A birthday reflection on trust, managing disappointment, releasing control, and becoming available for more joy, connection, and possibility Birthdays have become a season of reflection for me. Not just a time to look at what happened over the past year, but an opportunity to notice what it taught me, what I released, and who I became along the way. And this year, one realization keeps rising to the surface: I have spent a lot of my life protecting myself from the good stuff