The day began with a loud hip hip hurray, followed by cheerful birthday serenades and colorfully wrapped gifts. Some cake pieces later I was sitting with my best friend in the sauna and reflected on the last years. » How are you feeling about it? «, I asked her about her upcoming milestone. » Is there something that you want to do before you turn 30? «
» 30. «, she sighed. » That always felt so far away to me. I used to think that if I´m 30, I would be so grown up. I´d have a family and my life totally under control. « An almost childish giggle followed and I cheered in with her laughing. She was so right. It´s funny how life runs totally different from what you expected it would be like in your childhood.
The milestone of the big thirty always seemed so far away to me, but now it´s not even a year until I´m not in my twenties anymore. And it feels like this important step of my life deserves a little countdown.
We age by experiences not by years, they say. And as a girl who loves writing lists, I want to celebrate the last part of my twenties with a bucketlist. Cause what could be better than planning some adventures as a big Goodbye to my twenties. There are all kind of things I still want to experience in my twenties. So that’s why I share with you my 30 things that I still want to do before I turn 30 years old. Perhaps it motivates one or the other of you to make your own life more adventurous and fill it with moments of happiness.
#1 Find a publishing house
Even though I´ve been writing for several years already, I have always postponed the step of the search for publishers. Too many other (work) projects kept coming in between. Now I want to trick my fear by setting a deadline and motivate myself to just do it. From now on I have one year to find a publishing house, while I´m still in my twenties, that should be possible right?
#2 Build a gingerbread house
It’s hard to believe, but I’ve actually never decorated a gingerbread house so far. As a passionate baker, I want to change that. So this winter I’m going to bake my very first gingerbread house.
#3 Go skiing in the mountains
Earlier this year I went skiing for the first time since my childhood and I absolutely loved it. After a few minutes on skiers, however, it was also clear that my dear friends were wrong. Nope, skiing is not like cycling. And yes, you forget how to do it. Because I was a tiny desaster! Well at least I wasn´t quite as dramatic as Bridget Jones, but there wasn´t much missing. So now I want my skiing skills back and would love to be able again to drive elegantly over the icy snow cover. So before I’m 30 I really want to learn how to be a badass skier.
#4 Be spontaneous to the max for 24h
As a passionate planning lover it´s sometimes hard for me to go with the flow and be really spontaneous. My goal is to always get the maximum of productivity out of a day, so I rarely leave longer periods unplanned. Recently I´ve wondered if this sometimes makes me miss opportunities, as I´m not so open up for taking unexpected possibilities. Because there isn´t much space left for creativity and spontaneity, if you preplan your day. That´s the reason why I would like to give myself the challenge to spend a complete day spontaneously and in this sense also integrate a „yes-day“. A yes day is a day where you are completely open to all the possibilities that are offered to you and try something new instead of the usual paths. Don´t we all need a little bit of craziness in our lifes?
#5 Sightseeing with a Countdown
Another challenge I set to myself is to travel to a place I´ve never been before and give myself only 24 hours to explore it. I want to get the most out of the time, staying up until the sun rises just because I don´t want to miss anything. Doesn´t that sound exciting?
#6 Write a letter to my futureself
Yes I admit it, there she is again, the list and planning girl in me. Whenever a big milestone comes up or I’m facing a challenge, I write a letter to my futureself. For example when I went to australia, I recorded my hopes and fears on the flight. One year later on my flight back home I opened the envelope again and was stunned about how many things I was worried about (for the most part unnecessarily).
#7 Explore Island
The last few months I have discovered an incredible fascination for iceland, so the trip is at the top of my bucketlist. I´ve also just started a new book project, which I run under the working title „the icelandic girl“, so I can hardly wait to see the country and its beautiful nature.
#8 Live without any sense of time
In the coming year I would absolutely love to live free of any foreign influences. For me this means, in addition to a digital detox, that I want to spend a whole week without a watch. Of course this would be quite difficult to integrate in your everyday life, if you have to get to work at a special time or meet fixed deadlines. Even if you would try to avoid looking at your own watch, there are so many things around you that show you the time anyway like your mobile phone, notebook or clocks on the road stations. But that is actually the reason why I want to challenge myself to live a week without a watch. I´d like to find out if my own sense of time is consistent with my biological (sleep) rhythm or if I only follow the time rules someone else has set for me.
#9 Cook the perfect dinner
I love to cook and bake, but since uni ended and I started to work fulltime I´ve hardly invited friends over for dinner anymore. So I would like to prepare a great dinner for my loved ones.
#10 Experience a mystery dinner
Maybe I even integrate a little murder mystery dinner, the idea just came to my mind spontaneously, but hey that´s exactly what this list is for. So far I have only participated in a single murder mystery dinner, but it has been so much fun and I got so excited about it, that last christmas I got a book about how to make a crime dinner myself. Time to wipe out the dust of the pages and finally try the tips of the book.
#11 Do something for the first time
I love to face new challenges and experience small adventures. So for a few years now already on my list of good intentions for the up coming year always is written that I want to do something for the first time. And who would have thought, in the last 5 years I have actually always found something special that I tried for the first time. Let´s see what it will be this time.
#12 Start project RTW
I know that’s a little mean now, but I can’t tell you yet what the project is about. But you can believe me, it will cost me quite an effort to trust enough in myself to try it, so the secret project belongs definitely on this list.
#13 Try Karaoke
Time for another confession: I am a terrible singer! But at least I can promise you that there is hardly anyone who is enjoying singing as much as I do. So far I was too shy for trying out karaoke, because lets face it I´m a bit ashamed of how untalented I am, when it comes to music. But the older I get , the lesser I care about what others might think. And hey the more you´re able to laugh about yourself, the happier you get. So I would love to try out karaoke – anyone there who wants to join me?
Pages: 1 2
1 comment
This article is a great reminder to make the most of my time and to not let a single year slip by without making the very most of it! Thank you for being so encouraging!