Thirty Before Thirty / Lessons Learned

In just over a month, I’ll be celebrating my thirtieth birthday. I know, I know, you’re all shocked that I could possibly be thirty. Kidding. Kind of. I’ll be flattered if you’re shocked, and you can leave a comment to that effect and it will certainly soften the blow next month!

I’m trying not to make a huge deal of turning thirty, but it has caused an awful lot of self reflection already. (And some party planning, but that’s a post for another day.) For the last year, I’ve contemplated doing one of those “30 before 30” challenges, where you set a list of thirty goals to achieve before your birthday. But I could never come up with thirty goals that seemed doable or worthy of a big list. I currently have at least three half-finished lists on my phone.

I also decided I’d prefer to really celebrate the last thirty years, rather than make a mad dash to the made up finish line of thirty. I hate even thinking of thirty as a finish line. It’s just plain depressing. So instead, I came up with a different version of “30 before 30” – something that will help me celebrate and appreciate my twenties and the things I learned in the last decade. So each day for the thirty days before my birthday, I’m going to note something that I learned in my twenties on my Instagram account. Some will be deep, some will be irreverent, and some I haven’t even thought of yet.

The good news is that you can follow along even if you don’t have an Instagram account (looking at you, Mom and Dad!). You can see my posts on the internet without an account. You just click right here! And I’ll do occasional updates on the blog as well. It starts Saturday, exactly thirty days before I celebrate my thirtieth birthday.

So tell me, friends, did you learn anything amazing in the last decade?