Joy In My 40's

 I belong to a number of blogging networks, as most of us do.  Last weekend, one of them called bloggers.com chose mine to be one of the top 3 for that day.  I feel grateful that I was actually chosen out of all the wonderful bloggers that are on that site.  We all want to be recognized for what we do, so that we know and feel we are seen, we matter!

I read a number of blogs and comment regularly, this last week has been tough as I have committed to not commenting through the week, I love reading blogs and commenting but I really do need to spend more time with my children.  Next week after my CPA exam, I'll be free of that stress, so I will be more flexible.  I'm so excited.

I wanted to say something about the blogs I read, I choose to follow ones that give a piece of themselves in their blogs. I love hearing all of their dreams and desires, some of them I have become Facebook friends. We are more alike than we are different in this world.  I follow all ages, a few of the one's I follow are younger women in their early 20's; I feel for them, I remember how confused I was at that age.

It really wasn't until the past 3-5 years that I came into my own (I still have my days).  Because it's been so recent, I haven't forgot how mixed up and out of control I was when I was younger.  I'd love to talk to my younger self to just tell her that everything works out the way it's supposed to and not to worry so much.

Also, the "things" you worry about in your 20's mean nothing to you in your 40's.  Broken hearts mend and we learn to love again.  The biggest lesson I learned was that I needed to forgive people that have hurt me, they were just coming from a lack of love, I don't want to hold on to their lack of love and pain. 

Mostly I've learned to be tolerant and less judgmental.  We all have our stories and baggage that can be difficult to deal with but all of it makes us who we are.  Without some of that baggage we may not have learned some of the lessons we needed to learn.

Also life is all about how we chose to take it.  Believe me I could crawl under the covers and cry non stop if I let myself.  I don't because I don't want sadness to own me forever.  Besides feeling some sadness allows you to feel joy and know the difference.  You appreciate it more.