Baking My Own Birthday Cake 🎂💐✨ choosing to celebrate yourself, especially when you are alone

This week, I turn 28. Birthdays have brought a mix of emotions for me the past couple years, and especially these past two years in particular. I think just as many things in life, birthdays come in seasons. Yes, they inevitably come each and every year, but the way in which it is celebrated I think comes in seasons, which is where that mix of emotions comes from as an adult. Sometimes you might have that fun group of friends and live really close to family to have those big celebrations, or you might have people in your life who plan and create experiences for you, and sometimes you might just be alone. I think choosing to celebrate yourself can often come with this stigma of selfishness or ego, perhaps, but I think it is one of the most beautiful things to do for oneself. To intentionally carve out time to celebrate you, to reflect on your year and all that you have accomplished, all the ways in which you have grown, all the things you have overcome. Learning to love oneself and celebrate oneself in the ways in which you know you feel loved and celebrated is an important practice because there may be seasons of life where you might find yourself alone or far away from friends and family. You have so much power over your own mental world, the perspectives and mindsets you have over your own life, so why not bake yourself your favorite birthday cake? Why not buy yourself flowers? Why not write yourself a letter to your inner child how proud you are? This is what I have decided to do this year, as well as advocate and plan my own birthday celebrations. And while I currently live far away from family and friends at the moment, I wanted to intentionally celebrate this past year and who I have become and all the ways in which I have grown. So join me as I take time to really celebrate this little life I have and this little person I am becoming, and I hope you will feel inspired to do this one day too. Babe, would you listen for me? Listen for me in a crowded street. Listen for me in a winning streak. Listen for me when you're at your peak. Babe, would you listen for me? Listen for me in a child's power. Listen for me in a golden hour. Listen for me when you're on your own. Listen for me when you're far from home. Listen for me when you can't go on. Babe, would you listen for me? Me and a skein of birds. Listen for me when there are no more. Listen for me in a vital moment. Listen for me when the knife is time. Listen for me when the world is burning. Babe, would you listen for me? Sting your instincts. Realize that knowing looks different to each. Living authentic. Do more exploring. The deeper the knowing. Just what is essential for life that is thriving. Go deep. Mute out the chatter. Feel it. Burn off the fire. Until there's peace to your core. Live a life you adore. Silence the noise. Away from the program. Removing performance. True self all that's standing. Live free from worry. Live by just being. Power in finding. Your wholeness in now. Go deep. Mute out the chatter. Feel it. Burn off the fire. Let go. Until there's peace to your core. Live a life you adore. Mute out the chatter. Feel it. Until there's peace to your core. Live a life you adore. I wanted to end today's video by sharing something that Morgan Harper Nichols wrote that I deeply resonated with and wanted to share with you in hopes that it might encourage you if you have been feeling similarly to me and the thoughts that I've shared today. After everything you have been through, I hope something beautiful happens for you. I hope that you wake up someday soon and see that after all this time, the wait was truly worth it. I hope your heart is open to the unexpected and the possibilities of what might be even though you are currently facing an endless amount of uncertainty. May this be the season of hope. Unbridled, audacious hope that you feel deep down in your bones. Even when it doesn't make sense. Even when it feels childish, naive, or too innocent. I hope you can still believe in the maybe, the what if, and my time has not been wasted. I hope you can believe in redemption, possibility, and what you thought could only ever be a dream. After everything you have been through, I hope something beautiful happens for you. Because so many years have gone by and you did not know you would have to wait this long. You would not know you would need to be this strong and so many holidays and birthdays would sweep by you like winter winds. But every morning after you woke up, after one of those days was a sign of your strength. Every breath that left your lungs, every laugh that filled your belly, and every song that graced your lips. All of it. Absolutely all of it was a sign of your strength. After everything you have been through, I hope something beautiful happens for you. I hope you look back on this season in awe of the unexpected and how so much came together in ways you never thought it could. Because somehow, through it all, life still managed to be good. Meaningful moments still fell in place when there were so many things unknown. I hope you continue to find a life worth living right here in the present moment. With a heart wide open and ready to receive the possibility of what you could be. I hope you find that the wait was not for nothing and all of it was preparing you for something. And that even though you have been here so long, not a stage of your growth has been missed.