In some ways 25 feels like this impossible feat that I can’t believe I made it to, but in most ways it feels like I’m aging into my soul. The older I get the more content with life I become, and I seriously think I may have been given a 90 year old soul that I’ll just continue to grow into for the rest of my days.

When I was young I thought 25 was so old and wise and accomplished. I was pretty sure I’d be a rockstar millionaire by now. That totally didn’t work out…yet. I had all of these grand expectations for myself but I don’t think I learned to wish for happiness until I was way older than the girl making those ten year plans. But now that I’ve reshuffled my life to be about feeding my heart instead of my bank account, the years don’t feel daunting, like there’s some deadline looking over my head that I’ll never catch up to.

So if there’s any advice I can give from my limited time on this planet, I say give up the things that make you unhappy and find the things that do. I’ve been in enough doctor’s offices, stuck on enough couches and consumed by enough darkness to tell you without any hesitation that life is too short to be miserable for no reason. I’ve shed friends and religions and other people’s ambitions for the past few years now, and the creature that has emerged is someone I adore.

I hope today is a happy day for you. I hope you register to vote or donate to your favorite charity or go on a run you’ve been needing for awhile. But if none of those things work today, I just hope you choose a little happiness for yourself.

To the next 25 years,

Madie