what if 2020 was THE year, though?

(wo)man, what a year. i know i don’t need to tell any of you that. today i’m just sharing a candid update on how i’m feeling, what i’m excited about, and where i want to go with golden thirty.

how it started

i have this feeling that 2020 was THE year – the one we will all talk about. the one that marked a turning point. on 1/1/20 i officially rebranded my north blog as golden thirty. THIS WAS MY YEAR. i turned thirty years old on march 30th – 3/30. it’s kismet, right? golden thirty. this was it! my YEAR. fast forward a few months and I was spending my thirtieth bday in one of the first few weeks of what would become long term work from home. if you don’t already know, my career is a huge part of my identity. I LOVE what I do (refresher: I work in finance at Target). i was week by week waiting for the email to come that we would be returning to work, but alas it never did (yet). mid-summer I was going pretty crazy and in a big funk (side note: I hate that word. it’s almost as bad as moist). there’s another reason I didn’t really share, though, that I wanted to have 2020 be my year: I was celebrating another golden anniversary. I was five years sober on september 5th. my journey in sobriety wasn’t one I shared super publicly, but it’s not something i’m ashamed of talking about, either. i’ll be the first to attend a work happy hour and explain why i’m ordering a diet coke (with a lemon or lime if it’s been a long day ;)). I had all kinds of hype i built up in my head for these golden anniversaries, needless to say this summer/fall was not the 2020 I was hoping for.

how it’s going

I’m not sure when it happened, but sometime this fall/winter, a switch seemed to flip. it might have been when I cried after the election was finalized, or getting to watch the first woman VP with my daughter, or hearing vaccines were being approved. it might have been me trying to meditate a little more (always seems to work :)) or just focusing on not trying to DO all the time, but things seem to be a little brighter. even though we are in the middle of winter, i’m not dreading the evenings and it getting dark earlier. I know that even though things seem tough right now, they’re getting better bit by bit, day by day. more often,Ii am starting to see the bright side of things instead of the dark. i’m building routines that allow for S P A C E. i’m making my mental health a priority. things are just a little brighter these days.

so what if 2020 was actually the year I wanted it to be? I have learned and grown so much. I know that I can handle and navigate life’s challenges, and more than that, recognize my privilege and all that I am blessed with with what I hope is grace and gratitude. I can’t help but shake this feeling that, while the path to get here has been an absolute emotional shit show, it’s where I wanted to be. maybe 2020 was my year. and 2021 will be even better.

what’s next

I want to get back to blogging more consistently, but in a less “blog-y” way and more conversational. I want this space to be informational (I love to dig in and research things — I am an enneagram 5, after all) and entertaining. expect me to share things that I have researched myself, heard from others, or just have opinions on. kind of what it set out to be three years ago when I started blogging. oh! and the shop will continue to focus on custom, cheeky, and curated pieces for the girl gang and mama bosses everywhere.

big thanks, my friends, for following along with golden thirty. whether you’re new around these parts (i’ve been watching too much yellowstone) or a longtime reader (hi mom! hi friends! – I know who you are :)), I appreciate you coming along on this journey.