25 wishes for you

Today is my 25th birthday. It’s not an old age, but it’s not a young one either. It is wiser than the ages I’ve been before. It’s an age that is supposed to come with maturity, life experience, & is not an excuse for behavior anymore. It’s a year that marks growing up & growing older. It’s a mark on time, a sense or feeling that makes easing into life more comfortable. It’s 25 years of living & finding out who I am, or more so, who I’ve always been. Today, I am 25. And my only birthday wish is to write 25 wishes that I hope will bring meaning & life to you, no matter your current age.

I wish for you that you learn to plant your feet firmly & grow. Dig deep, stay rooted, & bloom into what you were created to do. I wish for you that you go through something in life that forces you to reflect, & helps you live more passionately. For me, it was loss & grief. I wish for you that you learn to become your mom’s friend. She’ll truly be the best one you’ll ever have once you get to know her a person with feelings too, & not just your mom. Same goes for your dad. I wish for you to realize when you mess up & that you own up to it, & correct it. I wish for you to never give up on your dream, because being able to finally say you lived it will be so worth it in the end. I wish for you to never shy away from what makes you, you. Find the thing that truly makes you come alive, & live your life to fulfill it.

I wish for you to you get to know yourself. Truly know your soul, know what angers you, know what breaks you, know what makes you feel a burning passion. I wish for you to practice the gift of generosity. Give what you can, & sometimes that means everything. I wish for to not let others steal or take things from you, & to not give things away freely. What you have to offer is precious & has value.

I wish for you to realize that time is precious. It can be restful & unmeasurable, & there is truly never enough of it, so make it be on your side. I wish for you to see that one moment can change a lifetime & ten moments change nothing. So know which moments to give yourself to. I wish for you to figure out how to only buy what you truly need. You’ll avoid waste, & be able to attach meaning, love, & care to what you do have. I wish for you to learn that there is a line of humans behind every purchase & they are more valuable than gold.

I wish for you to be cautious, but daring. I wish for you to know that you can’t change who you are. The sooner you realize that, the easier it will be to ease into the life you were created to experience. I wish for you to know that you are not your job title, or what has been done to you. Those things describe you, but they don’t define you. I wish for you to learn to feel, truly feel the pain of others. And that you choose to be with them in it. Everyone needs a human, so be someone’s human.

I wish for you to surround yourself with supporters of you. Life is hard enough as it is, & having to battle the people who are supposed to be on your side is just not worth the effort. I wish for you to learn to love your curves, wrinkles, stretch marks, size, height, & every other part of yourself. They are the components that make up your body, & you literally need this body to live. So praise it, & don’t say one more bad thing about it.

I wish for you to realize that the good days are now, & the best days are ahead. I wish for you to know that you don’t have to be where they are, or where she is, or where he is, to be on your way. Your way is your own, & no one else can get there, at the exact time you’re supposed to, but you. I wish for you to experience love. For a friend, for a niece, for a sister-in-law, for a grandparent, or a neighbor. Feel the kind of love that moves you with their life, & changes you if they were absent from it. I wish for you to use your voice. For injustice, for peace, for doing what is right. To speak up for the voiceless. I wish for you to use your hands to turn your words into action. Do something, anything, for the better.

I wish for you to live out your everyday with the truth that you were created to exist with intention. Live intentionally with passion, love, forgiveness, depth, dreams, & the ability to sit side by side with anyone who was put on this earth to live life too. You are not above or below any other person. Intentionally live your story, listen to the story of others, & be transformed by both.

– abbey kay

Photos by Red Poppy Photography.