Oct
26
40 Things by the Time I’m 40
ByAround my 38th birthday last week I took some retreat time to relax, ask myself questions and do some daydreaming about the future. During my retreat I did my 40 thing to Do Before I’m 40 List. My list consists of improvements I want to make, things that are important to me, and things I think would be fun. Too many goal lists only have improvements to make.
Photo by Stella Brazil
**** denotes personal
- Exercise 5 days a week for 3 months. [My former goal was 7 days a week and I usually get 4 workouts in. I think I will strive for 5 before I go to 7]
- Go on a family vacation to Montana
- Get caught up on scrapbooking
- Start and end my day with stillness, not technology
- Begin using cloth napkins again
- Get one massage a month [This used to be a habit that I fell out of]
- Incorporate 5 minutes of silence into my daily quiet time.
- Enforce how the family speaks to one another. [Why do teens have to speak so meanly sometimes?]
- Memorize 10 verses
- Limit myself to 2 hours of TV a day [I've been getting caught up in the election coverage]
- Reach out weekly as a pastoral care elder
- Experiment with no sugar for 30 days
- Use my debt reduction plan
- *****
- Encourage the kids to have a daily quiet time
- Send weekly encouraging notes
- Pray daily for my husband and kids
- Keep the Sabaath weekly [almost there, but still needs some tweaking]
- Take a one hour yoga class
- Take a drawing class
- Rejoin a writer’s group
- Buy fresh flowers weekly for one summer
- Create a quitting work ritual for when I am done with work for the day
- Go kayaking down the Kalamazoo river with the family
- Allergy proof my bedroom
- *****
- Go on a 2 hour bike ride
- Give blog
- Visit Windmill Island
- No complaining or criticizing for one week
- Get a real facial
- Learn to whistle
- Learn to skip stones
- Practice eating only when hungry for 30 days
- Live within my means
- *****
- *****
- Go on a weekend away with my husband
- Get up by 7am consistently
- *****
Do you have any upcoming birthdays or events that are important to you that you can use as momentum for starting some of those goals you will do "someday"?
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This is is a great idea. I have to do the same but before I’m 30! Good luck with your list
I love the ************* ones – they make me insanely curious, by the way
Good list. Thanks for the reminder – I need to have another look at my life list but at the moment I’m so caught up with that ONE main thing, that all the other things fade into insignificance
I would like to comment on #10. When I quit work to become a full time home-maker I vowed I would not turn into a cliche’ and get hooked on “soaps”. I stayed true to my vow for a very long time. But then my husband went on a two-week mission trip and the days and nights became extremely longgggggggg. Next thing I know I am hooked on not one but two. So, a year and a half later, I did the math and realized I was squandering 7.5 hours of my life a week watching people have the same fights they had six months ago and this person being un-faithful to husband #? . I was beginning to lose track of who was with who. Thought Jesus probably wasn’t too thrilled with me filling my head with all that garbage. I quit “cold turkey”. And I am so glad I did. Now my husband says, “You got what done today? How in the world did you have time to get all that done?” I am way happier and far more energetic not watching tv. And I even could justify the time spent in front of the”boob tube”. I was ironing, eating lunch, Stretching, lifting weights, cleaning, cross-stitching, etc. Why, I was multi-tasking, don’t you know! And one more thing, before I stop rambling. I read that if you have become discontent with your financial situation and you find yourself wanting more and more material possessions – Check to see if you have recently increased your television watching.
a good list and yes, maybe I will make one too but considering that I am thinking over 60 – in age– some of them may have to be short term goals-LOL
off to start the list………hugs,
Great idea. I am finishing my 35 pounds lost before 35. So 40 things to be proud of by 40! will be next! ok, i procrastinate alot, (why i read you!) so I gave myself 5 years to do it!
Well, I haven’t popped on here in forever it feels like (not and have left a comment, anyway). Happy Birthday for goodness sake, from another (albeit slightly older) October Baby. I would have less than 12 full months to go through a 40×40 list…so as tempted as I am…LOL!
Mademoiselle, good luck on your list!
Marcia, that’s a great idea, taking a look at the rest of your list.
Robin – thanks for sharing how you did it. My main problem lately has been news/politics.
LOL Meme
Ani – slow and steady works great!
Thanks Tookshire. Yes, just say no to that challenge, you have enough on your plate!