Officially turned 23! Not 100% sure if I feel any different but my 23rd went down a lot better than some of my previous birthdays!

My 18th was the milestone! Could finally drink alcohol (legally…) and I had passed my driving test and it was just great. My 19th birthday wasn’t as great. I had reached 18 and it was dawning on me that my ‘adult’ years were just gonna keep arriving year after year after year. At one point I was sat on my kitchen floor watching my garlic bread cooking in the oven, close to tears waiting for my brother to arrive home with my Maccies chips. Pretty sad I know🙄. But wait till you hear about my 20th…me and L went to Iceland for it and I got incredibly drunk and towards the end of the night I was in floods of tears about turning 20. My teenage years were over and I was not handling it well! I was worried about grey hairs, saggy boobs and wrinkles. Looking back yes it’s very stupid and pathetic but at least my 21st and 22nd went down alright, however I was high for both of them🤔.

My birthday started off great! I was mid way through a Skype video call with L when it turned to midnight and the 9th January had arrived! We spoke for a good hour and had a huge catch up and everything. It felt good to see and speak to him as it had been a while since our last Skype. Eventually I fell asleep and woke up at 9:11!! That’s the longest lie in I have had for a while!! I actually slept in! I think I should thank the many glasses of wine I had drank during the evening before…

So this hasn’t been my first birthday away from home but it has been my first birthday during summer and I’ve enjoyed it!! Wearing shorts and a tank top went down well and eating dinner by the beach went even better! J and A came to see me on my birthday which was lovely. It was nice to have some friendly company. I love my me time and being on my own but I wasn’t quite feeling that on my birthday.

Mentally I’m in a much better place compared to my previous birthdays. The fear of getting older was very real to me. I used to feel like I hadn’t accomplished anything or that I wasn’t getting anywhere in life. It’s hard in this day and age. Social media has a huge impact on us, in many different ways and I used to beat myself up a lot. I would see people in a similar age range to me or younger achieving so much and posting about it all on facebook or Instagram (most of these being celebrities…) and I felt like I couldn’t post anything. I was just somewhat wasting my life.

Looking back I’ve achieved a lot in 23 years. A lot of my achievements have been personal or just goals that I have set myself. Each year I gain more and more knowledge and dare I say wisdom🤔 about life, my life and me. The fear of getting older doesn’t exist anymore. I see it as another year of maturity. Another year to gain more and to achieve more.

So cheers to turning 23! I’m ready for the fresh new year and ready to achieve my goals.

Don’t ever doubt yourself. You’re doing great👍

Sending my best wishes to you all,

Emma xo