Why 27 Has Been My Favourite Age & Why I'm Excited For 28
In just over a week or so I will be turning 28. How I'm approaching 30 at such a rapid rate is terrifying even though I am looking forward to it. And whenever my birthday rolls around I always feel quite reflective of the past 12 months and as 27 was such a life-changing year for me I knew I wanted to write a post like this and look back on everything that happened, the good and the bad.
feeling at peace
The beginning of my twenties were such a mess and I was so terrified that the rest of my life would be that way. Which is something that always seems to happen when we go through a rough time, our brain loves to convince us that they're never ending. And the past few years have certainly been rocky and there will always be highs and lows in life. But lately, I've felt so obscenely happy and at peace with where I'm at right now and the person who I am and I never thought I'd feel that way. Something that is so common when we talk about getting older is that it's scary or boring but I've found it to be the complete opposite. I'm so much happier now I'm older than I ever was at the beginning of my early twenties and I'm welcoming my late twenties with open arms.
A NEW STAGE OF GRIEF
When my mum died when I was 19 I thought that I would probably experience a couple of years of grief and then things would be ok. Thankfully I'd never experienced grief before so yes I was naive about the process and it's something that is so personal and everybody experiences it differently. Last year something happened that I wasn't expecting and I went through a different stage of grief. A lot of things changed for me, really big life changes and it was the first time I realised just how hard it is not to have one of your parents around to witness them. I hate that my mum will never be able to meet the man I will more than likely marry, know that I can finally drive and meet my beloved dogs. Not having her around to see these things certainly did put a dampener on them and saw a different stage of grief. I no longer have the rage or pure anger running through me that I used to that my mum had got so sick, so quickly and was so, so young but now it's just a longing. A feeling I'm sure will also fade with time but as this was the first time I'd gone through some really big life changes all at once it hit me so hard.
MOVING IN WITH MY BOYFRIEND
Probably one of the biggest things that happened when I was 27 was moving in with my boyfriend. Something that had been a long time coming but I didn't know just how much it would change the dynamic of our relationship. Due to the nature of my boyfriend's job, whilst we've always had a very serious committed relationship because he's not been in the country I've never had a huge amount of responsibility to him. But residing in a house together, making sure all the bills are paid, that there is food on the table as well as making sure we're happy and safe has been a huge change but such an exciting one. Whilst sometimes I do miss that carefree relationship we once had I've never felt happier to be at this stage of our lives and I'm so excited for the upcoming years as we've got so many plans for our future. Of course, just like any relationship, we have our ups and downs and it's not all going out with the dogs and taking nice pictures. We argue and we bicker and that's ok, it's all just part of being in a relationship, I wrote an entire post about everything I've learned about living with a boy and I'm sure I'll keep on learning as time goes on.
BECOMING A FAMILY
I'm incredibly close with my family and of course, nothing will ever replace the relationship I have with them. But now I live with my boyfriend and as soon as we extended our family with the dogs it made us into a little family and it was such a special moment in our relationship and something I feel is never spoken about enough online. I've known for a long time that my boyfriend would more than likely be the person that I marry but I never knew when I would have the moment of 'he is my family now'. It's something that I've always dreamed of and not only do I have it with the most wonderful person in the world [to me, of course] but we have two incredible dogs who are the light of our lives and all we ever want to do is hang out with our pups. Something we're not sure of is if children are in our future, which is something that always feels terrifying to admit. Meg over at Wonderful You recently wrote an incredible piece on the topic which summed up my thoughts perfectly. It's a conversation that we've had so many times but we're still not sure if it's the right choice for us and as of right now I couldn't be happier with our family unit.
A GREAT YEAR OF BUSINESS
I very rarely write about business, not because I don't want to or have something to hide but I'm just not a very business minded person so it's not something I find interesting to write about. Something that 27 saw for me was my best year in business to date, I worked with some of my dream brands and I've never been prouder of what I've created within this online community. I've never felt as lucky as I have lately to call this my job, it does have it's downsides of course, just like any profession but it's such an incredible thing to be able to do and something that I'll never forget.
A HAPPIER RELATIONSHIP WITH FOOD
Something I'm very conscious of is not dwelling on or discussing my bowel issues on this blog, it's hard enough to deal with in my real life let alone bringing it into my online world. Once I discovered that there were just some things I couldn't eat without becoming very poorly afterwards it really damaged my relationship with food as I was so scared of feeling unwell and I no longer saw food as enjoyable. Just something I had to eat to function but over the past year I've worked really hard on maintaining a happy relationship with eating even if somethings do make me poorly, there are plenty of other things I can enjoy. Something else I've managed to achieve too is gaining a little bit of weight, because I'd been so unwell at the end of 2016 and beginning of 2017 I had lost a fair amount of weight and it really showed in my face and arms. Gaining that weight back and feeling a little stronger has certainly helped me maintain a healthier relationship with food too.
things i'm looking forward to for 28
- The possibility of a holiday to the US
- Seeing Josie and Edie grow together and all the adventures they'll have.
- Working on our house.
- Becoming more confident with driving.
- Spending more time with my loved ones.
