Dear BPs and BPs-to-be,

I am thrilled to be writing my first of many messages to you! Getting The Birthday Princess Handbook in print and into your hands has been a dream of mine for a decade, and now it’s finally a reality. I am honored that you’ve chosen my book to play a role in your journey toward loving yourself and your birthday more fully.

One of the toughest hurdles on the BP journey is accepting that we deserve everything on our birthdays that we desire. Some women feel selfish if they admit they want to be wined and dined by a dozen of their closest friends. Others feel guilty if they want the opposite—just to spend quiet time alone meditating, reading, or walking in the woods.

Gals, it’s time to throw the concept of selfishness out the window! When we choose to be a Birthday Princess, we are choosing to fill our cup—and aren’t we better at filling the cups of others when ours is full to the brim? Remember that old saying about not really being able to love others until we love ourselves first!

So embrace yourselves—and the day of your birth—fully and joyfully. You were born. Isn’t that cause to celebrate?