40 Years of Lessons, Quotes, & Thoughts

How did you feel when you turned 40?

If you haven't turned 40 yet, what do you think of when you hear 40?

Well, tomorrow is July 10th and it's my 40th birthday.

"It's my 40th birthday." 

That statement used to make me cringe and today I'm happy to say that I LOVE that I'm turning 40! My life looks nothing like I planned and that is the most beautiful piece of this whole puzzle!

For me, 40 is the new love affair... a love affair with myself.  

Now, I know that can sound super-duper cheesy but to me the last year and a half (and particularly the last 6 months) have truly been a love affair of consciously infusing self-love into my life.

Last year on my birthday, I was inspired to share 39 years of lessons, quotes, and thoughts that have impacted my life, or at least the ones I could remember in my 39 years, in hopes that you'd find some inspiration to celebrate the deliciousness in your life too!  

I re-read that share and all 39 still ring true today.  And, I have added a 40th, a new #1, which I share below.  Sharing all of this in the hopes that it helps you to embrace the amazing abundance that surrounds us and reminds us how absolutely delicious life is! 

This book, "The Self-Love Experiment" has been instrumental in this process. If you're struggling at all with self-doubt, wishing things were different or feeling stuck, please get this book. xo

To me, self-love is the holy grail of life. It isn't about how you look or what you do.  It's about HOW you live. How you CHOOSE to live your life. 

If you need a little extra help getting to the core of your self-love journey, book a Behavior Coaching Session with me. I’ve got your back!

To me, it looks like: living life on purpose, showing up for myself and others no matter what, letting go of who I thought I should be in order to be the person I really want to be, surrendering to what I cannot change, & trusting that the all of the dots will connect soon enough. 

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40 Years of Lessons, Quotes, & Thoughts...

40.When it comes to being present, kids are our best teachers.

39.Asking for help is a sign of strength, not a sign of weakness.

38."Cinderella is proof that a new pair of shoes can change your life." ~ Noortje de Bijl

37.Give yourself what you need so you can give those you love what they need.

36.If we recharged our relationships as often as we recharged our phones, our lives would be dramatically different. 

35.Practicing self-compassion increases compassion for others 10-fold.

34.Empowered women, empower women.

33."The cure for anything is salt water...sweat, tears, or the sea." ~ Isak Dinesen

32.And, if saltwater doesn't cut it, then coffee and/or wine can usually do the trick.

31.At the end of the day, it’s what you gave that counts the most.

30.Courage is less about grandiose gestures and more about showing up day-to-day through our own vulnerabilities.

29.“Being powerful is so much more interesting than being beautiful.” ~ Helen Mirren

28.Home isn’t a physical space but rather the feeling created by those you share it with.

27.A picture can say a thousand words and silence can be deafening.

26.It’s only failure if you quit trying.   

25.Drink water.  A lot of it. And then drink some more.  And, probably some more after that.

24.It turns out that airline stewardesses gave us some of the best advice for life, “put on your oxygen mask first before assisting others.”

23.“You can’t have butterfly conversations with caterpillars.” ~ Soni Masur

22.We are all multifaceted diamonds and it is our many sides, flat surfaces, and aspects that allow us to shine.

21.Sometimes we have to step backward in order to move forward.

20.Green is good! Veggies, tea, plants, grass, avocado, nature...

19.Only YOU can define what success is for you.

18.You can’t make everyone happy.  You aren’t pizza.

17.The REAL workout begins when you feel like quitting.

16.Nike has summed up everything we need to do in most areas of our lives with 3 little words, “Just do it.”

15.Most answers reveal themselves through doing not thinking.

14.“If you only walk on sunny days, you’ll never reach your destination.” ~ Paulo Coelho

13.“When something goes wrong in your life, just yell ‘plot twist!’ and move on.” ~ Joy of Dad

12.“You are what you eat so don’t be fast, cheap, easy, or fake.” ~ Unknown

11.“Perfectionism [doesn’t] lead to results.  It leads to peanut butter.” ~ Brene Brown

10.Finally taking off your sweaty sports bra after a workout can pretty much make your day!   

9.Sometimes it is only when we surrender to the fact that we might not get something that it actually floats into our lives.

8.The natural mechanism of breathing reminds us that if we want to survive, we eventually have to let go.  

7.It doesn’t matter what size your pants are, how much weight you can lift, the number on the scale or how fast you can run.  What matters is that you show up.

6.“She remembered who she was and the game changed.”  ~ Lalah Deliah

5.The cracks in a broken heart are where the most beautiful light gets in.

4.Turning on your favorite music and dancing around like a complete fool is some of the best medicine there is!  

3.Everyone’s journey is beautiful and unique and we are all trying to get to the same place: where we are happiest, most alive, and most like ourselves.  

2.“Your time is limited, so don’t waste it living someone else’s life.  Don’t be trapped by dogma - which is living with the results of other people’s thinking.  Don’t let the noise of other’s opinions drown out your inner voice. And, most important, have the courage to follow your heart and intuition.  They somehow already know what you truly want to become. Everything else is secondary.” ~ Unknown

1."Life is the greatest journey you will ever embark on, and when you love yourself, the adventure becomes an extraordinary experience. For with real, authentic self-love, all and everything is possible." ~ Shannon Kaiser

Be. Believe. Breathe.

Life is good. 

What’s your #1 lesson from your years around the sun?