Hi, I'm Emilia Isabelle

The Simple Life and Simple Moments

Yesterday, I turned 32.

Another trip around the sun and with it is a moment to reflect on what this life means to me. For me, it isn’t in the grand, dramatic sense, but in the quiet, steady, deeply personal way that only comes when you stop seeking validation from the world and start truly living for yourself.

I could have planned something. I’m extremely fortunate to have a group of friends who are always there to celebrate any milestone. Dinners, drinks, dancing, the usual birthday shenanigans, but when I paused and thought about how I really wanted to spend my day, only one answer came to me, and it came without hesitation:

My son.

At this point in my blog, you may be fed up hearing about him (I promise I have a personality), but for me he’s not just my child. He’s my constant. He’s the reason I pushed through the hard days this past year and the joy I come home to every night, even when we are arguing over bedtime. He’s the one who has held my hand in both the literal and metaphorical sense, through the storm and into the sunshine. He drives me to do and be better.

When I picture where I want to be, who I want to become, and the life I want to live, he’s right at the heart of it. So I didn’t do anything extravagant. I went to work, as I do. I picked him up, like always. And then we stopped, we sat on the grass, we lit the candles, sang happy birthday, and shared a slice of red velvet cake. I closed my eyes for a moment and made a wish not for more, but for this. For this kind of love, this kind of peace, this kind of stillness.

As we blew out candles together, I thought to myself that this is exactly what I want him to see. That joy isn’t something you have to chase, or buy, or perform. It can be found in stillness, in presence, in laughing at the silliness of grass-stained jeans and cake-covered fingers. In knowing who you are and what matters most to you.

I know I probably sound like a loser to some, and that’s fine. I know that many would rather celebrate loudly over quiet, busy over calm, crowds over solitude, and that’s great. But for someone who felt chaos for so long I’m learning that understanding what brings out the best version of you sometimes means going against the grain. It’s not the big parties or the flashy nights out. It’s honesty, it’s gratitude, it’s time spent with someone who sees me without me having to explain myself.

I’m not here to tell anyone else how to live their life. If club nights and lavish dinners light you up, that’s beautiful. But this birthday reminded me of something powerful: I don’t need to match the energy of others to honour who I am. And who I am when I’m the best version of me is someone who finds magic in the mundane, purpose in parenting, and joy in just being here.

This next chapter of my life is about choosing presence over pressure, alignment over approval, and meaning over noise.

So cheers to me, here’s to 32 definitely not louder, not bolder, just more me. More grounded. More peaceful. More in love with this simple, beautiful life I get to live.
And if you’re still figuring out what brings out the best in you, start by noticing when you feel most like yourself. That’s where the the magic is. That’s where you belong.