15 Things Every Woman Should Do in Her Life

As I'm getting older and as I've been writing this blog, I've been learning and finding things that I'm so glad I did in my life or things I still want to do. I thought I'd make a list to share with you and see if you find any ideas or if you think there is anything I should have had on my list.

1. Have ALL the Sleepovers! You have to agree with me that sleepovers are a blast. No matter what age you are, they are fun! So when I say, have the sleepovers, I don't just mean when you're between the ages of 7-18. I mean, have them all of your life! Whether it be with family or friends, stay up late, eat the junk food and watch the scary movies. Talk about life, love and all things in between!

2. Listen to Your Parents: We all know we hated doing this as kids and teenagers and likely as we grew into our twenties, but hear me out. Now that you're a parent trying to navigate all the same shit they were, isn't it nice to have someone to get advice from and to bounce ideas off of that has already been through it? Chances are they made the wrong choice about something back then and now they can tell you how to do it differently so that you get the better outcome in life than they did. Sounds like a pretty sweet deal to me. Just sayin'.

3. Dance and Be Kissed in the Rain: This one reminds be of the scene in The Notebook. Y'all know the one, when Allie and Noah have that passionate kiss in the rain. I think everyone needs to dance in the rain at least once in their adult life to remember what it's like to be a kid again. Also, if you can find a man that will kiss you like Noah kisses Allie in that rain storm (or anytime he kisses her for that matter - I'm jelly) then you're set girl!

4. Run a Business: I know a lot of you are likely going to scoff at this one but there's reason why I think highly about this. Not only do I myself run a business through Zyia Active to make extra income as a single parent, but there are a handful of other reasons I feel women should at least attempt this in their lives. First, it gives you something that is yours and yours alone. Not something you have to share with kids or a spouse, just yours. Secondly, it builds character and confidence. You're doing something on your own and learning how to do it. The tiny victories that you achieve on the way are so exciting and empowering.

5. Get a Tattoo...or 4!! I didn't get my first tattoo until I was 35. It was on my 35th birthday to be exact. I was too worried about what certain people would think if I got one, however, that was about the time in my life when I started giving less $@%s and got one regardless. To this day, I do not regret it one single bit. I now have two and am planning on getting another one, hopefully over the summer. I don't however, think tattoos of random things should be placed all over the body. I believe tattoos that have special meaning in your life are the ones that should be represented.

6. Spoil Your Babies! I will stand by this always. Remember though when you had your first baby and everyone always said, "don't hold him/her too much, you'll spoil him/her." Or when they were a little older and wanted to sleep in bed with you and you were told the same thing? To those people I say, mind ya business! If by spoiling my kids, you mean showing them I love them, care for them and will be there for them always, then yes, ma'am you bet your ass I'm gonna spoil my babies til the end of time!!

7. Buy the Leggings: Stop letting people tell you that leggings aren't pants! Do they go on your legs? Yes. Do they cover your booty? Yes, I believe they do. Do they cover your hoo-ha? Yep, sure do. Do they come in different sizes? Why, yes, yes they do. See, all the qualifications of pants. So, the next time you decide that jeans aren't comfortable - because let's face it, they aren't, bite the bullet, hit me up and buy the leggings.

8. Have a Friend Whose Kids are Like Your Own: Ever since friends started getting married and having kids, this was something I wanted. Granted, I have a best friend who also happens to be my sister in law, so of course her daughter is like my own, but here's what I really mean by this and I didn't actually find it until a few months ago myself. Earlier this year, I started chatting with the mom of one of my son's friends. She's going through a divorce and she knew I had recently so we had some things in common other than our boys being friends. We actually really hit it off(turns out, we're both extremely dorky and love to embarrass our kids!) Long story short, we love each others kids as if they were our own and our kids feel the same way about the opposite adult. Her kids wanted me to come over the other night and I didn't even have my boys with me. They just wanted to hang out with ME. They hug me as soon as they see me and I even get an I love you from a couple of them. That's the way to love your friends and your friends kids.

9. READ: Simple enough. Just read. All the things. Let your kids see you reading. Read with them, teach them good reading habits.

10. Travel Alone: This might be scary to some of you. It was to me when I first did it too. However, it grows you as a person. It doesn't matter where you travel to, it can even be a short road trip. The point is, that you plan it and do it alone even if it scares you.

11. Take a Vacation With Your Girlfriends: Anything with your girlfriends has 'Good Time' written all over it. Am I right? This one is still something I need to check off of my list. I keep trying to get this planned, but it hasn't worked out for me yet. I'd love to get to a beach somewhere. All inclusive drinks, a pool in case we get tired of the sand, a spa and no reality to drive me batty for a few days. Doesn't that sound incredible?

12. Lose Your Shit: Every woman does this, often, but I'm talking like, full blown, volcanic eruption, my life is ending, this might be a mid-life crisis lose your shit moment. How many of you have had yours already? Don't be shy. We'll all get there eventually and it's okay if you don't do it gracefully.

13. Do Something Unexpected: To be totally honest, I think my most unexpected moment to everyone was getting divorced. Maybe make your moment something everyone can be proud of you for. Shock the world! I'd love to hear in the comments some of your moments.

14. Love Unconditionally: Yes, this is a hard one, but probably one of the ones we need to remember the most. This world is so full of hate that we need to show our kids how to love again. Quite honestly, we need to show each other how to love again. Stop the judgement, quick or otherwise. Let a persons past be their past. Love them based on the person they are now.

15. Choose You ALWAYS! This should be a no brainer, but I, too forget. Even if you're a Mama, you have to choose you. If you're burnt out and unhappy, everything around you will start to spiral. You must love YOU unconditionally as well.