The Dirty 30s

In the September issue of Glamour magazine, Jennifer Aniston was asked, "What would you tell yourself at various ages—like your teens, twenties, thirties, and early forties?" This question got me thinking. I immediately journeyed back to high school where it was all about drama (not the class), heart break, rebellion. Rewind and reflect. Who were you? What dream (or boy) were you chasing? Did you make the headlines or prefer the sidelines? Value loyalty or popularity? Prefer athletics, academics, or aesthetics? God, I so miss teenhood! I was a mashup of most of the above, but overall, I'm proud of who I was.
In my twenties though, things got a little messy. I was career driven, hopelessly in (and out) of love, and anxious about both. Once you toss up that grad hat, you're in the turning point of your life. You're in the high pressure zone to nail a career, find your soul mate, and move out. You kinda go from being in a hurry, to seeing blurry and ending in worry....because now you're 30! Ya, so my twenties included foreign affairs, gin tonics, panic attacks.
Nothing, however, beats your 30s, which leads me to Jennifer Aniston's  rockstar advice: "Thirties. Thirties. Go to therapy. Clean up all of the shit. Clean up all of the toxins and the noise. Understand who you are. Educate yourself on the self." I couldn't have said it better myself! (Shout out to Mr. Pitt for triggering her evolution).
In your thirties, the dust starts to settle and you see the light, or not. This decade, in particular, has such deep rooted value. You can't hide behind immaturity or deny accountability for the person you've chosen to become. "If you're not happy, you can become happy. Happiness is a choice." Thank you, Ms Aniston, for that humbling reminder. But how do we get to 'happy'? Well therapy is a good start. In actuality, the objective of therapy is to reunite you with your best self, however the path to happy is a dirt road.
All you thirty-something, emotionally rocky, repeat offenders at manifesting disappointment - STOP. Thirty gets dirty! We've all got shit, but some of us need a serious detox. I wish everyone would dig through their past, touch some unsettled, rotten crap and face it in therapy. I don't know a single person who wouldn't benefit tremendously from a dirt-digging, self-searching, couch-sitting experience. If we all sat with ourselves more often, looked within more deeply, silenced our ego intentionally; we'd start to understand who we are. Some people are actually afraid of who they'll find, so they avoid the journey. We all have choices. If you're desire is to be happy, I stand by Jen's advice: get rid of the accumulated shit, piled up over years of suffering. Who knew that personal dirt-digging would be the ultimate healing cleanse?!
On a compassionate note - we all grow through dirt. But on a 'happy' note - look for the lessons, not the motive.