My Birthday Present to Myself

October 5, 2016

Gina Simpson

I’m stressed out. I’m tired. I’m guilt ridden. Heck, I’m downright miserable. I keep telling myself to be positive, to be grateful. After all, in the grand scheme of things, I have a great life. I have a handsome, smart, caring husband and we are coming up on our 18th wedding anniversary. We have a clever, gorgeous daughter that attends one of the best private schools in the state. We live in a huge house with a pool in one of the most prestigious neighborhoods in our city. We have nice cars and we are members of the country club. We get to vacation at least twice per year, usually more. All of this and very small debt. I have a high profile job as the CEO of our local tourism agency and I get paid very well. From the outside looking in, it would appear that I have the perfect life. This is a great life but truth is, it is not the life I want. Yesterday was my 44th birthday. I made a promise to myself. I am going to make the changes needed to be happy by my 45th birthday.

I’ve decided to write this blog to chronicle my journey. Not everyone will understand me or what makes me happy and that is OK. It takes a lot of different types of people to make the world go around. I want to tell this story for a few reasons. First, is that I want to keep a record of what happens over the next 12 months. When our daughter is older, I want her to be able to read this and understand how to achieve happiness, however she defines happiness. I also want her to know that her destiny is up to her, just as mine is, and that if we want something to change, we must change it ourselves. Action is key. Second, I want to hold myself accountable. I expect that as I make changes in my life, I will face some difficult times. I do not like to give up or fail, but like everyone, there have been times when I did. I am less likely to give up if I know someone is out there watching my journey. Finally, I hope that by sharing my journey, I can inspire someone to take the same trip. No one’s will look exactly like mine but maybe there will be some nuggets of inspiration and hope that will encourage someone needing to make a change.

Let’s get this journey started.