Turning 51 has given me a lot to think about.
Not just about the years behind me, but about the people who have walked beside me through them.
Last Saturday I was headed to Florida for doTERRA Convention. A few of my doTERRA team decided to do a team party prior to convention in Disney World. We have know each other longer than we have done doTERRA. I am from Utah, Ronai is from Minnesota, Kyle is from Colorado, and Aly is from Texas, but has relocated to Florida. Aly and Kyle are seasoned Disney People and Ronai and I had never been before.
As I started my trip at the airport I heard a familiar voice. It was Kim and Kirk Duncan who were also heading to the doTERRA Convention.
Several years ago, Joseph and I took some self improvement courses from them including Royalty and Romance. The voice in my head almost stopped me from saying something to them. But I didn’t let it win. I took the opportunity to thank them for the impact they made on me. We then shot the following video together.
I am grateful for 50 years of experience.
I’m grateful for the people who saw me, accepted me, and loved me where I was when they met me. I’m grateful for the people who helped me keep going when things were difficult.
Because the woman you see today has survived some things.
Anxiety. Depression. Suicidal thoughts. Verbal abuse. Financial abuse. Physical abuse. Sexual abuse.
And I’m not ashamed to talk about it.
I’m not ashamed to say that I still have hard days.
If anything, those experiences have taught me something I wish every woman could know:
You don’t have to go through life alone.
And you don’t have to pretend you’re okay when you’re not.
It’s okay to say, “I’m not okay.”
It’s okay to stand up for yourself.
It’s okay to say, “The way you’re treating me isn’t okay.”
It’s okay to set boundaries.
It’s okay to be different.
And perhaps most importantly…
It’s okay to let people love you.
The gift of women who show up
Last Saturday, I traveled to Florida to spend time with friends.
And somewhere between the travel, the conversations, the laughter, the ridiculous moments, and the memories we were making, I found myself thinking about how incredibly important women are to one another.
Not women who compete with you.
Not women who secretly hope you stumble.
Not women who make you question whether you’re enough.
Women who build you.
Women who celebrate you.
Women who make you laugh until your face hurts.
Women who can see something beautiful in you when you can’t see it yourself.
Women who remind you that your story isn’t over.
Women who can sit beside you in the messy chapters and still see the good that is coming.
That’s the kind of friendship I want in my life.
And that’s the kind of woman I want to be for other women.
We don’t have to tear someone down to shine
I think sometimes women have been taught that there isn’t enough room.
Not enough beauty.
Not enough success.
Not enough attention.
Not enough opportunity.
Not enough love.
So we compare.
We compete.
We judge.
We hold back compliments because somehow celebrating another woman feels like taking something away from ourselves.
But what if we decided there is room for all of us?
What if your success didn’t threaten mine?
What if my strength could remind you of yours?
What if your courage gave another woman permission to be courageous?
What if we stopped asking, “How does she have that?”
and started asking,
“How can I help her get there too?”
That’s what building women looks like.
It looks like encouragement.
It looks like sharing what we’ve learned.
It looks like making introductions.
It looks like celebrating someone’s birthday.
It looks like checking in.
It looks like telling another woman, “I’m proud of you.”
It looks like sitting around a table laughing until you cry.
Sometimes it looks like a plane ticket to Florida.
And sometimes it simply looks like a text that says, “Hey. I was thinking about you.”
This is what 51 feels like
At 51, I’m realizing that I don’t want a life that just looks good from the outside.
I want a life that feels good on the inside.
I want laughter.
I want friendship.
I want adventure.
I want honest conversations.
I want women around me who aren’t afraid to be real.
And I want to be that woman for them.
I am incredibly grateful for the people who have loved me through every version of myself.
I’m grateful Joseph saw something in me that I couldn’t see in myself.
I’m grateful for his love, support, understanding, and playfulness.
And I’m grateful for Ronai, Kyle, Aly, Tina, Amy, and Sonya for the joy, magic, and love I will cherish for the rest of my life.
These are the people who remind me that life isn’t just about what we’ve survived.
It’s about what we get to experience because we kept going.
So here’s to 51.
Here’s to living the rest of my life full out.
Here’s to better sleep, better nutrition, workouts, adventures, ridiculous laughter, deep friendships, and making memories that make me smile years from now.
And here’s to women who build women.
Because I believe the world needs more of us.
Be the woman who reminds another woman how powerful she is.
Be the woman who celebrates her.
Be the woman who makes room for her.
Be the woman who says, “I’ve got you.”
And when you find women like that?
Hold onto them.
They are magic. ❤️
I was overjoyed as I felt the magic of experience Disney World for the very first time, but also from the magic of women supporting and caring for each other. It started out the 4 of us and we met up with a few other friends along the way that made the experience even better. I have not laughed or scream that hard in a very long time. I am so grateful for the opportunity to learn from such an incredible experience. There where times of complete sensory overload, but I would not change it for the world.
Maybe that’s what happens when women stop competing and start building each other up.
We stop wondering if there is enough room for us.
We stop measuring our worth against someone else’s.
We start celebrating instead of comparing.
We start reaching back and bringing someone with us.
We start realizing that another woman’s light doesn’t make ours any dimmer.
It makes the whole room brighter. ✨
Here’s to shining bright and lifting others up!
