I'm actually getting a real weekend of sorts this coming weekend, as I am heading up to a training seminar to learn from some of the best pros in the training industry at Cressey Performance.

It's been awhile since I've gone to a training seminar. I love these because I always walk away armed with a new perspective, more skills I can apply to my clients' training, and overall just get inspired and reminded of why I love what I do. It doesn't hurt that I have major fitness nerd crushes on the main speakers... My brain is going to geek out sooo much this weekend. 

The seminar also happens to fall on my birthday.

Some of my friends were asking me why on earth I'd choose to do something work-related on my birthday when I could be going out with my friends.

Truth is, there's not really a much better way I'd choose to spend my birthday this year than to learn stuff I'm interested in, and also to hang out with one of my best friends who lives in Boston and that I haven't seen in nearly a year. That sounds like a much nicer weekend to me at this point in my life than waking up with terrible hangovers and wasting the day away. 

Birthdays serve as an annual benchmark to look back at your past year of life and see what has transpired during the past 365 days.

My last birthday certainly was a significant one, as I had a crazily-eventful, life-changing year, so perhaps that's why this one seems a bit less significant. This was an adjustment and building year for me- the period after the honeymoon period that inevitably occurs after any major life changes. 

While I feel like this past year has been a little less eventful in comparison to the one prior, I feel that I have changed a lot as a person. I've worked a lot on being more open and honest with myself, my wants, and my needs, and not as willing to give into societal norms or expectations. 

I went to a prestigious school where a vast majority of the students go on to work at esteemed companies, earning a lot of money, and basically rule the world. My deviation from "THE plan" was one made on extremely shaky legs and looking back, I'm even surprised at myself for the gumption I had at that time to take that plunge.

But that was my small first step into taking the power of my own life back into my hands from the world of "shoulds."

A small but somewhat significant example of this is my going to this seminar on my birthday. I'm not sure I would have made the same decision last year- not because I wouldn't have wanted the same thing, but more because I honestly would have let other peoples' opinions of what I should be doing instead dissuade me and I'd just go with it. People pleaser, a Libra at heart.

I remember reading an interview a few years back with some celebrity and they were asking her about how she felt about turning 30. I remember she said that it was just so refreshing to genuinely not care about others' opinions about herself, her appearance or her decisions, and that she had more trust in her gut instincts. 

While I'm still a few years off from 30, I feel like I've come a long way in being okay with not giving a cr*p about others' opinions of my life- so I can only imagine how freeing it'll feel when the big 3-0 comes knocking.