This is it. My 26th year. I remember being 16 and graduating high school early and feeling like I was so ahead of the game because I was 16 and in college. Then my Dad said to me “I know you think you’re ahead hun, but don’t waste time, you’ll blink and a decade will go by.” He was right. I blinked and woke up and I’m 26. Not sure where the time went. One thing I am sure of is I didn’t waste my time. I graduated high school, went straight to college at Weber State. Did that for six months and learned I wanted the real college experience so I transferred to University of Utah and started in the business program. Then I did that and learned I wanted to open my own business but didn’t know in what. So I moved to NYC to figure that out and pursue my dream of singing. NYC gave me so many life lessons. While I was there I was an office manager at a rooftop bar and lounge that did million dollar weddings, bat mitzvahs, and was one of the top ten rooftop bars in the world. There I learned how to talk to people. Sure, I learned the ins and outs of hospitality too but most importantly I learned how to communicate with all different walks of lives from all over the world. After I left that job I was an estate manager for a high profile family on the upper east side. There I learned probably one of the most important lessons I’d ever learn. I learned that money truly does not buy happiness. This family seemed to have it all on the outside. The high paying salaries, the gorgeous Manhattan apartment, the celebrity friends. The perfect kids who went to prestigious private schools. Ya know, the total package. Or so it seemed. After living with them for only two months M-F I could see it clear as day, the kids weren’t happy and neither were the parents. That’s when I learned first hand money couldn’t buy happiness, not even millions. That was when I quit chasing the money, quit dating for money, moved to San Diego to clear my head, and started dating for love. While I was in California I learned that I really liked the real ness of people in NYC more so as soon as my head was clear I moved right back to NYC. When I got back there I decided I wasn’t going to waste any more time and I invested in a vocal coach who used to be on making the band on MTV and I put my all into signing and being in the studio. After months and months of working with him he pulled me aside and said to me “MaK, if you can’t be vulnerable in front of one person how are you going to be vulnerable in front of a stage of millions of people” I’ll never forget that moment because I learned he was right. That was my problem. I couldn’t sing the way I wanted to in front of millions of people because I couldn’t be vulnerable enough to try and fail. After fighting that realization for awhile I started practicing vulnerability. I started being honest with people. Transparent. Saying what was on my mind, with no filter. This only lasted a few months before I met my husband. We met and within hours of meeting we had poured out our entire lives as if we were just spirits picking up where we left off. Old friends that hadn’t seen each other for 20 years. We caught up and then couldn’t get enough of each other. From that day on we spent every single day with each other. That was five years ago and over the past fives years I learned how to love. Really love. Not the kind of love you see in cheesy hallmark movies. I’m talking the real raw kind of love that has its ups and downs, days that divorce seems like the only option, and other days that feel as if you couldn’t see yourself with anyone else in the universe. I learned that imperfection can be perfect if I let it. While we were young and in love and living in NYC I learned that NYC was expensive so I learned how to do Real Estate and learned that you could make $12,000 in a day if you worked hard. So I learned to work hard. Thank goodness I learned that because the next lesson I learned required a lot of hard work. I learned that kids are expensive so they require a lot of hard work. In every way. Mentally. Emotionally. Physically. And monetarily. This was a lesson I started to learn four years ago while I was pregnant and I’m still learning more every day. After having my first gorgeous girl Rew it was then that I learned everything doesn’t always go as planned. She was born and immediately needed surgery 3 months later. This lesson was what I like to call Gods Plan (que Drake). It was one of those lessons that I still don’t have all the answers to but I know that my creator does so I remind myself of that simple fact and leave it at that. After the medical bills started rolling in I really learned just how expensive kids are and medical bills are even more expensive but I also learned that surgeons were priceless and that I wanted to be one when I grew up. This is where I learned how to work even harder and I opened my microblading studio and began growing The Beautiful Brows. This has taught me many lessons but mostly if you believe you can do something you are right. So I did it. I built the top rated microblading studio in the State of Utah (according to google). Meanwhile I also learned many academic lessons in an array of courses mostly relating to the human bodies, evolution, biology, and anything else that applied to me getting prepped for medical school or becoming a more well rounded human. While I was in school I learned I was wasting money on rent so we bought a home and completely renovated it and I learned that hard work could really pay off, especially in Real Estate. In the midst of school and business I brought another gorgeous spunky girl into this world. My Goldy girl! With her entrance into this world I learned once again that my creator has a plan and once again that I don’t have all the details yet. I learned just how strong I really was, and I learned that life was such a fragile gift that could be so easily taken away. I also learned once again just how priceless surgeons are and how I really did want to be one. I learned that life gives you exactly what you need and I needed Goldy, and Rew and Kylan, with out them I never would’ve learned how to be vulnerable and truly love. I learned that there was nothing that brought me more joy than them. I also learned that having a family could entirely consume you and leave you no time for yourself or your dreams if you let it. It’s taken me almost two years postpartum to see this clearly and nothing says your time is running out then waking up 26 and realizing that your dad was right and that you woke up and a decade had passed. This was my last decade. I couldn’t be more excited about my next decade. As you can see it didn’t involve just one thing. It wasn’t just an accounting degree and then becoming an accountant. It wasn’t just a cosmetology license and then being a cosmetologist. It was a myriad of different things that brought me to where I am today. Why am I telling you this? Well, because we get sold on this American dream of being a kid for four years, getting shoved into a school system, graduating high school, going straight to college, getting a degree, picking a good steady career in your degree and doing that job for the rest of your life. So when I tell people my path they’re often confused or questioning and I guess what I’m trying to say is there is no straight shot to success. There’s not one way to do things. There are many ways! Mostly there’s not just one thing to do either. That’s been the hardest lesson I’ve had to learn over the past few years. The lesson that I’m not the traditional student applying to med school at 21. I want to have kids. I want to raise them. I want to go to school and learn. But guess what! I still want to sing. I don’t know where or how to fit it in and it’s terrifying to tell people because I know they’re like what are you talking about you’re 26 but that’s exactly my point. I’m 26. It’s now or never. So here’s my official announcement. Im starting to sing. In public. Write songs again. Get back into vocal lessons. And go for it. Because I’m not getting any younger and it’s something that brings me joy, so worst case scenario I’ll have more of joy in my life. If you’re feeling like you’re getting old and you don’t have it all figured out whether you’re 26 or 62 just remember that it’s all in your head, time is an illusion, and as long as you’re making the most of your days and you never stop learning you’re right where you’re supposed to be. All in good time. If you enjoyed my lessons I learned in the last 10 years please share this post to your stories and encourage people to read it.