birthday review - thinking back and looking forward

Birthdays are always a Big Deal here at wonder | wander | women, and this year's came at an unprecedented time. How do I quantify the 40th year of my life, and how I spent it? How can we know what comes next, and how to learn the most from it?

Do I measure my progress in work, in moving the ribbon bookmark page by page in my journals and sketchbooks, or counting the pages of my comics?

Is it the meals I've made and eaten, the packages of rice and pasta emptied out over the past 12 months? The cheese (so much cheese), dumplings, oat milk, noodles and whatever else I craved?

Should I count the books I've read, the comics, articles, posts? Is a word count a good measure of the year I've spent so far?

It might be better to spend more time thinking on the year to come. If there's anything I learned this year, it's to treasure the most ordinary, routine things, because at any moment the world can slide sideways and take away your everyday life.

Uncertain times can wreak havoc on life plans. But I'm learning to prepare for a new way of living, a foundation for the years to come. I'm building strength, working on my health and resilience, seeking hope and finding my own voice in a loud and intrusive world.

Looking forward to this year, and to the future birthdays to come!