On my 41st birthday, I did something I had yearned to do all my life.
I took the pressure off.
I surrounded myself with those who lift me up …
I danced and sang with the ones I love and didn’t give a damn what I looked or sounded like on the top of a mountain …
I allowed my true emotions to flow freely at the unexpected efforts of my parents…
I remembered the miraculous fact that my parents and my children were alive on this momentous day and we were all together in one place …
As my boys and I delighted in this moment when my past merged with my present, words of a treasured friend came back to me from our phone conversation yesterday.
Holly said, “If I can have a baby at forty you can finish nursing school. You're strong and I can honestly say that forty is freedom.”
Forty is freedom.
Why yes, forty IS freedom.
The pressure’s off.
And by the grace of God, it’s not too late for me to really start living.
Sweet freedom, in deed.
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Sometimes my inner critic lead me to believe I was not a good enough wife, mom, or human being.
I feel like now is the time to let go of this unachievable standard and start loving myself right where I am today.
My friend, self-forgiveness is a powerful thing.
And it is not an exclusive gift for those turning forty something, nor is it something you have to get from someone else.
Taking the pressure off is a gift you give yourself.
