Just a feels video on how I spent my birthday this year and my thoughts on entering a new year. Thank you all for being here with me. Love truly is all around.

// words by Aileen Xu

This year for my birthday, I wanted to ride roller coasters. Because I actually love rollercoasters. I just haven’t been on one in years. I wanted to feel that thrill and exhilaration that you don’t get anywhere else. I wanted to scream and laugh and nudge myself to the edge of that comfort zone. I wanted to celebrate my youth. To feel alive.

I’m grateful to have spent this day with people I love and adore – my cousins (first friends in life) and my boyfriend. We picked a weekday to go so it wouldn’t be so crowded, and I appreciate how everyone made space in their schedule to make it happen.

One of my favorite feelings is going to a theme park w/ no lines. That’s every kid’s dream. To have the whole park to yourself and just roam free.

As I cross this intangible boundary into my next year in life, I think about what matters most to me now.

All I want to do is create and share things that bring me joy and inspiration.

To live a life that is healthy, balanced, and free. Creative, dreamy, meaningful. A life that’s vivid, vibrant, and bursting with love. That is the life that calls out to me.

I gotta say, life does get better with age. Each year brings more joy, more opportunity, and more abundance into my life. And I know that I’m so blessed to be living. Truly living.