It’s been an eventful year so far – we both turned 35 and celebrated our 10th wedding anniversary with an extra dose of travel. With roughly 2 months left in my 35th year, I wanted to take another look at my “35 things to do in my 35th year” bucket list.
I was able to complete most of the things on my list without a problem. But I found that there were a couple things I resisted. One thing I’ve recently learned about myself, thanks to Gretchen Rubin’s 4 Tendencies, is that I am a Questioner. That means I only meet expectations that I have rationalized to myself are important. So I expect that the reason I resisted the 35 thank you letters task is because 1) I’ve never really appreciated the tradition of thank you cards in the first place, and 2) it was a popular birthday activity for others that I felt like I should do even though I wasn’t excited about it, and 3) it was overwhelming to choose 35 people and write 35 letters.
So I may end up replacing that one if I can’t find a way to align it better to my own style and personality. There are a few others I might need to adjust as well. Here is my current progress:
- Complete 30 days of daily sun salutations √
- Visit Italy with Jedd √
- Finish the #1 Ladies Detective Agency series (almost done, waiting on the library)
- Create a list of 35 of my favorite quotes (almost complete )
- Complete a daily hand-lettering challenge, writing some of my quotes √
- Visit Spain for the first time √
- Hand-write 35 thank you letters – need to adjust?
- Visit Portugal for the first time √
- Contribute the full amount to our Roth IRAs by the end of the year – TBD
- Celebrate each day of Advent √
- Memorize the countries and capitals of Africa √
- Learn a choreographed dance – may change this to learning a new song on piano?
- Visit Malaysia for the first time √
- Send postcards each quarter to The Aunties √
- Do a zipline for the first time – updated: Float down a river in an inner tube √
- Take a personal retreat (full day or overnight)
- Return to Hoi An, Vietnam for at least a month √
- Learn to say “hello” in 35 languages (almost done)
- Double my collection of gospel music √
- Travel to a new continent (New Zealand/Australia!) √
- Host a reunion for our 10th anniversary √
- Wear my wedding dress again and then donate it (worn yet to be donated)
- Make croissants from scratch √
- Find my favorite tea to drink on a daily basis √
- Sleep under the stars
- See a chiropractor for the first time (Malaysia or Thailand) – need to replace
- Get a skin cancer screening (Malaysia) √
- Schedule a dental cleaning (Malaysia) √
- Take a monthly “screen sabbath” √
- Create a video recap of our year of travel – coming soon
- Continue blogging at least once a week √
- Read 35+ books (on book 29 so far)
- Try at least 10 completely new dishes (only 6 so far)
- Keep a capsule wardrobe √
- Save money for a real estate investment – need to make this a more concrete goal
So that’s my quick update on the birthday list. Hopefully I’ll be able to work out the remaining goals before the end of September!
Simply Intentional 