Turning 30

I am now 30...Everyone keeps asking, "how does it feel to be 30?". I keep saying it doesn't feel much different! But to be honest with myself and everyone else, I feel like it's a turning point. A point of change, a point of new things, a point of looking toward the future. For most of my life up until this point, I have been living in the moment, taking each day as it comes and following the road where it takes me. I feel like age 30 is telling me, that I need to look toward the future and start making plans for where I want the future to go. I am feeling like age 30 is telling me to take control of my life, decide what I truly want and go for it. Of course these things are all things that I've thought about before but put off because of where life has me currently. I feel empowered to dream my dreams and make them come true. I'm excited to start making plans and see how I can make those plans become the reality of my life. As for what those plans are...you'll have to wait and see. As my fortune cookie said today..."Keep your plans secret for now"...and so I will! In the meantime here are 30 things that I've learned in my 30 years of life:
1. There is nothing better than having a child to love you unconditionally
2. Forgiveness is not an easy thing to do, but makes your life better if you can
3. There is something wonderful about sharing a past with someone and knowing that you'll also have a future together
4. It's important to have not just one friend but many friends, because that one friend may not be able to support you in everything in life. But many friends will allow you to have support at every point in your life.
5. It's not easy to be a wife or mother. You'll make mistakes but learning from them is what makes you better.
6. Life is too short and many of us take this for granted even when we say we won't.
7. Too many times, we let the past guide our future
8. The people in my life including past and present, have made me the person that I am today.
9. The worst feelings include being disappointed in someone you love.
10. You can't change other people, no matter how much you try or how much you think they need to.
11. Even if you don't agree with something a loved one does, you still love them unconditionally.
12. Every problem you have with another person, you contributed to in some way. You may want to blame the other person but look within you and the situation and take responsibility for the way you acted or reacted.
13. Sitting and reflecting can solve many things
14. Reading opens your mind and heart to many things in life
15. You must have time for yourself even if it's just a small amount
16. Taking pictures captures the moments that one day might become a faint memory.
17. Patience is something that all of us could do better
18. There is nothing better than just being with the ones you love. The best moments are those just being together doing nothing extraordinary.
19. There is something very full filling in feeling like you had a hand for another's accomplishments.
20. Even if other's don't like you, there's no reason to dwell on the why.
21. Children will remind you of the simplicity of life and how to see things the way they are.
22. From every experience in life, we can learn something
23. Just because things seem bad and impossible, there is always something that you can do to make it better
24. Guilt is an ugly thing, you cannot change the past-only the future
25. If you are wrong, apologize even when it's hard to do so.
26. Just because someone hurt you, it doesn't mean that they meant to.
27. It's okay to wonder how things could be different sometimes
28. Don't let the moments pass you by
29. Find things that you have passion for and fill your life with those things
30. Only you are responsible for your own happiness...Think about what it is you want in life and make it happen!