it (and find that person who will remind you often to do this)

  22. have the "I get to" mentality vs. "I have to"

  23. pause and ponder

  24. act justly, love mercy, walk humbly -Micah 6:8

  25. be vulnerable - share your story

  26. learn to wait

  27. humility

  28. remember that darkness cannot cover the light (John 1:5)

  29. grace upon grace upon grace - for yourself, your family, your neighbor

  30. apologize - to your spouse, your kids, you parents, your friends

  31. do less better. explore, yes. and then focus.

  32. courage, dear heart - C.S. Lewis

  33. be Mary (present) in a Martha (bustle, bustle, bustle) world (Luke 10:42)

  34. give - time, conversation, listening ear, fill tangible needs

  35. learn to say no - every no = perhaps a better yes?

  36. live freely and lightly (Matthew 11:28-30)

  37. dance in the kitchen

  38. gather around tables - with your family, your neighbors

  39. create buffers for solitude (I mean, I AM an introvert)

  40. presence over perfection, presence over perfection, presence over perfection (really leaning into this one)