Time is so fleeting, and the older you get, the more you realize it. Time just slips away while you’re busy working, doing chores, going grocery shopping and taking care of the daily hustle and bustle of every day life. The closer I edge to 30, the more I realize I need to, not only prioritize having more fun and crossing things off of the bucket list I’ve been keeping up with since middle school, but also learning more about myself and accomplishing my goals.
When you’re growing up, it feels like you’re always looking forward to some kind of milestone year – your sweet 16 when you get a license, your 18th birthday when you graduate from high school and become an adult, your 21st birthday when you get to drink. Then it’s like every age after that becomes a little scarier.
So many people say that your 20’s are some of the best years of your life. I mean, I don’t have much to compare it to, but I can say that I have enjoyed the eight years I’ve lived in my 20’s, but as my 30’s edge closer and closer, I get a little bit more panicky about the fact that I feel like less of an adult than ever. I still feel like there’s so many things I’m trying to figure out, and the more I confide in other people about some of these fears, the more I realize that I’m not alone.
When I was in my early 20’s I created a “30 Before 30” list with things I wanted to do before I turned 30. I’m fortunate have crossed so many things off that list like…
going to a music festival,
going skydiving,
riding horses on the beach,
swimming with dolphins,
going to Europe,
meeting someone from Harry Potter,
attending a book festival
Now I’m 28-years-old with less than two years left to finish my list, and there are some big ticket items that I still need to accomplish, such as volunteering overseas, going to Australia, going to the Wizarding World of Harry Potter in Orlando and going white water rafting.
The good thing is, even if I don’t accomplish everything on my list by the time I’m 30, that doesn’t mean those goals will cease to exist. I don’t know that I’ll get the thousands of dollars I need to make it to Australia before I hit the big 3-0, but it will still remain the #1 place I want to visit until I get there. On the other side of that, just because I crossed something off of my list, it doesn’t mean I wouldn’t want to do it again. I absolutely would love to take another trip to Europe and visit so many of the countries I still haven’t gone to yet, and going to music festivals is now one of my favorite ways to see live music and have now gone to three.
So even though I am guilty of getting caught up in the monotony of everyday life, my goal is to always have something to look forward to – something for me to cross off of my list.
If you want to make a list of things you want to do before you’re 30 or 40 or 50, etc., I 100% encourage you to do so. Jessica Misener, a former Buzzfeed editor, has put together a list of over 600 things to do before you’re 30 in her book, Things To Do Before You’re 30: The Try-It-Out, Get-It-Done, Live-It-Up List!, and it includes everything from taking a tour of a pineapple farm in Maui to volunteering at a soup kitchen, taking your parents out to dinner and paying, turning off your phone for 24 hours, visiting all five Great Lakes and reading the entire Harry Potter series. From traveling to self-care to home maintenance and navigating long-term friendships and relationships, this book has everything you need to make sure you’re making the best out of your life and really living it.
Jessica’s book will be available to buy tomorrow! In the meantime,I’m challenging you to create a list of your own if you don’t already have one and share some of the things you’d like to do before 30!
What are some things on your list?
