On the eve of my birthday – and a rather milestone one at that – I am overwhelmed with an acute awareness (and aversion) of the crap and beliefs and thoughts and pressures that I am just … done with.

So in bumbling Emily fashion – here they are. Shit that I’m done with (the 29 to 30 edition).

Clictivism –

Small acts of social media activism that don’t actually help to alleviate the cause. Education and awareness are vital tools within any humanitarian endeavour – I get that. But, for me, awareness alone just is not enough anymore. I want to learn more about how I can use my insane (and totally down to luck) privelage to support issues near and dear to my heart. Namely maternal and child health, period poverty and climate change. I will be dedicating a lot more of my time, energy and resources to helping these causes (really truly trying to make a dent in their cruel presence) over the coming months.

Comparison –

Oh if ever there was a thing that I was well and truly over – it’s this bad boy! I’m (fucking) done spending even one more day or minute wishing I was someone different or wishing I was a more polished version of myself. I am instead impassioned to focus on all of me – the duality of my imperfections – my flaws and flawlessness. Not even a second of this life is going to go un-noted or unappreciated (she says very ambitiously but totally gets that this one will be an ongoing little battle).

Avoiding the keyboard and losing my voice –

Writing has been absolutely lost on me in the last twelve months. Since the beginning of the year (and maybe even longer) I swapped creating content in favour of immersing myself in content. It’s been a year of reading, listening, reflecting, engaging and now I’m excited to pursue projects in which I am the author and can penn my experiences. This may also look like exploring the world a little differently with podcasts or video series or collaborations that allow me to create and explore.

Hangovers –

They say you don’t quite shake hangovers in your 30s like you do in your 20s, and I’m starting to fear it’s all too true. I’m done with losing my Sunday mornings to side splitting headaches, missing sunrise because I can’t get off the loo and soaked in post drunk regret and guilt. I will never (never say never but … most likely it’s never) give up a celebratory glass of bubbles to cheer my loved ones’ promotions, engagements or birthdays. But six or seven cocktails is losing its appeal. Again, like booting comparison, this one is likely to lapse and I’ll forget my intentions whilst sinking a tenth shot with the girls at their Hens. But for now it feels inviting and right.

Approaching 30 initially felt scary, as I mourned the loss of my youthful 20s. I found myself clinging to 29 like nobody’s bidniz. I think I was unconsciously subscribing to the societally perpetuated concept of “young is better” and that, at 30, I’m fast passing my prime.

But now, 30 feels like a big hug. A giant permission slip, and blank slate, to show up in the world as the exact, whole, perfectly flawed human that the past thirty years have chiseled. The past decade has shaped me far more than its predecessor (10 to 19 year old Emily was still a people pleasing goody good methinks) and I’m so grateful to these years of challenge, self discovery, growth, rebirth and, above all, so much fucking fortune and love.

So I salute my 20s, thanking them for all they’ve given me, but I walk willingly and gladly into the next age box of 30-39. Where there seems to be an overall “no fucks given” theme starting to emerge – where I refuse to give proverbials to anything that doesn’t serve me or my loved ones (which includes the planet and my fellow humans as a collective, not just my besties) and I see it as my birth rite and, pretty much, my duty (don’t overthink this one, I realise I’m not a leader or Monarch but you get the gist) to live and experience the world totally and completely without judgement, guilt or overthought.

Simple, kind, connected and awe inspired living. This is how 30 feels.

Fucking delicious.

Blessings and thirty rotations around the sun x

Images sourced from here | here