Hello friends and family,

I hope you are having a great week so far. This will be a very special issue…it’s the last one of my 30s. I can’t believe I am heading into my 4th decade on earth. This is wild…I cleared the 30s level of the game of life. Nowhere near what society says 40 should be like. Also, I have the energy of my 20-year-old self. I don’t understand it.

Anyway, if any subscribers are out there in their 40s and older, hit reply and drop some wisdom my way. What do I need to look out for, what is something you wish you knew walking into this decade, and what would be your main focus? This wisdom would mean the world to me! 

This week's theme is “Celebrate with me ”

Let’s just do a quick recap of this last decade.. at 28 I was working in Chicago at a country club and decided to change things up. I moved to Cape Town in what was supposed to be a 6-month adventure. This turned into 4 years.

29th Birthday was solo in New York and met someone on the way to the subway station he invited me to lunch with his friends and that turned into a whole day adventure, having drinks in the park, rooftop dancing, and ending the night with some random Brazilians listening to funk music at their apartment. (Thank you Kaster and Katie for the best random bday)

30th was in Berlin eating Currywurst in the park on the way to the Berlin Salsa festival. Unexpected and a whole adventure. This was the first time Richard and I traveled together and it was hilarious because I gave weird directions and he is an engineer haha. Who would have thought that 6 years later we would be living in South Korea and having a lot more direction and fun in a whole new language? (Shout out to Richard for a solid decade of friendship)

That was the transition …Chicago to Cape Town and no real plan. Then I took a role as a travel agent for a year and from that came (That Travel Book and I teach travel project, which helped so many people travel, work, and move around the world).

Cape Town was the best adventure with Africamps …so much growth in building a start-up. Also a lot of random adventures with Daleen who lives far away. Somehow we got Cape Town, Istanbul, Amman, and South Korea. Also had fun with my triangle Hilton and Leanne. Dancing with Maria and the one moment that stands out was coffee with Nadia and me sharing how she should go travel the world.

Cape Town to South Korea …You might not know it but I had a huge burnout mid 30s. My health was in a state, my priorities were not aligned and my ego was running my life. I was trying to catch up to everyone and it was not a lifestyle for me.

35 was celebrated in South Korea. I moved to Imsil, the tiniest town and also such a pretty space. I got part of my health back and started missioning to Seoul each weekend on a bus for 3.5 hours there and 3.5 hours back. Would you take 7 hours to travel each weekend for something you love?

That was a great year! My favorite adventure and so many great people and conversations. Dancing until 7 am and then heading to breakfast for some philosophical debates on life, love, and more. (Nadia and Woody …wow! What a beautiful time)

One relationship ended in this decade. I took a different path in life. I also circled back to my Taiwanese sisters and reconnected with a version of me who I left behind many years ago.

Then Damien died and my world shattered. I can’t even begin to dive into this because we would be here for a week unpacking it all. The second biggest heartbreak of my life was losing this human. (I still hate saying losing him. He died and it is not like some day I will magically find him again. This was the start of me hating English and it’s random sayings around death) Anyway….

Thank you to everyone who showed up and picked up the pieces of me over this time and throughout the next few years. What a crazy adventure healing from this. I think if the pandemic didn’t happen I might still be stuck in it. Well, this was 36 and 37…(Especial shout out to Ali and Ian who gave me a soft landing on days when life was hard)

38 I started seeing the light again. A lot of healing, coaching, therapy, energy work, body movement, and more. Also, the commitment I made to the spirit of Damien was that I would live life to the fullest. I would show him that I would continue …

Kuala Lumpur for 4 years was next, the bubble of life in Mindvalley and some incredible humans. The laughter, the tears, the support, the encouragement, the hustle, the building and more.

Then the South American trip that turned into this Mexican chapter …

A lot is missing from this story, those who know me or lived this part of life with me saw the details. A book was created, and published, wrong timing, jobs were applied for, 4 countries were home, and 1 big heartbreak and a lot of dates that gave me so much to laugh about. What a decade ….

When you ask me what my success in life is …it’s that my best friends are still the same, even though I live this crazy life around the world (Not every traveler has this). My day ones are still my day ones and I have added a few more along the way. For me, it’s not only the moments but the people in this decade. And the babies they made 🙂 (Taryn and Josh are my favorite morning calls, random memes with Kim and Nisa…and my bestie Rush and his little one can always brighten up my life)

I think the best part about ending the 30s is that I feel more like myself, I tried a bunch of things, failed at some, succeeded at others, and got super clear on life, love, and more. I made health and fitness my main priority and I moved my career into a space of value. Then created a whole Dose of Inspiration universe to play in!

And this makes being 40 an exciting adventure …

And with that …you are invited to celebrate this moment with me!

I am having a quick call on Monday to say hi ...join me for the online dance party! I am doing this one day earlier so I see your faces before I turn a year older. Thank you for joining me on this weekly adventure with Dose of Inspiration.

Feeling very heartful as I walk into this next chapter of life.

The details:

• Date: Mon 30th Sep

• Time 8:30 am Mexico
  Feel free to find your timezone here:
  https://www.timeanddate.com/worldclock/converter.html?iso=20240930T143000&p1=155&p2=tz_sast&p3=157&p4=122&p5=95&p6=241

• Link to join the call:
  https://whereby.com/doseofinspo

• Add it to your calendar here:
  https://calendar.app.google/VSNfiEdGSAqCvNHp8

This is a busy week for me and I will be offline as much as possible from the end of this week until the 10th so this group call is it. Love you all and thank you for being in my life.

No worries if you can't make it...this is just one more random event. We will cross paths again someday/ catch up in the future!

Your task this week:

• Add it to your calendar if you are joining…if you can’t make it, do a dance and celebrate for me.

Remember each week, we are just moving one tiny step forward to creating a life you love. 

🤙🏾 Inspiration Labs

Inspiration Labs is a 1-hour call where we dive into your project, career, life, or big dream. This free session is to gain clarity, dream bigger, and walk out with 1 action step to start moving forward. This is the value I am adding back to the world 💫

I will open new sessions weekly for this. To have this available to everyone, you are allowed 1 session only. (Sorry I wish, I had all the time in the world to only do this but I have to work too)

🎶 Song of the week

Wrapping up work and I plan to keep this energy for a while. Enjoy this great set by Arthi at Boiler Room London. I honestly can’t believe the age that I am, doesn’t feel like a whole 40-year-old adult haha. Especially when I hear music like this. I hope to keep this spirit until I am 100.

This is a great mix for a morning dance party! See you next week.

✈️ Travel Inspo

“To travel is to wash your eyes”

Opening up more of the world to you…this section will be shared by travelers. Feel free to reply with your travel pic and some words to share!

If anything, these two photos show me that you can come back from anything if you want to, even the biggest moments of depression and sadness.

✌🏾 Pay it forward

New Section Unlocked: This space is for any of you to share projects, go-fund mes, help needed, etc.

❤️Made by Stephanie

I met Steph many years ago at a Pecha Kucha talk. She was one of the people who stood out the most during my time in Cape Town. Her dedication to the community and helping those around her is admirable. It’s been over 10 years of her serving her community. Cooking on big pots outside and making it happen consistently through donations from those around her.

This is a project based in South Africa. If you feel called to donate you can drop her a message at [email protected] or hit the link below and contact her via her Facebook account.

💫 Send me info if you want to use this space 🙂 Happy to help promote those who need it.

Final thoughts:

Getting older and doing life is not easy, it comes with the reality of inequalities around the world, of wars and genocides, climate change and deaths of loved ones but on the other side, it’s the laughter with good humans, the dancing to your favourite song, the inspiration from a creative person and the mornings in bed to lie and do nothing. It’s the lazy days and active days, the days when you feel your happiest, and the days picking yourself up off the floor and getting hugs from your favourite person. Life in all of its messiness is beautiful. I hope you take the time to celebrate all of it.

Thank you again for joining me on this journey. I’ll be back to regular newsletter content next week.

✈️ Final note...I Made This 📒 ...You can click the link below to buy That Travel Book (My First Baby). Please drop an Amazon review as well…much needed for that platform. Thank you!

🚀 Click here to SEND this to your best friend for their Dose of Love from you ➡️