It’s that time of year! I celebrate another year on this crazy place we call Earth. I am always thinking of ways to make my birthday a memorable one.
This year I want to focus on life itself. Turning 38 can bring many people to become nostalgic about their youth and resolve to capture that special feeling.
This year I am having a virtual birthday party and I want to invite all of you to share this day with me.
Some people feel bad that life is rolling quickly downhill once they get to a certain age. I don’t pretend to know that number. I prefer to honor my birthday as another year that I have been blessed with time to feel joy, pain, happiness, fear, surprise and every imaginable feeling that a person can possess.
These feelings validate that I am alive and kicking!
It’s not a time to mourn yesterdays but to anticipate more days where I can make a contribution to this world and where the people that I bump into or roll over will leave a little dent in my life and a smile on my face.
Every year I think of those people who are no longer in my life due to death. I realize that no one in my life has died from old age except my great aunt.
This revelation leads me to my first virtual birthday party. My friends ask me what I want for my birthday and what I want do on my birthday.
I would like to honor life.
All of you are invited to this party.
On January 9th, do one act to honor and celebrate your life, the life of a loved one or life in general.
You might want to say one positive or nice comment to whomever you meet that day.
Write down 38 things you are grateful about in your life. Yup, that’s how many years I have been blessed with so far!
Take a family picture and put it on your screen saver.
Call your friends up and tell them you haven’t forgotten them.
Make a promise to yourself that you will honor your disappoints and triumphs as part of the wonders of your life.
Help someone you know who would be too shy to ask for help on that day.
Remember those people who are no longer here but have made an impact on your life!
Make a donation even for one dollar at a local charity.
Take the time to say hello to your neighbor and discuss something positive.
Make January 9th a day you give thanks for all that life has given you. Yes! The good and the bad.
Remember, if you didn’t have bad you would never know how to spot the good.
My students don’t know this yet but on my birthday we are going to have cake and honor their lives.
They will have a worksheet where they will jot down their five greatest qualities, the trait they must love about someone in the classroom, at home and in any other place in the world, the greatest moment in their lives so far, after all they are only in 7th grade.
It won’t be about me. It will be about their own lives. You see, my life would not be as rich as it is if it weren’t for them, my former students, my family, friends and strangers who have crossed my path and who have yet to enter my doorstep of friendship.
So join me on my birthday, January 9th to celebrate all that life offers, has offered and will offer.
Write me back and tell me what you did!
If you take a picture, send it too!
Share this with your friends and family.
No celebration should go on quietly!
Live an audacious life!
I look forward to hearing from you.
Email me at nathasha@audacitymagazine.com