It was my 29th birthday yesterday. I am officially 29!! I was having too much fun on a safari tour and petting Stanley the giraffe to get this post up yesterday (You can see the fun on my Insta Story.) But now we are back to our regularly scheduled programming!
Some people hate their birthdays. You’ll never hear me say that. In my opinion, with every passing year, I have more to look forward to, more that I have accomplished, more memories to look back on, (and more beautiful shoes in my closet.) So I thought I would share the 29 things I’ve learned in 29 years…
1.Be Nice to everyone. You never know who they are, who they know, or what they may be going through in their own life. Kindess from a stranger can change one person’s bad day into a better one.
2. Always appreciate your health. There are so many people in this world that will never be as healthy as you are now. Without your health, you have nothing.
3. Learn to let things go. Life is too short to hold on to things that stress us out or bring us down.
4. Be appreciative. If someone opens the door for you, smile and thank them. Appreciation, although small, can go a long way. Including making someone’s day.
5. Invest in yourself. Go to the gym, take a class, travel more, and learn something knew. You are your biggest asset.
6. Find a work-life balance. Never live to work, work to live. Don’t let your company or your boss walk all over you. Set boundaries that allow you to have a healthy work-life balance. Otherwise, you’ll just get burnt out and become severely unhappy.
7. Cut out the sugar! We eat WAY too much sugar in our diets. Myself included. It’s in everything. Learn to limit (I am working very hard on this.)
8. Stop caring so much about what others think. Trust me, we waste so much precious time doing this. Be you and if people are cool with that, they deserve to be in your life.
9. People come into your life for a reason, a season or a lifetime. My sister told me this quote and I find it to be so true. I like to think about what each person who has come into my life has taught me. It’s fascinating the things we learn from others.
10. Don’t wait to make your dreams come true. Write down a bucket list of all the things you want to do and start doing them! You don’t want your life to pass you by and never have lived.
11. Be Patient. Things may not be going your way, but the universe has a reason for it. Anytime I ever tried to force things in my life, they didn’t turn out well (jobs, relationships, etc.) Anytime I just focused on what I could control and let the universe do the rest, I ended up being much happier with the results.
12. Love what you do. If you don’t love your job, find something you love to do, that you’re passionate about and make a career out of it.
13. Take chances. You never know until you try. I’ve jumped out of my comfort zone to approach a guy I find attractive. Sometimes it works, sometimes it doesn’t. The important thing is that I tried and it gets easier every time. Plus, it always makes for a good story.
14. Don’t be a flake. No one likes them and it’s just rude. Be considerate of other people’s time.
15. Learn good manners When did we stop teaching kids manners? Good manners never go unnoticed and always impress.
16. Be upfront with your feelings (but be polite about it too) For example: don’t ghost someone. If you’re not interested, politely tell them why. If you have a friend and realize you two don’t get along anymore, tell them why.
17. Invest in your future. For my birthday, I just want these Schutz shoes. They are not expensive ($200), but I’m currently living off my savings to grow my company. That $200 would be better spent hiring a website developer to work on this blog. Someday I’ll buy those shoes, but for now, I’m investing in my future and the future of Laura Lily.
18. Indulge a little. I said a little, not all the time! For example, I eat pretty healthy 90% of the time. But when I go out to dinner I like to order what I want (pizza!) You have to LIVE.
19. Laugh at yourself. I make mistakes all the time. Instead of getting upset with myself, I laugh about it, learn from it, and move on. This gives me a much happier outlook on life.
20. If you don’t love it, don’t buy it. We are such a consumer society and retail stores make it sooooo easy to buy things we don’t need or really love. That money could be spent on so many other things, like saving or travel!!!
21. Travel is worth more happiness than material things. My favorite memories are not when I got my first Louboutin heels or finding my coveted Prada bag that I searched high and low for. They are from the trips I’ve taken and the memories I’ve made while I was abroad.
22. Tell your family and friends you love them. Someone can be taken from your life unexpectedly at any moment. Always make sure to tell the people in your life and you love them. And if possible, try not to go to bed upset with anyone.
23. Do one good deed for someone else every day. (without it benefitting you.) Open the door, offer to hold something, help an old lady bring groceries to her car, smile at people, genuinely ask how they are. These little things not only make you feel good, but make the world a better place.
24. Allow yourself to be vulnerable. Sure, you take the chance of getting hurt emotionally, but you also open yourself up to incredible human interactions if you are willing to put your heart out there.
25. Don’t settle for less than your best. This holds true for love, li, e and your goals. I am not in a relationship because I am holding out for someone amazing. I won’t put out a blog post or Instagram photo unless I am proud of the work I’ve put into it.
26. Step out of your comfort zone. That is how you grow. A complacent life is a boring one.
27. Stay young, Be Spontaneous. Life never really goes according to plan. I have the most fun when I’m being spontaneous because my expectations are low so everything comes as a pleasant surprise.
28. Stop Saying “I Can’t”. My mom never let us say this when we were growing up. It instills a belief in yourself that anything is possible.
29. Be thankful. Everything in life is a gift that should never be taken for granted.
Thank you for reading.
xoxo,
Laura
Shop My Look:
Dress: Jessica Simpson | heels: Jessica Simpson | clutch: H&M (old)
Photos by Azusa Takano
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