“Happiness is the consequence of personal effort. You fight for it, strive for it, insist upon it and sometimes even travel around the world looking for it.“

Elizabeth Gilbert

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This year for my birthday I went to Italy with my closest girlfriends to celebrate in a foreign land. I’ve always wanted to do that and now, at 37, I did. An age I did not imagine could exist when I was a lot younger. I had all these words in my head and thought I would make this my most personal post. But somehow I delayed in fear. Don’t get too excited. I’m not going to give away too much and I’m not the one giving advice (unless it’s something silly like what to wear).

And that is my own personal journey thus far: accepting my faults, accepting the good and the bad, a personal struggle going on for over a decade now. They say your 30s are your “more aware years“: figuring out that this life is much more complicated and nuanced than previously perceived in your 20s. I’ve been through some shit (like we all have) and I have lived in the meantime. We think we got it all figured out by the time we’re 30, but we don’t. So I say: live how you can and be guided by your heart. That’s it – 37 years of wisdom. I’m sure by this time next year I’ll be rolling my eyes at what I’ve said now.

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