This is 30.

Today is the day! February 19, 2021, As I was coming up on 30, I've been doing a lot of reflecting on my 20s. Man, I LIVED and experienced a whole lot of life in the last 9 years. I traveled to 15 countries, 11 of them being in 2019. I booked and worked on set of some memorable commercials and print jobs. I worked behind the scenes at multiple fashion shows including New York Fashion week. I got two dogs and have managed to keep them alive, happy, and well. I’ve taken them with me on my journey to figuring out this thing we call life. We’ve moved a countless amount of times and become a little family. I wrote a book on style and how to eliminate pointless clothing purchases and started a personal business in branding myself as an influencer. I’ve done way more than I could have imagined in my 20s. God has opened a lot of doors for me and taken me through a lot of lessons and journeys.

In addition to the highs, there have been a lot of lows. I lost more in my 20s than some people experience in their lifetimes. My mother, a marriage that I fought for, a love that I’d just begun to explore, my child, my job, my home, even my car due to an accident that wasn’t my fault to name a few things. But in each experience, I learned about my strength and where it comes from. I learned how to be resilient and overcome some of life’s most heart crushing blows. I’ve learned that no matter what comes my way, I can trust and lean on God fully. He will always come through even if I don’t have a single clue of idea why or how I will make it through the next day. There have been some excruciatingly painful moments. But I’ve learned that in the good moments and in the bad moments, it all boils down to choice.

Life consists of choices. In every moment, we are given the ability to choose. We choose when we wake up by setting an alarm, we choose to eat healthy food or junk food, we choose to work out or take a countless amount of rest days, we choose to focus or be distracted, we choose to do the work for what we want or talk about how it’s too hard. I’ve learned that the mind is really such a powerful tool! It can work for us or work against us. You can achieve whatever your mind believes. If you believe you can’t then you won’t. Think of the duration of 30 seconds. 30 seconds in a money grab machine literally flies by. 30 seconds in a plank hold, on the other hand, every second feels like 5. It’s the same amount of time but the mind is focused on different things. In the money grab machine, your mind is thinking of all the fun things you can do with the extra money you are about to grab. In the plank hold, your mind is thinking about how uncomfortable it is to maintain that body position. Changing the way you respond to discomfort or what you believe about a painful experience is everything. If you believe that with every second that you hold that plank you are gaining the strength and physique you need to live a longer and more fulfilled life, those mere seconds don’t have as high of a mental discomfort.

In my thirties, I am really looking forward to seeing each day as an opportunity to choose to better myself. I am looking forward to believing that I can achieve whatever my heart and mind believes, I am looking forward to focusing and doing the work to attain the life that I’ve always dreamt of. I am really, REALLY looking forward to trusting God and relying on Him to guide my decisions and reasoning. I will not be wasting my time, energy or emotions on things or people who don’t have my best interest. I learned that the opinions of people are capable of destruction. The only opinion that matters is God’s to me. While I’m sure rejection may still rear its head, I have experienced the latter consistently enough to know that the result is always the same, self destruction. At this point, I know that I can achieve what my heart desires by believing I can. This, my friends, is 30! LET’S GO!