I turned forty years old yesterday.  If you asked me twenty years ago if I would be typing that sentence, I probably would have laughed in your face.  Forty is still very young, but I have crammed a lot into these young years.  It’s funny, as a kid I had always envisioned myself at forty being successful, married, possibly with children.  I envisioned myself being together, a powerhouse.  I can say this with confidence, I’m not together (yet), but damn it, I am a powerhouse.

There’s so much I have experienced in this life, but there is still so much more for me to do.  There are places that I haven’t seen yet.  There are places that I never want to go back to.  The one thing that I can honestly say about life is that it is constantly changing.  You have to be like water and learn to move with it, to ride the tides and the surge, ebb, and flow.  Sometimes, you have to be quick on your feet, other times, you have to hold on for dear life.

The greatest thing that I am carrying into this fortieth year is embracing the fact that I am spectacular.  There is something inside of me that is brilliant, beautiful and powerful. I have been broken, but the light that dwells inside of me shines brightest through all of places that I have been broken.  I love hard, but that love is powerful and fortifying.  It gives life.  There is so much more to me than what can be seen.  There is magic in my depths.

It has taken a long time, at least twenty years of digging through pain and heartbreak, for me to have finally arrived at this moment in my life.  I am fully aware of my power and I am ready to walk in my purpose.  I am ready to lift up those who don’t see the beauty and magic inside of themselves.  I’m ready to share what I have learned.

So, I say confidently, “Hello forty.”   It’s nice to meet you and I’m ready to show the world what I’ve got.  Let’s dance.