Shortly after I turned 21, just after I had graduated university in the midst of a recession and had no clue what to do with my life now I was off the education conveyor belt, I made a list of things I wanted to do before I reached the not so ripe or old age of 25. And not to boast gang, but I did loads of things.
I ran a bloody marathon, literally. The London marathon (when I had never run anything ever before). I backpacked alone through Vietnam, Cambodia and India. I stayed at an Ashram and at least on the days when I was not held captive in my room by crazed monkeys on my balcony, I went to sunrise morning and meditation classes where an actual yogi with a long black beard and white harem pants attempted to push a tube in my nose and take it out my mouth. (That did not work, and was not per say on my list, but going all Eat Pray Love and staying in an Ashram in the Indian Himalayas was).
I also got the job I wanted, and moved into a snazzy flat in East London with 3 of my best friends and started the transformation into the city slicker I now consider myself to be. Sort of. There was also some things I didn't do - I did not write a book. I did not go and live abroad for a year. I did not do a master's degree, which tbh would have been a squeeze. But I pushed myself out of my comfort zone, crammed my early twenties with memories I will treasure and that list was a big enabler.
Sometimes through all the moaning about dead rats in my garden, not fitting in an unelasticated size 12 80% of the time anymore, the anxiety; even through all the instagram filters of pretty flowers on mantlepieces and picturesque cups of tea I forget. I forget this is my one life and my one time, and that so far I've crammed my life full of precious experiences and I want to keep on doing that.
I have just turned 29 and my life feels in someways a little smaller now, I am on a chosen path, I am more settled. I have a mortgage, I have a proper job, I have a cutie of a boyfriend. (Even thought he still hasn't bought me a cat, boooooo.) But I still want to have that same attitude I did when I was 21 to just take a juicy big bite out of the world, plan the best way I can to enjoy my spell here on planet earth. So I've come up with 30 things I want to do before 30 (ok 26 I have some spaces and am open to suggestions), which I feel are do-able even in my littler life, and will keep it chugging along on the path I want it to.
1. Be in the live studio audience of Strictly Come Dancing. Always good to start with one which is both epic and completely in my control no? Ok so audience tickets are tricky to get but I have just used both my email addresses, Will's, my mum's, my dad's and my sister's to make 6 applications for Strictly Come Dancing tickets, so I feel like my odds are as good as anyone's who is not a celebrity.
2. Host a supperclub - Basically I would like to be Jackson & Levine and I feel like this is the year to try and become that cool.
3. Learn to make a bangin' lasagne, and be able to whip it up without even looking at a recipe. I feel like knowing how to cook a good lasagne is something every 30 year old should be able to do.
4. Own a designer handbag. Will take donations, not above having this bought for me.
5. Join a choir. Ok I've done this before, I was in the Christmas Choir at uni, but I think maybe I will give it another whirl, cos I really like singing.
6. Volunteer for charity, with Will. A few years ago (during those 21-25 times actually though it was not on the list) I volunteered for a couple of days at Crisis at Christmas and it was a really rewarding and valuable experience. I do chunks of voluntary work here and there, but I would love to find something Will can do with me, as I think he would get a lot out of it.
7. Clear out under my bed.
8. Grow some tomatoes
9. Ride in a hot air balloon
10. Learn to stop pressing snooze on the alarm
11. Get a Eurostar after work from London to Paris, while away a night having midnight dinners, dancing and watching the sunrise over Paris, then take the 7am Saturday Eurostar home. One night in Paris for real.
12. Learn what Google Analytics actually is
13. Go to a festival with my parents
14. Read (0r at least listen to on Audible) War and Peace
15. Plan a big trip somewhere new with Will - not for a wedding, not because he is going there for work, just because. The world is our oyster.
16. Learn to play a sweet song on my (untouched for the last 4 years) lilac ukelele
17. Start running to work (not quite a marathon, but I am not fit enough at the moment...)
18. Fall bloody asleep when my boyfriend is out late. So much trickier than it sounds, this one is the one on my list I most want to tick off.
19. Fit into unelasticated size 12 clothing.
20. Dye my hair candy cotton pink, for a bit.
21. Pass my driving test
22. Climb a mountain
23. Make this little nook onto the internet a bit more of a constant...
24. Get a cleaner (probs the easiest thing on my list)
25. Learn to tidy up after myself so Will has no choice but to agree TO GET ME A CAT
26. Straighten my gnashers, invisalign here I come.
27, 28, 29, 30....?? TBC
Ok, so some of them are personal slightly vain goals like losing weight, and straighter teeth, and a lot are about getting my life in order, but I still think do all of these things and I am moving my life a little bit more in the direction I would like to go in.
I'll keep you in the loop with how/if it goes, with the label 30 before 30 if anyone is out there wanting to read along, or even add some of my mundane tasks to their life lists.
PS. More self improvement - a post about how to find time to meditate everyday-ish
PPS. I really did find a dead rat in my garden, twice.
PPPS. My girl Des'ree.
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