I'm 28 today. I took a look back at blog posts from over the years last night and I cannot believe how much I (and my life) have evolved. I love the time of year my birthday lands, it allows me to reflect on the whole year in it's entirety I had at 'said age.' This year was a big year. Ten fold, 2019 was a year of growth, change, and evolution for me. I almost feel as if 2019 chewed me up, spit me out, and left me laying in a puddle of gross saliva 😂. With that said however, I'm taking the hardships, life lessons, grievances, happiness, and hope into 2020 - my 28th year of life and plan on living my best one yet.  You may commonly see birthday blog posts written by bloggers about their lessons learned, goals they're wanting to achieve, bucket list items, etc. Instead of writing things I still want to accomplish or life lessons I have learned thus far I came up with something a bit different. While reflecting on my 28 years of living, I thought of 28 words that I keep close to my heart. 28 words that I live by, that I long for and that I practice in my daily life. My hope is, some of these words will resonate with you and help you reflect on the life you've lived thus far.  1. Evolve | Keep evolving with every passing day. When you get comfortable, that's when you know you're not making progress.  2. Learn | Live to learn. Learn about people, places, things, activities, adventures, etc., the more you learn the more joy you'll have for your everyday.  3. Determination | There will always be mountains and hills to climb. The difference between the impossible and possible lies within a person's determination.  4. Hustle | Good things come to those who hustle while they wait.  5. Kindness | Kindness always wins. Always. Choose kindness above anything else.  6. Empathy | Empathy is seeing with the eyes of another, listening with the ears of another, and feeling with the heart of another. The ability to feel and understand another's feelings will create the strongest possible human connection. 7. Strength | Strength grows in the moments when you think you cannot go on, but you keep going anyway. Remember in times of doubt, just how far you've come and the amount of strength it took to get there.  8. Change | Long for change. It's in things that change, that we find our strength, our happiness, our passions, and our weaknesses.  9. Happiness | Seek what happiness means to you. It's something different to everyone and only you can determine what will bring you happiness in your life.  10. Self-Awareness | Self-Awareness is the capacity for acute introspection. When you are self-aware, you are all-knowing of you and what makes you...you.  11. Romance | Don't for a second believe that romance is dead. Romance yourself first. Then, find someone who will show you the romance you deserve.  12. Grateful | Live each day with a grateful heart. Life is precious. Life is short. Be grateful for the days, hours, minutes, and seconds you have.  13. Friendship | There are friends, there are family - there are then friends that become family. Cultivate strong friendships.  14. Tenacious | One key to life? Stay tenacious and not let any setback derail your vision.  15. Creativity | Find creativity that fuels your heart! Your never too old to have an imagination and original ideas.  16. Dream | It's in dreams, that we find other dreams and other goals that we can make realities. If you stop believing in something greater for yourself you aren't living your life to its fullest.  17. Action | After dreaming, take action. Act, act, act and keep acting!  18. Truth | Truth trumps lies. Above all else, tell the truth and live your truth.  19. Lead | Lead by doing and mentoring. 20. Adventure | Definition: an event or experience that expands, shifts, or alters your perspective or perception of your inner self or the outer world.  Seek adventure everyday - it's what keeps us evolving. 21. Curiosity | Live a life of curiosity. If you are never not curious, how will you continue to learn?  22. Sing | Music gives soul to the universe, wings to the mind, flight to the imagination, and life to everything. Just keep singing. 23. Selfless | Just as we should live each day with a grateful heart, we should also live with a selfless heart. One selfless act a day can change someone's life and touch yours. 24. Hope | Hope is a waking dream, to have hope is to have the ability to see that there is light despite the darkness.  25. Organize | Keep things in your life organized. You will spend less time shuffling through the muck and enjoying all else things.  26. Prioritize | In your life, what and who means the most? Prioritize accordingly.  27. Listen | Listen with the intent to understand...not reply.  28. LOVE | Love fiercely and find someone who will show you the kind of love that you so freely give to others. 28th Year Young Mantra: In the next year, I will continue to evolve and learn, be determined and hustle while I wait. I will choose kindness and empathy daily and have strength to seek change and happiness. My self-awareness will lead me to romance and I will continue to be grateful of life and the friendships that I've cultivated. My tenacious spirit will cultivate creativity and allow me to dream. I will take action on those dreams and always speak the truth. I will lead by example and seek adventure daily. Curiosity will help me to continue to learn all that life has to offer. While learning and living, I will never stop singing. I will remain selfless and always hope for the good. Organizing and prioritizing will become a daily habit and I will listen to those I love and work tirelessly to love fiercely and find the love I so desire.  Cheers to 28!