An Early Summer Update to the 40-before-40 List

Hey ya'll! It's time for another 40-before-40 list update! It was a long winter, and I didn't blog as much as I had hoped. But, that's ok. I've already blogged more since I started this year than I ever had before, so that's a win in my book :). 

Forsyth Park, Savannah
I realized, per my usual self, that I was working super quickly on my list and was overachieving at trying to knock out as much as I could as quickly as I could. Where's the fun in that? So, I slowed down, and checked a few more things off the list since my last update, but ever so slowly. Summer is in full swing now, both literally and professionally, so it's time to get moving again!

Original stone streets on the Savannah riverfront
I've now checked off 7 items completely on the list, wahoo! My best friend and I visited Savannah back in February, which was amazing! It's one of my new favorite cities, not just because of its beautiful architecture and history, but also because the city offers a little bit of everything for everyone. We went for a run around Forsyth Park, enjoyed the hop-on, hop-off trolley tour of the city, shopped in many of the adorable boutiques, had a delectable dinner at Vic's on the River, and even had a tarot card reading by Sylvia. Which, for the record, I wasn't necessarily a full believer.... until I had my reading, and it hit me like a ton of spot-on bricks! We'll see how the year continues, but so far, she was pretty accurate.

I also almost finished a half-marathon, before succumbing to hypothermia at mile 12.5 (that's a story for another day); wrote a letter to my 13-year-old self; and listened to only podcasts for a month (and have continued that trend for the most part).

I've also made a lot of progress on some other, more complex and drawn out items on the list:
Tallulah Gorge State Park

  • Slowly working on getting my photography business off the ground! I've had a lot of photo shoots this spring, which is helping build my portfolio. I've got some resources now to help get my website finished, and recently started conversations with a fantastic woman with a business background who can help me with that stuff. Baby steps!
  • I replaced hiking Mt. Sterling with hiking to the gorge floor at Tallulah Gorge State Park, and completed that this past weekend. *I know that replacing items isn't necessarily authentic to the process, but I think it's ok. Plus, it's my list! Really, the list is just giving me goals to work toward, and motivation to achieve them, so that's what it's really about, anyway. Don't judge, haha!
  • I'm 37.55 miles into my "hike at least 300 miles" goal, yay!
  • I've been working on learning how to forgive and let go, and trying to practice it often. I'm not quite there yet to doing it every day, but getting there.
  • I've visited 9 new waterfalls, so just 11 to go on that item.
    Yellow Branch Falls, Upstate SC 
  • I've learned the basics of how to crochet... now just to get my hands to actually follow the steps is the trick. 
  • I've successfully had Girls Night Out at least twice a month since I started the list (and my initial goal was at least once a month, so this one has been really fun, and helping me be more social!)
  • I'm slowly working on 40 random acts of kindness... this is a hard one. I'm a kind person who likes to help people in general, especially strangers, and it's just who I am. So, how do you define "random act of kindness?" What makes it different than just being your normal, kind self?
  • I've finished 5 books already! I can't remember the last time I finished even one book... like, it's been YEARS. Years. I'm super proud of myself for this one. Halfway done!
  • I've traveled to 2 new places out of my goal of 5: Savannah and South Mountains State Park. 

Wow. Writing it down really shows me the progress I've made toward achieving the goals I set out for this year. It's June 3, and even though I'll turn 40 at the end of September, I've given myself until Thanksgiving to finish the list, since that's when I started it. When I hit the ground in Thailand, I hope that is the last thing I'm checking off the list!

What goals are you working on for this year? It's good to have some low-hanging fruit, some mid-level items that require a little bit of effort, and some harder challenges that require dedication and motivation to complete. Tell me about your list for the year!

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

Lessons From My Childhood

I'm watching a documentary on Netflix called First Position , and it's all about young dancers trying to win the Youth America Grand Prix, and a chance for serious scholarship money and job contracts. They spend hours and hours every week training as classical ballet dancers, giving up other, more traditional childhood activities. They do it because they love it. They do it because their passion runs deeper than anything they've ever known, even at their young age. They do it because, as a dancer, there is nothing more energizing and spectacular than being on that stage. The lights, the enthusiasm from the audience, the opportunity to perform in front of lots of people... it's all so incredibly thrilling. The more make-up and hairspray, the better. The more sequins on your costume, the better. These kids are incredibly hard on themselves... more than likely, harder on themselves than anyone else could ever even attempt. They are like any other elite athlete (and befo
Read more

My 40-before-40 Goals

Image
When I turned 39 back in September, I decided that I wanted to spend the next 365 days trying to stay focused on living my life with more intention and purpose than ever before. So I spent the past two months crafting and refining my 40-before-40 goals, a list of the 40 things I want to accomplish before I turn 40 in 2019. I'm ridiculously good at crafting lists upon lists upon lists of goal-setting... it's my jam . However, I'm not always so good at actually accomplishing said goals. Because of this,  it was important to me that the list only include things that are attainable and within the reach of my current financial status. During the process, I brainstormed my own ideas, borrowed some I read on Pinterest, had some help from my friends, and then narrowed it down to the 40 I felt drawn to the most. My goal was to have my list finalized and published by Thanksgiving weekend, and here we are! My list, which is in no particular order, includes a variety of things, inc
Read more

A Pinterest Win

Image
I absolutely love Pinterest! It's a brilliant way to take the old-school vision board (remember when we had to tear out pages of magazines?) and turn it into something digital you can take anywhere. Yes, sometimes it's a giant time suck like every other social media site. But only if you let it. If you limit how much time you spend browsing, you won't waste away the entire day pinning recipes you'll never make or directions on how to create the perfect smoky eye that'll just turn into raccoon eyes when you try it on yourself. When I Pinterest (Yeah, I just made it a verb), I have a focus for every session I'm on the site. If I'm feeling a little low and need a pick-me-up, I'll look for inspirational quotes that make me pause. If I'm feeling lazy and need motivation, I'll look for new workout ideas. If I'm feeling creative, I'll look for new craft ideas. Often, you see statuses crop up on Facebook about Pinterest "fails."
Read more