My life is what I decide it is.

I am always trying to improve. My thoughts are always focused on what I could do better, or what I hope to accomplish. Which I think is great, but I've realized that it leaves very little room to appreciate myself in the moment. I have been trying to do that more lately.

I would say that turning 40, several years back, left me with this feeling of needing to make changes in my life toward the person I want to become. I had a similar feeling when I was turning 30. And, in retrospect, my life now is exactly the vision I had for myself as I entered my 30's. Does it look exactly how I imagined? Of course not. But, the goals that I wanted to accomplish, I have accomplished them. And, it is an important realization because it shows me that I can achieve the things I want.

Understanding that I dictate how my life goes has always been something that I've understood on some level. However, I think I am just starting to fully believe it. I feel like I spent so much time seeking external validation. And I now recognize that, the only validation that I need is from myself. I need to be confident in my choices, and if I can be then that is all that matters.

The benefit of learning this as I am raising my daughter is that, hopefully, she will believe this about herself. I hope it helps her spend less time caring what other people think of her. Additionally, it also requires that I recognize that my daughter is her own person and that there may be choices that she makes that I don't agree with, or understand, and that I will need to not allow my limiting beliefs to interfere with her decisions.