Last Friday was my birthday. I’ve dreaded the day like none other, for it’s my last year in the 20s. Last year I can say I’m just a gal in her twenties. Last year to do all the things I wanted to accomplish before I turn 30.
It’s overwhelming to say the slightest, because I know all the expectations I had for my life up to this point, simply won’t happen. Others will instead, as they very well already did.
At the same time, I’ve grown on my 28th year more than the three prior to that. One year ago, exactly, I felt stuck. Stuck in a job, stuck in a routine, stuck in a big city. I was wondering if it’s worth it living in New York. I wasn’t happy, yet I kept at it. One day something clicked and I decided I don’t want to be stuck anymore.
Suddenly, everything I had wanted to happen, happened. I entered into a racing wheel of change and constant momentum that has yet to stop; I wonder if it ever will. It wasn’t clean and steady, but frazzling and messy, often time painful. But as the saying goes, no pain, no gain.
I took on work that made me happy, not someone else. I worked at myself and my life plan. I dipped my feet into video hosting and event planning; I even started copywriting. I did a few big trips, two of which (Cuba & Sri Lanka) I can positively say changed my life. I solidified my friendships and refocused my energies.
As I continue to do that, I realize that in fact I have only just started. I now know that the looming abyss 30 may seem as, it will only be towards a better and improved version of me.
And last Friday, on June 6th, as I stepped into my dream Gatsby birthday party, everything clicked. I celebrated my 29th, in the 1920s. That version of myself, in 1927, was everything I wanted to be and all that I wanted to feel. All decked out in 1920s attire, surrounded by friends, I toasted to another year older and more the wiser.
Thank you everyone for your warm birthday wishes and for coming out to celebrate my special day with me and fellow birthday boy Matthew Kepnes.
Photos by Jonatas Silva. See here full gallery of photos for our Prohibition Gatsby Birthday Party.
Remember last year’s Jazz Age Lawn Party? To continue on the birthday celebrations and relish my favorite all-time era, I’m going again. See you tomorrow on Governor’s Island!
