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How I Got Over My (Stupid) Fear of Celebrating Mi Cumpleaños

May 13, 2014 7 Comments

It has taken me 42 years — sí, ¡cuarenta y dos! — to finally get over my ridiculous fear of celebrating my birthday. Of course I love to celebrate my birthday and feel the love, but I detest having to organize it, come up with a fun and original plan and then go through the stress of  convincing myself it’s okay if no one actually shows up. It’s L.A. after all –big city, lots going on. My birthday is also so close to Mother’s Day. Es más, muchos de mis amigos celebran el día de la madre el 10 de mayo, el mismo día de mi cumple.

So many excuses to ultimately cover up my fear of rejection. Seriously!

But you know that fear is just your ego. The ego that fights hard to not be wounded and would rather isolate you and deny your Self what you really want just to protect itself.

Well, I beat it this year. ¿No dicen que más sabe el diablo por viejo que por diablo? Yep, age makes you wiser and I’m so embracing it, because not embracing the wrinkles quite yet.

So what was my wise-with-age move to celebrate my birthday? I decided that I would treat myself first, meaning that I would practice what I’ve been preaching about how much we need to take care of our own needs and wants first and by doing that we manifest our desires and create our every day to our vision.

My sweet friend Yolanda had asked me a few weeks ago if she could take Camila with her on a playdate with her daughter that day. Pero claro!! That meant that my husband and I could have the whole day to ourselves. I had always wanted to go to Malibu Wines, but it’s only open during the day and I always felt guilty leaving Camila with a nanny on a weekend just so we could go drink wine in the canyons!

malibu wines

So I let me intimate circle of friends, that I don’t get to see as often as I’d like, know that we would be spending the whole afternoon there and that they could show up if and when they wanted. And if no one showed up, I would still have had a great time having a picnic with my husband, surrounded by nature in a beautiful place, on a picture-perfect Southern California day, drinking delicious wine. Best decision ever.

ana-alan-birthday

 

Y los amigos llegaron. I felt so blessed, so happy, so fulfilled to be surrounded by friends I adore and admire. None of them are in my blogging world and I wanted that on purpose. The last five years I pretty much put myself in cave while I built my blogs and businesses and I lost touch with so many people. This year I’ve been proactively dedicating time to those friends again. I adore my blogging circle of amigas and we sustain each other every single day, but I also need to spend time with people that know me from before this beautiful craziness started. The ones that have no clue of exactly what I do or how I do it, much less how I’m thriving in it! Turns out that our lives being so out of context is what is now inspiring each other.

I couldn’t have asked for a better birthday and it’s going to continue today at lunch with some of my bloggy besties at the hip and delish L.A. Chapter in the Ace Hotel. For sure you’ll get to catch us on Instagram 😉

Malibu-wines-ana-flores-birthday

Photo courtesy and copyright of Pablo Levinas

malibu-wines-amigos

Photo courtesy and copyright of Pablo Levinas

amigos

Photo courtesy and copyright of Pablo Levinas

birthday-friends

Photo courtesy and copyright of Pablo Levinas

But this is the best one of all!

No related posts.

Filed Under: Vida Tagged With: amigos, birthday, california, friends, malibu, wine

Comments

  1. Mariel Robles says

    May 13, 2014 at 7:45 am

    Oye muchas felicidades atrasadas y que padre lugar. He visitado dos veces california y espero poder un dia regresar a tomar su vino. oye y que padres fotos. Un abrazo. Mariel

    Reply
  2. Tracy @ Ascending Butterfly says

    May 13, 2014 at 7:20 pm

    For me the past two years have been all about missed birthday, holidays and new year’s, so I have decided 2015 will be my ‘reset’ year and I will go back to my former self who celebrated her birthday for the entire month, not just day!

    Sometimes you just need to celebrate yourself and the beautiful milestones you’ve experienced along the way.

    Happy Birthday to you! 🙂

    Reply
    • Ana says

      May 23, 2014 at 6:04 pm

      Do it, Tracy! And do it for yourself without setting expectations from others or how it “should” be. Let’s celebrate each other!

      Reply
  3. Bella Vida Letty says

    May 14, 2014 at 1:39 pm

    Thanks fantastic. Looks like everyone had such a good time. Happy BDay!

    Reply
    • Ana says

      May 23, 2014 at 6:10 pm

      Gracias, Letty! It was a great time.

      Reply
  4. Kathy Cano-Murillo (@CraftyChica) says

    May 14, 2014 at 5:41 pm

    Beautiful memory to share! Birthdays are certainly a great reason to celebrate life!! xoxo!

    Reply
    • Ana says

      May 23, 2014 at 6:11 pm

      You’re so right! Celebremos la vida!!!

      Reply

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About Ana Flores

Bilingual and bicultural Latina who will always live con un pié aquí y otro allá.
Mamá, author, spokesperson and entrepreneur ... y como buena Taurina, amante de la buena vida.

Founder: Latina Bloggers Connect + SpanglishBaby

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