I love lists – I’m one of the most task oriented people you’ll ever meet. I love taking administrative or logistical challenges by the horns and knocking them out one by one. Not only for tasks sake, but for goal setting in general. I look at lists as goals: usually smaller goals setting up a larger one. I’m not the creative mind that comes up with the plan, but I’ll be the person that grinds through the 50 action items to move that plan forward. So heading into the next decade of life I really couldn’t help myself but look back and forward and see what values I wanted to work on instilling as I reached for this new milestone. So some of these are fun, some of these are serious but I hope you enjoy my 30 before 30 list!
- Read 30 books. This one was lofty and I didn’t get to where I wanted to, however it still pushed me so much further than I would have gotten without it. My list of titles are below:
- 26 Marathons by Meb Keflezighi
- Strong by Kara Goucher
- Coddling of the American Mind by Greg Lukianoff and Jonathan Haidt
- Chasing Vines by Beth Moore
- Shaken by Tim Tebow
- The Ruthless Elimination of Hurry by John Mark Comer
- Crucial Conversations by Al Switzler, Joseph Grenny, and Ron McMillan
- Measure What Matters by John Doerr
- Get Out of Your Own Way by Dave Hollis
- Becoming by Michelle Obama
- Fueling Her Forward by Myself
- You Are the Girl for the Job by Jess Connolly
- There are actually a few titles not included only because I mixed up what was read when… oops.
- 30 Acts of Kindness. The reason behind this one was to open my eyes and pay attention the world and people around me a little better – while I didn’t document every single one I was able to more fully invest in relationships by simple acts like bringing coffee to the office, supporting friends adoptions, or just picking up trash around our park.
- Memorize 30 Verses of Scripture. Of course working on spiritual discipline had to play a major role in continuing to grow in different ways so that looked like the following:
- Matthew 6:19-34
- Psalm 23
- Psalm 1
- Donate 30 Items of Clothing. This one was probably a little too easy considering I fancy the decluttered lifestyle. However 30 items can be substantial when you are used to the seasonal clean. I’m currently bagging up pregnancy clothes for my next drop.
- Brunch 30 Times. If you know me you know brunch is a lifestyle, we dined well over 30 times but I’ll include a few of my favorite spots from around the country.
- Great Maine Breakfast – Bar Harbor, ME
- La Gallette Creperie – San Clemente, CA
- Cape May Cafe – Beach Club Resort – Orlando, FL
- True Food Kitchen – Atlanta, GA
- Beehive – Boston, MA
- Catch 30 Sunrises. If you follow me on Instagram or have read one of my posts before you probably have heard me say how much my prayer life is amplified when I’m outside in nature. I can undeniably say I caught 30 sunrises whether it was from the top of Cadillac Mountain in Acadia National Park or in flow with the sea breeze on the shores of Florida.
- Watch the Marvel Movies in Release Order. There aren’t 30 of these movies (yet), but it still had to be on the list, and while I have a few that I could do without (Captain Marvel anyone?) I was still happy Jon and I got to go on the journey again – this time together. My only wish was that Black Widow (my hero) could have made her solo debut before my birthday, see you in November.
When I first wrote these out there were more on the list, but only these 7 stuck around. The ones that pinpointed the areas I either really wanted to grow or was passionate about landed in the past year. It’s just another point that this can actually be a valuable exercise in more ways than one. It can cancel out the business and noise and help you bring into focus the specific makeup of who you are.
So here’s to 30!
Fueling Her Forward 