Tag Archives: leaving the 20’s

project 30 – bianca

24 Sep

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Bianca, 36

What would your 30 something self tell your 20 something self if you could?

I would tell myself to slow down. To ease up on over-thinking everything. That where I think I’m going to be in 10 years will in no way resemble where I actually end up and yet it will all make perfect sense when I look back on it all. That life has its own plans and loves nothing more than to pull the rug out from underneath you, but that if you put your faith and trust in its wisdom it will always show you the way back onto your feet. That even the great heart breaks will come to feel like old friends, reminders of your immense capacity to find the light, even in the darkest hours. •

What do you wish you took more seriously in your 20’s?

Honestly, not much. I feel like you kinda need to say “F-U” to a lot of things in your 20’s so that you can look back later on and say “I had my time as a rebel, I left no stone unturned”.

What do you wish you took less seriously in your 20’s?

Time. I wish that I didn’t put so much pressure on myself to get certain things done by a specific time. Everyone’s life is as unique as their fingerprint, and there’s no need to compare yourself to anyone else. Just because so and so had the family and kids and house and dog by their 25th birthday doesn’t mean that needs to be your story. We spend so much time fighting against our natural progression and it doesn’t make anything happen any quicker, it just makes you miss out on the ride. Your life is the beautiful story about YOU. Live it without apology. You are exactly where you are supposed to be for the lessons you need to learn at any given moment.

Favorite memory from your 20’s?

Driving down the coast when I moved from Seattle to Los Angeles to pursue my dream of becoming an actress. The world was my oyster. Anything was possible. What a pure, pristine moment, I will never forget that feeling.

In your early 20’s where did you think you would be (work, live etc) by 30?

Oh for SURE married to Leonardo Dicaprio and living the dream with my first of many Oscars on the mantle. Hey, I like to dream big.

And where were you by 30? What did your life look like?

hahaha ohhhhh, on my way to a divorce and on a network sitcom where I felt artistically frustrated and unchallenged. So, you know, REALLY CLOSE to the above vision.

Were you ever worried that it wouldn’t all fall into place?

ONE THOUSAND PERCENT. I felt like I had failed at everything I set out to do. I felt like a child. I felt lost and confused and scared of what might come next. So I did the only thing left to do… I asked for help. From family and friends. From wise teachers. From my dogs. I asked for help from anyone who stirred something within me. And very slowly, I started to find my way. I started to see that I was never really lost and that everything was unfolding as it should.

What is the greatest gift about being a woman in your 30’s?

For me it has been embracing humility and learning what real love means. I thought I was such a badass in my twenties! Now I’ve got my number… I don’t let myself get away with much. Now it’s about living a life of compassion and truth. It’s more important to me that I leave a legacy of kindness than a bunch of statuettes on my mantle. I believe that when you set out to live an honest life, that’s when all your dreams come true.

When you look out onto the horizon. What do you hope your life looks like at 40?

Well for me, forty’s more like at the water’s edge than the horizon 😉 So I guess I would say I hope it looks a lot like now. A happily married work in progress with a little more experience, wisdom, and humor thrown in. If I’m lucky, maybe the pitter patter of some little feet around the house(although with my kids I’m sure it’ll be less pitter patter and more herd of wild boar).

What’s a quote/ saying you try to live your life by?

Without question, my go to quote is by my favorite poet, Rainer Maria Rilke.

“Let life happen to you. Believe me, Life is in the right, always.”

To me, there is no greater comfort than to trust in the almighty flow of life itself. It is the beginning, it is the end, it is everything.

xxb

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project 30 – aireka

23 Apr

aireka

Aireka, 34

What would your 30 something self tell your 20 something self if you could?

That anything is possible. When you are in your 20’s I think you often are not aware of your young age. The truth is there is a positive naiveté that I think sometimes the impossible can happen out of because you are not yet aware that it’s not suppose to happen. (I hope that makes sense).

One thing that I am grateful for is I did a lot of living in my 20’s. No regrets there at all. If anything, I wish I did a bit more.

What do you wish you took more seriously in your 20’s?

I wish I took opportunity a lot more serious. There was a period in my 20’s that a lot of great opportunities just came to me without much thought. I wonder what life would be like if I took them much seriously. BUT I guess if I did, I wouldn’t have had the immense amount of fun and freedom that I enjoyed and think every woman in their 20’s should have.

What do you wish you took less seriously in your 20’s?

My weight! I had no idea what a great body I had!!

 Favorite memory from your 20’s?

My apartment. I lived off of Melrose and Fairfax for 7 years! And if those walls could talk!! We had a great time in that place.

In your early 20’s where did you think you would be (work, live etc) by 30?
I definitely thought I would be married with a couple of produced films under my belt.
And where were you by 30? What did your life look like?

At 30, I was just beginning my career in Advertising (where I am now) and actually wasn’t really aware of the change that was occurring. I really enjoyed turning 30. I felt hopeful and was very proud of my new stamp of adulthood.

Were you ever worried that it wouldn’t all fall into place?

Of course! And I am still worried now! I don’t think you ever get rid of the worry, even when things begin to make sense. Life is ever-changing and most of the time doesn’t go according to your plan. With age you realize that sometimes life has a better plan than you do and your job is to enjoy the journey and show up to be the best version of yourself each day. You realize there is strength and beauty in imperfection.

What is the greatest gift about being a woman in your 30’s?

Experience and Confidence. There is so much that I can say “I Know” because I’ve done it. In your 20’s, you don’t have the experience; everything is more of a guess. Which is a different type of beauty but your 30’s gives you a great sense of ownership of your life because you’ve truly been there and done that.

When you look out into the horizon. What do you hope your life looks like at 40?

Actually not too much of a different place than what I wanted my life to be in my 30’s but with a little more room for possibility: I want to have found and established my life as well as a beautiful family with my life partner  – the man I hope to spend the rest of my life with. I’m still a hopeful romantic and hold that vision. Family is really important to me and I look forward to the day of having my own. But for me now it doesn’t have to equate to marriage but more about finding the right person and building the right life for us.

I want to wake up everyday and create new life through storytelling and filmmaking. Be it advertising, films, short films, digital content, etc. My job now is about creating opportunities at the intersection of all that we now know and experience as entertainment and I hope by then I have succeeded in that.

What’s a quote/ saying you try to live your life by?

There are two and they are both really long so I apologize ahead of time:

Think of things you want as being on a string that is infinitely long, but it is nonetheless attached to you in some invisible way. Its is only a matter of trusting that you can bring that string to you and that whatever is supposed to come to your life will be there when you have developed the capacity to receive it. But the trick is, you cannot receive it or even come close to manifesting it if you have an absence of trust in yourself as an extension of God.

From Wayne Dyer’s “Manifest Your Destiny”

AND

Anything less than mad, passionate, extraordinary love is a waste of time. There are too many mediocre things in life to deal with and love shouldn’t be one of them.

Tiffanie DeBartolo, Dream for an Insomniac

Both are hung in my bedroom so that I can read them everyday.

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