September 26, 2011

Beginnings and Birthdays


20th Birthday

I get very excited about beginnings. I LOVE the beginning of school especially, with all the new books and binders and schedules. Yes, I’m a nerd, but I love it and embrace it. This is my last year of school, which means I had my last ever “First Day of School”. Sad.
This year is also an extra special beginning because I turn 21 in 3 days. To me, this signifies the beginning of a lot of freedom. I don’t have to be scared of being caught with alcohol or (more realistically) being caught with a fake ID. I can go out when I want to, where I want to, and not feel like a criminal. Finally. I have learned in the past few months that older does not equal wiser. Let's leave it at that.
For my birthday I’m going to spend the morning with my family, come up to school and go out with my friends and boyfriend at night, and then go to San Francisco for the weekend. I’m SO excited! I can’t wait to explore the city and see the sights and eat the food and drink the coffee and everything else.
I feel like this year my birthday signifies much more than just an ability to drink legally. I’m really growing up and figuring out who I want to be and starting to plan what I want to do with my life after school. Kinda big stuff, if you ask me.
So, I’ve decided to make 3 “New Year Age” resolutions, starting on September 29, my 21st birthday:
1.   BALANCE – I’ll continue to strive for balance in my life. I know I’ll be going out a bit more than I was previously, but I have promised myself that I will not get sucked into making partying a priority. I need to do well in school, try my hardest at work, stay healthy, and also have fun. I need to find the balance.

2.   GO WITH THE WIND – I am tempted to start planning the rest of my life immediately after I finish school in December. I get extremely anxious when I think that I don’t know where I’ll live after graduation, if I’ll be able to find a job, or if I’ll have roommates that I can handle. I want to travel, have a career, and be closer to my boyfriend. I’ve decided, though, to give this a bit of a rest. I still have at least a year to live in my college town (even if I won’t be in school), so I’ll enjoy that and cross the other bridges when I get to them - - or at least when I get closer to approaching them.

3.   DON'T STRESS THE SMALL STUFF -  With all that I have going on between my birthday, school, work, relationships, working out, the sorority, and many other things, some things are going to have to give way for others. I promised myself that I will not stress out about missing the gym one day, about missing a night out with my friends, or about only giving 95% effort on a 5-point homework assignment. If I want to find the balance, I have to be willing to accept that I can't do EVERYTHING 100% perfectly 100% of the time, and that's ok. I have my priorities (#1 of which is being happy and making sure that the people I love are too), and I'll try to give myself a bit of a break if I can't do it all. Easier said than done for me, but worth a real try.

I can't wait to upload pictures from this week/weekend. I intend to fully make up for the lack of posts this week with TONS of updates next week.
Do you make resolutions for your birthday? What do you wanna work on as you get older?

xo Toni


3 comments:

  1. Hi!
    I've just came across your blog... probably you are interested in my $100 giftcard giveaway :)


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    xx

    ReplyDelete
  2. Happy Birthday have a fab day xx

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  3. Belated Birthday wishes Toni! :)
    This is such a sweet diary!:)
    My wishes to you to make work the 3 New Age resolutions! :)

    ReplyDelete