Self-esteem celebrated by birthday ball
Why let your self-esteem diminish just because you are getting older? Being a woman over 40, 50 or 60 can be glorious. There is so much to celebrate. Celebrate every year you are blessed with.
What do I mean by celebrate? Well I don’t mean go out with a group of friends and get drunk. That isn’t so much a celebration as obliteration. It's too shallow. You deserve better than that.
Instead, celebrate with a focus on the actual number of years your birthday is, whether it be 41, 47, 56 or 68. Choose something specific that highlights that and celebrates your age.
For example, for my 40th I celebrated for forty days with forty friends and it was wonderful. I thought, "Why keep the 40th celebrations to one night when it is over so quickly?"
I found different things to do with small numbers of people, or even just with one friend, until I had celebrated with forty. Celebrations ranged from going to a music festival, having friends cook me a lovely breakfast, going bush-walking, going out for a meal, having a sing-a-long, to ... almost anything.
A birthday over 40 is a very special, precious time. It is a point in your life that may cause you to reflect on what you have done with your life so far and where you want to go next. The older you get, the more important it is that you leave a worthwhile mark on the world.
Another significant way to celebrate is to make a special place somewhere in a garden, park or reserve and plant 40, 50 or 60 trees, flowers or shrubs. Make a living memorial to this special day that you or your friends can keep returning to. Your celebrations can help the community and not just you as an individual.
I planted fifty trees to celebrate my fiftieth. I felt so good afterwards.
You could also use your birthday as an opportunity to help and be kind to others. You might find forty people to help, or donate $40 to forty different charities, or give forty items of clothing to a local charity shop.
The opportunity to make a difference to other people's lives is a wonderful way to celebrate your life.
Maybe you could give forty presents to forty other people. How wonderful would that be? You'd have spent your birthday with forty delighted people.
You could use your birthday to invest in your own future too. Walk a kilometre a day for fifty days prior to your 50th birthday and by the time you get to fifty you'll not only be fabulous but also fit.
One of the potential down sides of getting older is the danger of getting stuck in your ways. Therefore, another way to celebrate and boost your self esteem, is to do a new thing a day for fifty or sixty days (depending how old you are).
It might just be ... reading a new magazine, going to a new theatre, walking along a road you've never walked along before, talking to a person you've never spoken to before, buying a different colour of clothing, donating to a different charity, signing up for voluntary work, painting a picture, going to Yoga, writing to the newspaper, planting a new flower, watching a different television programme, listening to new music, going to a different Church, getting up at a different time of day, sleeping with the bed in a different position, changing bedrooms, climbing a mountain, helping someone who is disabled, adopting an old person, trying a new herbal tea, digging up your lawn, having sex in a different position, taking up knitting, taking tennis lessons, saying "no" to something you are asked to do which you usually say "yes" to, giving up chocolate, giving away a piece of furniture, having a new haircut, going to a new sport, holding your toothbrush in a different hand, learning to sing opera, seeking a promotion at work ...
Whatever your birthday is, celebrate it. Have a ball on your birthday. When you celebrate your self esteem will celebrate with you.
Celebrate every year you are blessed with.
How will you celebrate your next birthday?
Editor
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