On 10/14/2023, I threw a very special event for myself. I called it Simply the Beth: A Unique Celebration of Life Milestones. This is the speech I gave to my friends & family at the event.

I don’t know if y’all know this about me, but I LOVE TO CELEBRATE.

I love celebrating engagements, weddings, new babies, second babies, new dog babies, and chinchilla babies. (Although I don’t know anyone that has a chinchilla just yet. YET.)
I love celebrating birthdays and holidays, retirements, graduations, and coming home from the hospital.
I love celebrating when children become adults. Although, let’s face it - we all know how much they’re going to hate adulthood.

When we were kids, we used to celebrate every little accomplishment. But then at some point, it goes away. We focus on only certain, specific milestones when we are in adulthood - and often lose sight of other milestones that are just as big, and still worth celebrating.

We don’t get a “gold star” for being grown-ups.
We don’t get a trophy for all of the accomplishments that add up to us feeling complete.
We don’t get a party when we get out of a marriage that is no longer working (even though we probably should).
We don’t usually put a ring on it when we’ve finally, FINALLY learned how to love ourselves (even though we probably should).

I decided to have this party because I wanted to celebrate OTHER life milestones.
I want to normalize celebrating MORE THINGS.
I want to celebrate people that get their Ph.D.
I want people to throw a party the first time someone gets their paintings featured in a gallery, or when they publish a book.
I want to normalize throwing a big bash on someone’s sobriety anniversary.
I want to normalize throwing a party when our daughters get their first period, or when our friends finally reach menopause.
I want to normalize people celebrating their yearly anniversary of going to therapy, for paying off their debt, for hitting their weight record for deadlifts, or finally being able to do one pull-up (those are SO HARD)!

Here is what I’m celebrating for myself tonight, with all of you:

2 years ago, I paid off $23,000 of credit card debt, and officially became debt-free at 40 years old!
A year ago this week I bought a condo - which, with a single-income in downtown Denver? I should get a ticker tape parade for!
In March of 2022, I officially became a PN Level 1 Nutrition Certified Coach through Precision Nutrition. (Which I’m not using for anything just yet, but gosh, it felt so good just to go through the process and accomplish that dream!)

I also want to celebrate taking the hard step of going to therapy (and putting in the work to improve myself), and stepping into new and uncomfortable spaces like:

trying modeling for the first time
fulfilling my dream of stunt driving - thanks to some incredible friends pitching in to make it happen
starting my new “Adulting Sessions” community
and taking my first-ever international trip by myself last year

I have been so thrilled to celebrate many of your milestones with you. And I’m so grateful that you’re here to celebrate the goals I’ve reached with me tonight.

The moment I decided to have this event I thought - is this crazy?
Are people going to think I’m being silly for having a “wedding-like” event, for me?
Or making a “registry” for myself?

Then I heard stories of people being inspired. Of wanting to have a milestone celebration like this for themselves, or for a friend. I realized that this event was bigger than me. It’s something that can help people abandon their fears about whether or not they’re on the right path, or if they’re doing enough just because their journey or timeline doesn’t look like other people’s, or what society tells us is the CORRECT path or timeline.

The truth is, we are all on our own journeys, with our own unique milestones to celebrate. There is no “right way” or “right time” for anything. Our lives were not all meant to follow the same path.

In a beautiful coincidence (or, perhaps fate?), tonight is a New Moon. New moons happen once a month, as the moon waxes toward fullness. It’s the beginning of a new cycle, a cosmic reset so-to-speak, which feels quite appropriate for the theme of this party! It’s a time to be grateful for what got us to this point in our lives and set intentions for a new phase.

I want to end this with a quote from an author I admire, Brianna Wiest:

“I hope you find the courage to change your life. In the small ways, in the big ways, in every way that matters.
I hope you do not end this story with a heart full of regrets.
I hope you do not spend your hears just waiting for your life to begin.
I hope you realize that this is not the practice run, this is not the preview. This is it.
There is nothing to do but leap.
There is nothing to do but allow yourself to exist as boldly and as honestly as you can.
You will think you have forever, but you do not. It all happens, and it happens quickly.
You are not waiting on another person, or the right timing, or for everything to fall into place.
You are waiting to feel ready enough to exist within the questions, to not need every answer, and to know that this life does not come to us to be perfectly understood, but to be fully experienced, in every direction we can possibly reach.”

Thank you, again - all of you, for being here to celebrate with me. All of you have touched my life in so many ways - encouraged me, supported me, and loved me - and I would not be the person that I am today without you.

Cheers!

A Lot Can Happen In A Year

A Lot Can Happen In A Year

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A Lot Can Happen In A Year

It's Not a Wedding: It's the Life Milestone Celebration We All Deserve to Have