This is 42

I turned 42 this week (which seems like a very big number for how old I feel) and had the best birthday. 🥰

Tea and cake in bed. Cards and a treasure map to find my presents, which were sheer delight (miniature Lego succulents, oh yeah!) Choc chip flapjacks and fresh strawberries, reading and building Lego with my sweet family, then a trip to the cinema with my kids and my bestie to watch Inside Out 2.

I love movies. Particularly at the cinema. Particularly with my kids and bestie. And particularly Inside Out 2, which is apparently a kids movie but has stuck with me all week…

Mainly because of this concept: your belief tree grows from specific moments when you realize something is true about you. A core belief. It can be small or big, to do with others or yourself, but it’s something deeply true about you.

I believe in good manners.

Doesn’t that sound so silly and old-fashioned? But it’s true! I find rudeness deeply triggering and, in contrast, people being kind and polite to each other is such a glimmer in my day. It gives me such a lift. ✨

I wonder if it’s because one of the ways to complete the stress response cycle (as outlined in @enagoski and @amelianagoski’s book Burnout) is casual social interaction. Just a little polite sweetness is all it takes to give my day a little shine. And, in contrast, people being rude makes my blood boil.

I used to think there was something wrong with this approach, that I needed to chill about manners, but this ‘kids’ movie made me realize it’s actually just one of the strands that makes up my belief tree. Part of what makes me me.

Luckily, my birthday was filled with nothing but sweetness. After the movie we returned to our holiday house for a feast of my favourite foods and chilled bubbly and a gently crackling fire and friends, it was a day full of slices of joy.

This is 42. I’ll take it with so many thanks!