This year, I said goodbye to my 20s and hello to my 30s. With this new decade, I’ve let go of certain areas of my life. Some of these changes are intentional, and some are not. Either way, I find myself feeling more free.
Looking up recipes for everything
When you’ve made chicken soup countless times, you learn the ingredients: bread, chicken, noodles, carrots, onions, celery…throw in a few seasonings and have chicken noodle soup! Common dishes are easy to recreate when you’ve been cooking for years. This relaxed style of cooking is something I’ve fully embraced! I’m not glued to recipes anymore.
Falling behind on printing photos
I used to be hard on myself for not printing more photos. I expected to have a large collection of photo albums neatly labeled. I don’t have as many photos printed as I expected I would. The photos I have printed are in photo boxes. I managed to make baby books for my two kids but haven’t made photo albums beyond that. You know what? It’s ok. I grew up in a large family, and there are few photos of myself as a kid. That fact hasn’t harmed me. The few photos printed are photos that I truly cherish. Before digital cameras were invented, people didn’t print many photos.
FOMO
Scrolling through social media, I’d often see events pop up and upcoming festivals, for example. I’d feel angst knowing that we wouldn’t be going to that fall festival. Our weekends are full of events for family and friends. Don’t get me wrong, I am so grateful for our community, but like many people, I struggle with FOMO. This is a big struggle, especially when I spend a lot of time on social media. I’ve been on social media much less this year. That’s really helped me. Before social media, we didn’t know about the festival 50 miles away going on this weekend. We didn’t see that several of our closest friends had marked ‘going.’ Being less aware of what’s going on has honestly been so freeing. I’m content to let the weekends go by and fully cherish time with my family.
Keeping up with Trends
I used to keep up with the latest trends and care quite a lot about my clothes. Having squirmy kids means that trips to the store are short. I miss the days of browsing clothing racks at Target. Maybe one day I’ll get back into shopping.
Feeling Like I Need to Maintain a Standard of Beauty
I would often compare myself to other girls. Other girls had their nails done, their hair styled, or tried new makeup and looked pretty wearing it. I’ve always been a wake-up-and-go kind of girl. My makeup is drugstore makeup. I curl my hair for church on occasion. I run most mornings when I have time for myself. I shower and throw my hair into a claw clip.
Ever the perfectionist, I’ve found myself trying to live up to an impossible standard. I hope my 30s can be a time of embracing the woman God made me to be and graciously letting go of the things that don’t serve me or my family.
