Monday, March 3, 2014

Post #1- The List


Since 2008 I have kept a list in my wallet. It started when I sat in the miniature chair at my full-time job as a day care teacher (which I tried really hard to refer to as an all-day pre-school teacher but…let’s call a spade a spade, shall we?). I realized that day, one year after I had graduated from college, that living at home, earning…not a lot… and babysitting 30 children all day (in a room the size of your average dining room) was not going to be “it” for me. I took out a piece of red construction paper and I wrote down 25 goals I had for myself prior to turning 30. At the time I was 23.



Then, a funny thing happened- I actually started to achieve some of the goals. I applied to graduate school and was accepted. I moved out of my parents’ house. I ran the Charlottesville 10 miler. I met my husband. Things started to get better.



In 2011, on the brink of matriculation from graduate school, I revised my list. At that time I was 26.  I omitted the goals I had achieved and goals that I simply didn’t feel as though were relevant to life’s current direction.  Below is a picture of the list that I have been carrying around for the past 3 years (apologies for the…eccentric nature of some of the items.) Good things have continued to happen as I’ve continued to achieve my goals.




Now, on the eve of my 29th year of life and just a short 12 months away from greeting my 30th birthday I have revised my list, yet again. This time I have created a list of goals that are achievable in the span of one year and, beginning at the start, goal #1 is starting and maintaining a blog for the duration of the next 365 days.

This blog was born out a need of accountability to achieve my goals but also because, while 40 is the new 30, my 30th birthday seems like a big deal to me. I’ve read a several times that your 20’s are the most tumultuous decade of your life.  You’re figuring out who you are, what you’re doing, how you’re going to do it, who you love, who you need, who you don’t…You’re just figuring it all out! I wholeheartedly agree with this assessment. Frankly, the past 10 years have had more teenage angst than the angst of my teens. The omni present question “What am I doooiiinnnggg” (insert moan here) has been consistently at the forefront of my mind and finally…finally…I am starting to figure out that answer.  I’m proud of that and I credit the beginning of “figuring it all out” to my red construction paper list.

For the next year the posts that I update here will track my progress with achieving each goal. I may throw in some random posts here and there…because I am random and that’s how I roll…but for the majority it will be good old-fashioned goal setting and documentation.



So, without further pomp or circumstance, I present to you “the list”-

29 Things I want to do by the time I turn 30.

1.     Start  (& maintain!) a Blog for an entire year.
2.     Attend another DMB concert.
3.     Become certified in TRX, Pilates Mat & Aerial Movement.
4.     Travel to Europe
5.     Go to Disney World.
6.     Complete a volunteer project.
7.     Fix my tattoo
8.     See a musical
9.     Complete a Children's Yoga Teacher's course.
10. Become a consistently religious person
11. Plant and cultivate my own vegetable garden
12. Take steps in overcoming my fear of flying.
13. Perform in an artistic show.
14. Achieve my short term financial goals
15. Finish decorating my home
16.  Be Cinderella for Halloween
17.  Participate in Stand Up Paddleboard yoga
18. Start my own company
19. Decide if PTA school is the next step.
20. Write (but not necessarily send) apology notes to people I’ve hurt in the past.
21. Learn to safely handle firearms.  
22. Work on a consistent wellness regime.
23. Keep a kayak log.
24.  Re-vamp my wardrobe.
25.  Sail on a sailboat.
26.  Horseback ride.
27. Attend a children's dance teacher retreat and seminar.
28.  Run three 5k’s.
29.  Turn 30 with grace and elegance.  And maybe a little big of alcohol.

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