30 Before 30
September 3, 2010 § 2 Comments
To a lot of people, this isn’t a big deal. To others, it’s a huge deal. The expectations leading up to that fated day are high, soaring, or incredibly low. It depends on the person, I guess, and what they want to get out of that day. Do I learn something? Do I not learn something? Do I get lots of shiny baubles? Do my friends forget?
I turn 25 next month.
Which I guess isn’t a big deal.
Except, I let a significant part of my life spiral out of control, which had a snowball effect on the rest of my life. All of these factors are what inspired today’s post.
Here’s my list:
30 Things to Accomplish/Do Before 30
- Become financially independent.
- Move somewhere nice and affordable not in the Eastern Panhandle or DC Metro Area.
- Get a promotion.
- Go on a vacation to England.
- Go to France.
- Go to Asia.
- Buy a DSLR for longevity and practicality.
- Create a plan to eliminate my debt.
- Effectively pay off all revolving credit card debt.
- Eliminate clutter and distraction from my living space.
- Learn flash photography.
- Get something published (photograph, poem, something)
- Visit Seattle (and Tominda) again.
- Paint a room.
- Build a webpage for photography and other various work.
- Create a portfolio.
- Improve upon created portfolio.
- See Erika!
- Learn to let go and just have a good time.
- Make a large investment in my future.
- Make a large investment in general.
- Adopt a second dog.
- Pay off my car.
- Learn to knit and subsequently knit something.
- Lose 50 pounds.
- Learn to sew a button.
- Visit the Grand Canyon.
- Say hello to a stranger.
- Learn to hardboil an egg.
- Swim in the ocean.
A lot of these don’t seem exceptional, but given that I’ve wanted to do them and haven’t in the past 10+ years says a lot. I need to find the time to do everything I’ve wanted to.
One of those is already crossed off. More on that later.
I realized when I turned 30 in February that I wasted my 20s. I didn’t accomplish a whole lot. Then I realized I had placed this insurmountable goals into my psyche. Much of what I wanted to accomplish was based on what I thought others at my age should be doing. Things like buying a house, or having kids. Things like traveling abroad and hiking the AT. Sheesh, it made me depressed. Here I was, married, stuck in a job and trying to pay off a massive credit card debt. According to society, when I turned 30 I was a failure. Then I started to realize that it was my life. That we all have different paths, and we all accomplish different things at different times. I don’t know if it was previously that I thought that I would be somehow “outdated” or “ineligible” at a certain age for things, but that’s changed. If I thru-hike the AT when I’m 60, then more power to me. Rent a cramped apt until I’m 40, then so be it. I don’t know what you believe, or whatever, but I’m a firm believer that God has a place for us. Even on days like today when I’m completely hating my job, I know God wants me right here, right now. Does that make sense? I dunno. Maybe this has been a little cathartic for me today.
I tried to keep my list simple, and to understand that the large things are “maybe”‘s or “not entirely possible”‘s. Like all the travel? I don’t expect to be able to do all of it, but it would be nice.
I wanted to avoid things like, “get married,” “have kids,” “start my own business.” My list isn’t so much about whether or not I can do it, it’s about all the stuff I’ve been putting off up until this point. There are things I would like to do or have accomplished before I turn 30, so I tried to highlight those things.
I understand what you mean about how we all have different paths, and I don’t think that I’ll look back and regret NOT accomplishing any of the above mentioned items (except the debt part, but I’m actually working on that).