Thoughts on Turning 30
Birthdays that end in zeros, culturally, carry with them expectations that we have reached some sort of milestone.
As the decades pass, we are taught to take measurement of our weight, our marital status, our career success, and other such acheivments (or failings) on these days.
There is a lot of striving energy associated with them. Is the party special enough? Have we done enough? Are we enough? Is our website pretty enough? Do have regrets? Are we still struggling with that same old issue?
I reject this energy.
I reject making my 30th birthday about taking an ‘enoughness’ inventory.
I was enough on July 29th, 1982 and I am enough July 29th, 2012. My enoughness is infallible. unshakeable. unchanging.
Even in moments when I feel not enough. I am enough, experiencing temporary disconnection from that truth.
So I don’t have a listing of “30 things I’ve accomplished” or “30 things on my bucket list.” I don’t have a list of “30 things I know for sure.”
I just have simple simple gratitude.
As Meister Eckhart says, “If the only prayer you ever say in your whole life is ‘thank you,’ that would suffice.”
And so, because that’s all there is for me right now, the one thing I want my 30th birthday to be about is giving thanks to you.
It’s been a beautiful and delicious trip so far and we’re just getting started.
If you’re a client, a reader, or a Retreatshop attendee…If you’re a fan, a follower, or a friend…
On this birthday I am full of gratitude to you.
Thank you for helping me to share my teachings.
Thank you for joining me in calling forth the commitment to living life in harmony with our hungers.
Thank you for being kind, curious, engaged, and awesome.
THANK YOU. THANK YOU. THANK YOU.
I’m so excited for what’s to come and what I’m going to get to share with you during this next ride around the sun.
Love, Rachel
:::::::::::::::::::::
Me, the abundantly lucky birthday girl, when I was wee.
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happy birthday 30 times Rachel Cole. I am grateful you were born.
xo,
Justine
Rachel, Love,
This wee picture of you makes me giddy. So, so adorable.
Simple gratitude and there is nothing simple at all about it. It is deep. It is holy. I’m thrilled I get to celebrate you, both on this birthday, and in so much of my daily life.
Thank you.
Julie
Happy Birthday Rachel! much love
Thank you for the lovely thoughts on “enough-ness”. I lose track of this feeling on a regular basis, but little whispers in my ear and blog feeds in my Google Reader remind me. Happy Birthday!
happy birthday to you, sweet friend-
thank YOU for being so willing to call it like it is, to lay it out there so beautifully i smile through my tears. thank YOU for the amazing gift you give, again and again. I’m honored to be in your orbit.
big love to you,
amy
Happy Birthday to a sister Leo! The decade birthdays are beyond words wonderful. Enjoy
Happy birthday, Rachel! loved your thoughts on letting go of the measuring associated with birthdays and for the reminder about always being enough
Happiest, most cheerful birthday to you, Rachel! I cannot stop smiling at this picture of you. Connecting with that genuine openness, that purity and clarity that we all had as children, that possibility, makes me so happy, is a reminder that we are all still that, exactly that. Enough, always enough. You are such a gift, and I’m so grateful for you. So much love.
May that gratitude be reflected back to you, my friend. You are a gift for many. Happy birthday!
HAPPY BIRTHDAY! What a wonderful reminder & a great source of empowerment to celebrate instead of making comparisons/evaluations.
Happy Birthday, Rachel! What a gift to remind us of our enoughness. And, a hearty Thank You for getting me back on track this morning. I woke up on the wrong foot, and thanks to your courage and insight, and the courage and insight of the other wonderful women on the call, I can now feel the soles of both my feet planted quite firmly–gratefully–on the ground.
From one Rachel to another, and one almost-30 year old to a just -30 year old (happy birthday to you!) I want to thank you for this timely reminder.
I adore the line “It’s been a beautiful and delicious trip so far and we’re just getting started” – can be applied across the board. Thank YOU xo
Happy Belated Birthday! Thank you for being you and sharing your incredible talents, gifts and superpowers with me and the world. I am so grateful to be able to work with you. And I love the photo of your family dog. What a cutie!