26

“Dance, when you’re broken open. Dance, if you’ve torn the bandage off. Dance in the middle of the fighting. Dance in your blood. Dance when you’re perfectly free.”

~ Rumi

 

What is the point of birthdays anyway? A day to bring in another year of birth? Another year that I survived this world!?! A celebration of life, birth and conception? A day for self-reflection and a chance to revive deep gratitude?

Why am I feeling so hesitant this year as I become 26? Is it linked to my confusion at this point in my life? What do I want? The ultimate question that has been wracking my mind recently. Unsure of where I want to live and what I want to do. Sometimes I wonder if my curiosity can be to blame for my confusion. Yet, it all depends on how I use the curiosity, to allow me to enter new places with a centred dispossession, or to make me question every decision that I am making. The questions will always be there; that is the beauty of a life made of impermanence and uncertainty. I must forget my worries of the future and enjoy the present: raw, wild and free.

Play in the playground of life so that I can shine with all the light of aliveness and awareness as Kimbo Slice: lover of fun, travel, yoga, and dance.

And, does age even matter? I meet the young, the old, and the ageless and understand that age is just a number. A 67-year-old man that is travelling the world with the adventurous spirit of an 18-year-old boy. A 25-year-old woman with two children and caretaker of many more, with the caring and compassion of a 78-year-old grandmother.

So as I bring in another year of life, I focus on the beautiful things in my life: the opportunities I have to learn and challenge myself, the friends and family that add sparkle and support to my life, and myself for always looking deeper and questioning everything. Driving me to insanity, but aliveness.

Whether your birthday is creeping around the corner or in a far off land, let us cherish the uncertainties of the future. Allow us to let go of the mental shackles that entangle our inherent beauty and open the doors for our freedom to shine!