The Wisdom of Years: 28 Lessons From My 28 Years of Life

Embarking on another voyage around the sun, I invite you into my intimate reflections as a new age dawns. With each passing year, I find myself standing at the intersection of tradition and transformation, and this episode is no exception. As I gear up to celebrate in the heart of Italy's vibrant culture, I'll take you through the rituals that anchor me, the intentions setting sail for the year to come, and the personal evolutions that have been my guiding stars. With a life lesson for every year I've lived, we'll explore the art of dreaming without limits, the strength found in vulnerability, and the freedom that flourishes from living with authenticity.

As the pages of the calendar turn, I'm reminded that aging is an intricate tapestry woven with threads of joy, wisdom, and sometimes, society's unfounded pressures. In this heartfelt exchange, I encourage you to embrace the fullness of your own journey, and to celebrate the wisdom each year generously bestows upon us. Whether you're toasting to your own milestones or simply savoring the shared stories of growth, this episode is a testament to the beauty that unfurls with time. I'll leave you with a spark of excitement for future conversations and a birthday wish that we may all continue to blossom in the glow of our authentic selves. Join me, not just in marking another year, but in cherishing the journey of the soul.

Instagram: @jacendamarie

Transcript

Speaker 1: 0:03

Hi, loves, welcome to the Journey to the Soul podcast. I am your host, jacinda Villa, a spiritual life coach and holistic health coach. Every week, we will be diving deep into all things purpose, wellness, spirituality and creating the life that you dream of. This space is meant to be safe and transformative for you to dive into the deepest parts of yourself. I will share what I have learned from my journey along this path years of research and mentors along the way. Having spent many years living life out of alignment and afraid to go after my dreams, I know firsthand what it means to take the first step down, living a life authentic to you. We are on this road of self-discovery together. It is time for you to live the life you imagined. Hello, beautiful angels, welcome to another episode of the podcast. I am so excited to have you here with me this week as we dive into this week's episode.

Speaker 1: 1:12

I thought I would do something a little bit different this week, since I am approaching my birthday. I wanted to share with you guys some lessons that I've learned in the last 28 years of my life. I thought I would make this a little bit of a birthday episode. I'm filming this a couple of weeks before my birthday. But this time of year is always a super reflective moment for me, as I really think about the last year that I have had and in the weeks leading up to my birthday, I love to use this time to evaluate the year that has passed and the year that is coming. It's always a time where I journal, I really reflect, I think about the intentions that I set the year before and I come back to them, I reevaluate them. I really think about whether or not I want to move forward with new intentions or not. I love to think back to everything that the previous year has brought me as well, and all the infinite possibilities that another year around the sun will bring. It's a time that just fills me up with so much excitement, and the last few years I've actually started doing my vision boards around this time of year. I think that for me, my birthday really marks a time of beginning a new chapter, much like the new year does for many people. So allowing myself to refocus on my dreams and my intentions is really a sure way for me to set the foundation for the year to come. This resonates with me more deeply than doing it during the beginning of the year. I just feel like for me, this is the start of a new year. For myself, you know it's our solo return, it's our birth year, so it feels more resonant with me.

Speaker 1: 3:38

For my birthday this year we're actually going to be in Italy. I'm so excited. I know I've shared in previous podcast episodes how much I love this beautiful country and I'm very lucky and very blessed to be spending my birthday here this year. We will be here for a couple of weeks, so I'm really going to enjoy being in the Italian way of life again and really just slowing down a bit more as my birthday comes closer. So I'm really excited about that.

Speaker 1: 4:28

But as I'm getting ready to start my 28th year of life, I really feel like I have lived so many lives so far. When I think about 28 years, it really just feels like such a short amount of time, but also such a big amount of time, but also such a big amount of time. And over the last few weeks, as I've been thinking about what chapter of life I'm in, I have to say that I feel like I'm in such an incredible season of my life right now and there's so much that I don't know about the future and what's to come. Yet I have never been more connected to myself, and to me this means so much more than actually knowing where I'm going. I know that I'm walking a new road that I've never walked before. I know I've shared that I've been going through a huge transformation over the last few years, and it's just let me be in this space that I've never been before. But in the unknown, I have learned to look at the infinite potential that exists. It is fertile soil for everything. Every possibility is open to me. This is the freedom that exists when you don't have every moment of your life, every chapter of your life figured out is that you can really see every road you can take, every path you can walk. And sometimes we may not see that initially because we're so caught up on walking a certain path. But when you surrender truly surrender to life and whatever season you are in, it opens you up to so many other things that would have otherwise not been in your realm or you may not have been able to see before. As I reflect on the life I have lived over the last 28 years, I wanted to share with you some of the most pivotal lessons that I have learned, and many of these lessons took me many, many, many years to learn, while others I mastered much quicker. But when I look back, thinking about all of these lessons, it has just shown me how much growth and evolution my soul has gone through.

Speaker 1: 7:27

Let's start with the lessons. 1. There is no dream that is too big. Do not diminish your dreams for the people around you. Believe in yourself and your ability to bring them to life. Two don't be afraid to take up space to be who you are wholeheartedly, to speak your truth. You have so much to give to the world. Stop making yourself small. 3. There is nothing you can't learn. Allow yourself to be a novice and learn as you go.

Speaker 1: 8:16

4. You can enjoy all foods. You can travel and eat to your heart's content. Your body holds the wisdom. Eat the chocolate, the bread, whatever your heart desires. There is no bad food. Food.

Speaker 1: 8:47

Five allow yourself to travel and experience the world. It will open you up to other cultures and the limitless ways you can live life. Six live life for yourself. Don't worry about your friends and family. Focus on what you want and fearlessly go. Do that. You are here to live your heaven on earth.

Speaker 1: 9:15

Seven learn to be vulnerable. Learn to share how you feel. This is how you connect with others. This is how people will know you for who you truly are. Let them in. It is safe. 8. You don't need to be productive and achieving all the time in order to be worthy. You were born worthy. Rest is integral to the process. Embrace the rest. Nine follow your joy and curiosity. Indulge in it. This is the red string that will carry you throughout your life. If you are in fall, let go. If you are in winter, rest. If you are in spring, plant. If you are in summer, grow. Do not wish the season you are in away for another. Be where you are. Allow yourself to reap the fruit of each season.

Speaker 1: 10:43

11. Learning to say no will change your life To people, places, opportunities that do not serve you or do not honor who you are. What you put your energy into is so important. If it doesn't bring you fulfillment, let it go. Twelve speak kindly to yourself. Learn to be your own best friend. This is the most important relationship you will develop in your life. 13. Take risks. It is better to attempt to go after your dreams than to spend your years thinking about what it could be like if you allowed yourself to do it, what it could be like if you allowed yourself to do it.

Speaker 1: 11:47

Fourteen treat your body with love and respect. Honor it. Love it for what it is and what it does for you. Celebrate it every single day. Fifteen always have a beginner's mind. Be open and receptive to ideas. Learn from other people and the world around you. You are never done learning.

Speaker 1: 12:17

Sixteen embrace your multifacetedness. It is your superpower. You don't need to choose one thing. 17. It is a gift to feel as deeply as you do. It allows you to connect to the world in ways not everyone is able to. It allows you to see beauty that exists even in the darkest of times.

Speaker 1: 12:50

Eighteen you don't have to do it all alone. You can ask for help. You can lean on others. Ask for help, you can lean on others. You can build a life with an incredible partner if you allow yourself to be open and realize that you don't have to do life alone. 19. Earning money doesn't have to be hard. It is all in what you choose to believe. It can flow seamlessly into your life if you allow it.

Speaker 1: 13:31

20. Struggling in life does not make you any more worthy. Struggling is a choice. You can be free and live a life of peace. 21. How people treat you says more about them than you.

Speaker 1: 13:57

22. Never close yourself off to love, even when you are hurt. Love is the only path To heal is to choose. Love is the true key to abundance in life. Relish in what you have now. This is the life that you prayed for. Enjoy the simple joys of the everyday.

Speaker 1: 14:33

24. Everyone is going through something. Let every interaction you have with others be filled with love and kindness. 25. Do not judge. Everyone is simply doing the best they can where they are. 26. If someone triggers something in you, it shows where you are not free. Look within, not at them, for what is wrong.

Speaker 1: 15:13

27. Trust the timing of your life. It is unfolding exactly as it should. Do not compare the chapter you are in with someone else's. This is your story your evolution, your becoming 28. You have been the answer to it all from the start. You are the one coming to save yourself and to give yourself the beautiful life you envision of having. These are some of the biggest lessons that I have learned so far in my life, and I'm so grateful to have been able to get to this point of overcoming so many of these things and it just makes me so excited to see how I will continue to grow and evolve as a soul, and I wanted to share them with you, because we are all in different chapters in life and we live such different lives, and a lot of the lessons that we're meant to learn as souls are sometimes lessons that other people have already gone through or experienced in their life.

Speaker 1: 16:43

Perhaps in listening to this, there was something that resonated with you. Maybe it's something that you have internally been working on for some time or have felt the inclination to work on. We're constantly learning and evolving. I think that's one of the most beautiful things about our existence is that we're always going to get better and wiser if we allow ourselves to. We are never stagnant. I know, if you think back to the last 10 years of your life, the person you are now is probably someone completely different than what you thought it would be like 10 years ago, and I think that that is such an incredible thing to be able to continuously become better people, better humans than who we were yesterday. I hope some of these lessons resonated with you.

Speaker 1: 17:51

If there are any things that you have overcome in your life, any lessons maybe that you have had to face in the last year or two, or just at any moment in life? I would love to know if you share them with me. What is one of the biggest things that you have had to learn, one of the biggest obstacles you've had to overcome? What did it teach you you've had to overcome? What did it teach you? What did it show you? Who did you become after that experience?

Speaker 1: 18:28

I know for a lot of us, our birthdays can also be a bittersweet time because we have this internal clock within us. We feel like with every year we get older and we can have a very negative connotation about this, about getting older. Especially in our culture. We have such negative connotations about getting over a certain age, getting over 30 or 40 or 50 and what these things mean. But think about the incredible person that you are going to be at that age, when you are so much wiser and carefree and joyful and more in your vibration. I love thinking about how we are going to continue to be all that we came here to be with.

Speaker 1: 19:29

Every year that passes come from the heart, and I hope that maybe one or two of these may have resonated with you. I would love to know, so let me know on Instagram or in the comments. I can't wait to talk to you all next week and have a beautiful day wherever you are in this world. I'm sending you so much love and light. I hope you enjoyed this episode. Please make sure you subscribe so you never miss an episode, and share this message with any friends and family. I'd love to hear your takeaways, so share them with me by leaving a comment below or heading over to my Instagram at Jacinda Marie. I am sending you all so much love.