40 Before 40

 I recently turned 39 years old.  I still don’t believe it; I feel like I’m still a teenager without a clue. But I am here, and I see 40 looming.

Earlier this month, I started reading a book called “Create Your Best Life”.  The book is a little dated, but it really dives into not just goal setting, but creating a Life List.  Call it what you want – Bucket List, Life List – but it is essentially a list of things you want to do before you die.

Personally, I have a million lists.  A list of housecleaning tasks, a list of To Dos, a list of Backlog Items, a list of home projects.  Combining them all, I suppose, creates a “Life List”.  However, this book has posed many questions that have given me cause to pause and consider what I really want to achieve in my life.  Dusting the living room and updating the mud room aside, I really needed to dig deeper and find the big items I want to check off.  Reading this book has helped me add items from small and silly to big and bold.

In the midst of making this list, I realized I had less than one year until I turn 40. It hit me. I needed a “40 Before 40” list and I set to work.  The goals on the list are not huge. They really don’t involved much travel (because COVID). Some are tiny and can be achieved today. Some may take some time and I may not make it. We will see what this year brings.

The most exciting part about this list is not that I may actually achieve them all, it is the new motivation I have found in just making the list.  It has been almost a year since the schools closed and stay-at-home became the new norm. I have been working from home now for almost a year and we have no definite end in sight. I have lost a lot of my usual motivation lately and have been in a serious rut. Making this 40 Before 40 list has given me some new energy, and I’m hoping to re-energize my life.

I may share this list in future blog posts or I may not. I haven’t decided yet. I will keep posting updates throughout the year, however, and hopefully I can get some ideas from some readers.

Forty, here I come!