Ha! I just KNOW you have our special day – TODAY – all decorated in stars and balloons on your Outlook calendar. After all, TODAY, our Life After Tampons community is 100 days old!!!
Somebody light the candles. Woot Woot!! Happy birthday beautiful women!!!!
. . . Now, for the gifts!
To celebrate our special day, I’m hosting a “Midlife Reinvention White Elephant Birthday Gift Sharing Party.” In case you’ve never been to one of those, (poor dear), here’s how it works:
It’s a two-step process: In the Wisdom Circle space below, share with us one midlife reinvention GIFT you’ve received from being part of our LAT community. Then share one “makeover” WISH you’d like to receive in the next 100 days.
So, your share might sound like this:
“Since I’ve been reading and sharing with the LAT Wisdom Circle, I’ve received more encouragement to take risks. In the next 100 days, I WISH for a space in my house to do my work, a group of like-minded women in my local community to bounce ideas off of, to go on a yoga retreat . . . etc.”
One More Thing – because it’s our 100th day – and BECAUSE I’m all Miss Symbolism and everything – let’s try REALLY REALLY hard to get AT LEAST 100 different Wisdom Circle shares for this one. That means that some of you who mostly play along quietly in the background will need to take a turn sharing today.
Please. It’s my party, too. And that’s what I really really want. Then, I’m gonna take your wishes and — over the next 100 days — turn them into transformation tools you’re really gonna dig. So, Win Win, baby!
Happy birthday, Beautiful You. And thank you for the amazing gift of your presence here.
Now, let’s go and make our One Beautiful Life a Total Art-Piece!!!
Keep coming back. It works it you work it. Love, Jen
Photo: Flickr, photo catcher
shared
happy birthday LAT
thanks for making me laugh so often the last 100 days.
i enjoyed the intelligence, the wit, the humor of all posts even if the topic might have been a sad one.
so i enjoyed life more than before.
for the next 100 days i wish that this goes on and that i find the courage to date again (and hopefully find somebody who wants to date me). (to much?)
hugs and just be how you are
I’m the first one? Do I get a prize for that? Ok anyway, I have received laughter from reading this crazy LAT lady. I wish for joy and peace to be a part of every day.
I’ve received the gifts of laughter, self-recognition, encouragement and new ways of seeing the challenges of life. Thank you, Jennifer. Your deep sharing, your wondrous sense of humor and your courage to tackle even the touchiest topics make your online community a welcoming place. Another gift to me was having something to share with my sister and girlfriends–this site you’ve created and nurtured.
What I an open to being gifted with is the opportunity to do meaningful work as a writer–work that allows me a living wage, after years of being underpaid and unchallenged.
Happy birthday, LAT! Congratulations, Jennifer. May you both prosper.
I HATED turning 50, but you’ve made me feel better about it and more able to own it. Talking about menopause is good, too.
In the next 100 days I’m planning on World Domination through helping small business owners. You see, I believe that small business will save the world. I believe I have a new way of looking at business that helps non-MBA type business owners. I believe I have everything I need to make this happen. I’m still letting the Lizard Brain have too much of my brain space. Cheering would help!
I just joined the wisdom LAT circle the other day. I have read day one of the ’21 Days. Reclaim the Sass’ ebook and will be reading day two today. I’m hoping to be inspired to have the confidence and courage to keep my dream of owning my own business. I actually left work last December to begin this process and have been working on my own blog and my store on Etsy since then. My husband has been very encouraging. I figure the wisdom LAT circle will give me inspiration.
The makeover wish I hope to receive is to have success with my business and to have the confidence to listen to myself and not all the naysayers.
Happy Birthday, LAT! and I can’t wait to continue to read and learn here.
It’s been a gift to come here and see so many other women grappling with these same issues and being so brave on working them out.
In the next 100 days I wish to:
spend more time on my artwork, get my ex out of my head, and get the money together for the down payment on my own little house.
I have learned that there is much to be said for this stage in my life – the simple fact of calling your site “Life After Tampons” demonstrates that there is, in fact, life after tampons, and that in fact in can be the best part of your life. In the next 100 days, I am working on rebranding and relaunching my business, with the goal of turning it from a side project into my main source of income. I need all the support I can get! Thanks for being here, and keep on putting out thought-provoking content with just enough humor to keep me coming back. Congratulations! Here’s to many 100s more.
Happy 100 Days, Jen and LAT! I have received camaraderie through a rough patch, filled with laughter and understanding over the tears and consternation of going it alone.
In the next 100, I hope to find a clarity and a more graceful acceptance of what is.
Thank you, Jen- thank you, LAT!
Finding this welcoming place has filled me with joy and a sense of camraderie. For a while I felt the interwebs were filled with 20 & 30 year olds, (I love their energy & fresh ideas but I felt out-of-step with them.) And then I found you and this community and my horizons expanded. I particularly like the encouraging vibe I feel here. If I could ask for a gift it would be for a local community of like minded women — coffee and conversation. Congratulations on 100 days!
Just today I received the gift of Grace’s story (thank you, Jonathan) and LAT and I feel as if I’ve found a little corner of the internet to call home. In the next 100 days I wish for more clarity in this transitional time of my life as I repurpose skills, hard learned, to create meaningful work. That, and I want to add 20lbs to my deadlift.
Thank you, Jennifer, and happy birthday!
Happy Birthday! And congratulations on creating something you really wanted for yourself and for the rest of us.
Thank you for the gift of irreverent humor; it is a great way for me to stop taking things so seriously that they seem to big to do. And it’s so much more fun to laugh as I move in to whatever the next step is.
What I hope for is continued courage to keep on walking, no matter what comes up, and to step into my own ability to do so. We are all so much more capable than we know!
Happy Birthday Jennifer and LAT, and I am lifting my morning orange juice in a celebratory toast to your first 100 days with warm wishes for many more days and years of success!
Being bounced out of a long held job just days short of my 57th birthday left me feeling a bit adrift and lacking my normal sense of humour – but finding this website has helped bring me back and make me laugh too, how awesome is that!
Thanks so much!
Jan
Happy 100 LAT!
My gift has been the sisters who are sharing this journey with me, and the incentive to laugh about it. Also, the push to make comments like these. I’ve been a blog lurker up till now.
I’m recuperating after shattering my leg in January, so I’m hoping for the gift of healing and energy so that I can regain my life.
How could I resist a site w/ such a name? I joined a couple days ago, and now I find it’s an online “community” of other “changing women” supporting each other to create this better than ever time of our lives! Thank you!
My WISH is to find the way to revitalize at the cellular level (after a decade+ of adrenal burnout), so I can wo-manifest my dream of founding an intentional eco-feminist spiritual permaculture community.
Thanks Jennifer and LAT for being honest about the struggles and all the fun and liveliness that go along with LAT life!!
In the next 100 days, I will…….go on a European cruise with my twin sister to celebrate our 50th birthdays!!! YAY!!!!!
I have gained so much just in the 2 or 3 days I have been involved with LAT! My gift has been a renewed focus on ME! I am the most important person in my life afterall!
My WISH, I am turning 40 on the 19th, so I wish for the next 100 days to be the start of the best years of my life!
Since I’ve been reading LAT and approaching 50, (huh,I DID NOT WRITE THAT!) I’ve realized the community that is out there, even though I’m always in here looking at a computer screen. But that doesn’t matter anymore cuz I know you are there. Next 100? – I wish I can stop being so concerned about achieving and sink in to the fact that, ” if you have your health, you truly have everything.”
Congrats Jen.
Peace, baby.
Congratulations on 100 days!
I’ve gotten the gift of the idea that I don’t have to resist or ignore being my age, because it’s possible to celebrate Life After Tampons (the site and the reality). There are great things to be found and explored here, and also great people to meet.
And I would like more ease in this process, of getting used to where and who I am at nearly 46 years old, and getting to the place where that’s an exciting thing instead of pretending it’s not truth or doesn’t matter.
Happy Birthday! I’ve already come through the other side of a lot of the issues you talk about, but I keep reading each day. Why? To be reminded of how we get stuck and can get unstuck, and because it’s so much easier to convey those messages to my stuck friends when YOU write them! So thanks for the gift of reminders and pre-written advice.
What makeover wish would I make? Do you have control over the lottery by any chance? Because I would like a financial makeover. No? Then I would like to makeover my impulses to spend or eat when I’m anxious and feeling deprived.
Happy 100 LAT! Gee, next to that, 50 doesn’t look so bad! Since I’ve been reading LAT, I have laughed my droopy a** off with other women who share the same experience of invisibility, self worth, self rebirthing and the general ghastliness of having too much or too little hair in all the wrong places. And we’re still juicey,the-best-is-yet-to-live goddesses!
In the next 100 days, I hope to live more in my sacred space creating sacred sounds, loving more, forgiving more and exercising more. Congratulations to you and your fantastic process! I’m off for a jog. XO
Happy 100 days. Thank you for the support with humor!
My wish is to never forget, even for one second, that I am enough just as I am.
xoxo
Thank you and Happy Birthday #100 LAT! I love coming here and reading all the great info and posts that I can resonate with. It confirms my belief that I’m getting smarter, stronger and more focused on what I want and deserve at this stage of my life (I’ll be 57 next month.) I’ve found encouragement, knowledge, a sense of camaraderie and laughter here!
My hope for the next 100 days is to become more clear on my new business venture so that I may help more people in our age group find their true passion doing what they love. Also, I would love to start writing that book I’ve always wanted to write!
WOW, how great is this…I made it to join LAT right in time for a party, is that perfect timing or what?
I recently was introduced to LAT and joined without a moment’s thought. Although it has only been a couple of days, I have already gotten so much inspiration and laughter!
In my next 100 days, I hope to continue encountering people from different cultures and continue to learn and grow from their experiences. Furthermore, to continue in making a difference in others lives through their inspirational stories and some of my lessons learned ( I do have a lot to learn:)). Oh, one more thing, finish writing my memoire…ok, now that I have mentioned it here OUT LOUD, it will be my motivation:)
Happy 3 months and counting…it is kind of like birthing a baby and then caring for it. Thank you for your honesty, insights, spiritual reminders and your candid peek into daily life – yours.
For the next 100 days I want to finish editing my screenplay. And I want to keep my job while I’m doing it. I want to enjoy the sun within moderation, swim outside and love my adult children as best I can.
Thanks love.
What I’ve gotten from LAT Wisdom Circles is the sound of my own voice echoing in so many hearts. Laughter, confusion, hope and more laughter as well as so many other thoughts/emotions/ideas are getting properly fed here.
My make over should include more ways to look fear in the eye, acknowledge my own strength and beauty and to share it with like minded individuals.
I have discovered that I am not alone in this journey of craziness. When I read Jen’s posts and posts of the Wisdom Circle I sometimes, well most times, giggle and think “yep…been there, done that!” What I really need is a kick start to make room and time for my work, both art, photograph and writing. I need to focus on REALLY working on my children’s books and not saying to myself, “You are not a writer, no one will publish, I don’t have time, or I don’t know where to start.” I just need to set aside time, an begin! I need encouragement and people around to listen and bounce ideas or suggest ideas I may not even think about. This also applies to my art and photograph. I need to show my work and not be afraid to jump in with both feet. Please someone give me a push….oh and a safety net!
Love and laughs
Happy 100th! I feel that I have received the gift of allowing myself to dream about how I can reinvent myself. In the next 100 days I would love to start taking steps to a new me – allowing my true self to surface and to embrace that new person emerging. Sounds like fun!
Hey there, Jen. My favorite LAT gift so far is “show is little bit of your ass, just a little.” Loved it! It’s kind of like a secret mantra I use to get myself to do things. It actually got me to finish a post on my own blog that I had suspended in mid-air because I thought it wasn’t “good enough.”
(BTW, how do I find that “show your…” video again on your site?)
Next 100 days: Embracing good enough.
So, here’s the deal gorgeous, it’s nearly 10PM pacific time, so I haven’t missed this 100TH day celebration by a long shot. AND I am drinking a Martini tonight which I rarely do anymore, because my husband brought home an amazing bottle of Cavalli Vodka complete with an embossed snake around a sandblasted glass bottle. Let me digress for just a second and say, I love Italians, I married one and let’s be honest, Italians are amazing with design innovation.
Okay, enough Vodka talk, now back to you, Happy 100TH Day. I haven’t been around for the whole 100 days, but the days I have been on board have been truly special and that’s you, lovely Jen, who forgave me for initially being a bitch on email and then when I regrouped to my true self, I discovered your honesty was a gift and my heart was open enough to receive it, in a way that I hope is good for both of us.
Thank you for truly being a MidLife Rock Star!
Thank you for bringing humor and humility to us as you do.
Thank you for being gutsy, dropping the FBomb, caring, sharing, being light and uplifting and for making me laugh my ass off as much as possible.
Best wishes for the next 100, which I plan to be part of everyday.
With Love and Creative Joy~
Teresa
p.s that’s me talkin’ honey, not the Cavalli
Happy Happy!!!!
Hey Jen
I have only been with this for a whopping 3 days now, but have already learnt a few things. thanks for your humour and staright forward advice… love it!!
my wish list is somewhat simple, so they say…. to simply stop pushing myself and being my own worst enemy… to just be and live each day as a journey instead of a race to get my next goal acheived… (how much I am missing…) Oi…..
All the very best for your next 100 days.
Much love……
Congratulations on your 100 days, to be honest it all seems so ‘together’ that i thought you’d been around much longer than that.
Thankyou for making me laugh, and helping me feel the shared community of so many other 50 something women.
In the next 100 days i would like to decide which college course i should apply for, or if i should apply for all 3 and decide what i can cope with closer to the crunch time; i would like to get over the hump of fear and procrastination of starting on my new blog and i think i would like to meet some potential collaborators for said blog.
My soul sister Angela introduced me to this wonderful community last weekend during a girls weekend. I can see already that this will be a necessary part of my daily routine. For that I say thank you and congratulations. In reading past posts you have provided me with a kernel of excitement that I may be coming out of my cocoon and am ready to rejoin a community.
In the next 100 days I want to finally sell our house and then find and settle into a new house we all like. I want to become involved in this new community. I want to be reunited with my family and pets, and I I want to boldly march into my 50′s.
I’m celebrating you and 100 this way:
100 old thoughts
100 old ideas
100 shriveling beliefs
all shredded and stuffed
into a pinata.
Blind as a child
hopeful as a fool
I will beat and beat and beat
all that old shit out
(there must be some fun in destruction)
and when the mule holding
all that old shit
finally bursts
we’re showered, all of us,
in the effervescence of transformation
free of calories, free of baggage, and free, finally
for ourselves.
And then we’ll laugh and eat cake.
I’ve just discovered this lovely community, and so my thank you is for doing it. Just doing it, despite not being a twenty something, despite life as its been so far and despite everything. Thank you for modelling that. And my wish for the next 100 days is that I remember to be valiant, remember to follow my heart and just goddamned do it.
Thank you for humor.
Looking forward to new beginnings and more fun!