Happy Birthday to ME

You know, it’s OK to celebrate yourself…and I am doing exactly that! I have a friend that introduced me to ‘birthday month’ years ago. I mean, the mere fact that you were born is a miracle. Why do you think they call it ‘the Miracle of Life’? You deserve to be celebrated, don’t be shy.

Last night, I celebrated my last night of 51 years by reading everything from my 2025 vision board. It was a tad emotional. I’m so proud of myself and what I’ve accomplished this last year. I have a laundry list of things I want to do this year. I have some BIG dreams to chase…and last night, reading all of those quotes made what I want to accomplish in 2026 feel possible. It was a beautiful and simple process that I highly recommend!

And here we are with a new year ahead of us. After much thoughtful consideration, I have landed on my words of the year… BRAVE and PERMISSION. These words hold so much power when I say them or see them, that I know these are definitely the perfect fit for me this year.

Last year, my words were listen and perspective and I will 1000% carry those words forward with me this year. I cannot tell you how impactful those words were for me. Here’s the thing, when you claim a word or phrase of the year and continually remind yourself that those are your words that you are diving into, it is absolutely amazing what is laid out in front of you. Here’s the huge caveat, you do have to be open to receive the messages that are coming to you. This could be through God or your higher power or the universe or whatever you believe in, but let me tell you there is so much power in claiming a word.

I gave notice last week to my job of 16 years. This job is not just a job for me, it feels like family. I went through some of the toughest phases in my life over the last 16 years and my job/family was there to support me in so many ways. It was my beautiful escape from some really rough situations. They held space for me when I had back surgery, they’ve allowed me to pave a beautiful career path through the years. I will be forever grateful to this phase of my life. And here is where the word BRAVE comes in…to draft a letter of resignation and have the conversations that I had with my various bosses took an incredible amount of bravery for me. Let me digress and insert my other word and explain to you what this means for me, as well. I think often times we need to allow ourselves PERMISSION to feel certain things and do certain things. It’s almost like allowing us to have a bad day when we need to or allowing us to take any enormous leap when we don’t know what’s on the other side. I finally gave myself permission to take that leap and to do brave things. There is so much beauty in bravery.

Kind of like my words last year, LISTEN and PERSPECTIVE, and how they go hand-in-hand. That is how I feel about PERMISSION and BRAVE. I’m giving myself permission to be brave – physically and mentally. It is both frightening and exhilerating! I’m excited as hell about this next phase of my life.

My boyfriend and I followed the sunset the other night and when he pointed to the very snowy mountain that we were going to climb, I got a pit in my stomach. The snow was very deep, although we have done things like this before. It didn’t take us long to get to the top. We sunk just a little bit a few times, but I felt brave with every step I was taking. When I got to the bottom when we were done, I shared with him how that scared me a little and I felt proud of myself. I think that the feeling of pride in yourself is on the other side of bravery…and it is a feeling that is very difficult to put into words. You just need to go for it and do something that scares you a little…and feel all the feelings that go along with that.

So, my assignment to you… Pick a word or a phrase for the year – something that speaks to you and allows you to reach a little. What do you want out of your life this year? These are things that I ask myself when I’m choosing a word. It may sound trivial or silly, but words have power. And you have power over your life. Go buy yourself some flowers and as always, thank you for being on this journey with me – together we can make a difference in our own lives and in the lives of others. Cheers to an epic 2026!