I’ll be honest. I’m not one to say half birthdays are even a thing. Today, I woke up with the intention of my main highlight of the day being my checkup with my dentist. It turns out that although I have perfect pearly whites, today also happened to be exactly 6 months from my future and my past birthday. Something that was noted while checking out from the dentist’s office, considering I’d prefer to NOT stop by on my actual birthday.

What I’m getting at is that I completely forgot that I’m at the halfway point to hitting 25. Some people don’t make it past certain ages, but I’m grateful to be alive and present in the moment, so I decided to celebrate a halfway mark to a new age in my life.

I ended up meeting up with some friends at the Westfield Century City mall, where I did some damage, but I realized I hadn’t treated myself in a while. I have difficulty sometimes when it comes to self-love; sometimes I think I’m a terrible person, a jackass, vain, unmotivated, and everything in between. Thoughts like those don’t benefit me in any way, but what they do is challenge me to defeat them, and it’s times like today where I do. The current climate of the world is daunting politically, economically, and ethically for me and many others. I’m not sure where our future is heading and whether or not I’ll have legal protections in the future as a gay man. Some people detest my life and would do a lot to destroy it. I’d argue cases as to why that could be, but there are too many variations to count. Regardless, the only thing I’m guilty of is loving another human who loves me back. I try not to dwell on the negativity too much, but somehow, it always reappears. However, on a day like this, I’m alive and well, and that’s something to celebrate for myself and others. So to all my readers, treat yourself on your half birthday. We’ve made it this far in our lives when so many couldn’t, and that’s something worth noting.