Another Lap Around the Sun — Modishly Mackenzie

A quarter of a century is a monumental year. That's halfway to 50!! I'm now at the age where it's no longer cool to get a year older. Can I just stay 25 forever?

Turning another year older gets most people thinking about how quickly life is flying by. I think 25 is a scary year because you're kind of in this weird limbo where you feel like you're supposed to have your whole life figured out, but you're not quite there yet. I know I'm not.

What I've come to realize is I'm perfectly ok with that. I used to feel that pressure too, but lately I've become a lot more comfortable with the unknown and figuring things out as I go. Ultimately, I know what I want out of life—I have one year plans, five year plans, even ten year plans to help keep my goals in perspective! I've accepted that as long as I continue to strive for those goals, it's ok if I'm not quite there yet. Making any step is better than none. Ya feel me?

This helps me stop worrying so much about the future and start living in the present. I've tried to keep the mindset that what's meant to be will be and remember things won’t always turn out exactly as planned—which I'll admit, can be hard for me since I'm a perfectionist! It's a work in progress. Hopefully each year of age will bring me further and further to adapting this into my mind, body and soul.

To celebrate this year, a few close friends and my boyfriend visited me in Chicago. We kept it low key with a few dinners and brunch (and of course, a different birthday outfit for each event #boujee).

I was dying to try an afternoon tea, so we did LondonHouse's high tea special. I was debating between that and The Drake Hotel—we ended up going with LondonHouse for its rooftop view. The Drake is obviously so iconic, so I'll just have to do that one a different time. Maple & Ash was delicious and made the experience so personalized. I would definitely recommend it for anyone looking to be spoiled on their birthday.

Moral of the story, I really can't believe I'm 25 years old! I definitely used to be fearful of growing older, but with this new mindset I'm just grateful for another year of life. Maybe time can just slow down a little bit.