thirty for thirty

Today is my thirtieth birthday – a day that I’ve spent most of my adult life dreading. The closer today got, the less comfortable I became with the idea of my age starting with a “3” again. It hasn’t done that for 27 years, and frankly, I don’t remember being three. Even though I’ve done quite a few awesome things in my life, I found myself concentrating on all of the things that I haven’t done. I decided to not let thirty get me down any longer – because like most things – thirty is what I make of it.

I needed to challenge myself and really think about how to make thirty a great year. A year that will spawn stories that I’ll be telling for the next ten, twenty, or even thirty years. I started making a list of things that I want to do in my life. I’ve always been against “bucket lists”… because you never have a real deadline… until your dead… and a list won’t do you any good when your dead. Instead, I decided to make a thirty list. Thirty things that I want to do in my thirtieth year.

The list started with things that I want to see and places I want to go. I quickly added things to learn, things to build, and fears to overcome (see number 3.) The list isn’t just about accomplishing things, but also bettering myself, and having fun of course. Here it is, in no particular order, my thirty for thirty: