Heather's Adventures in Lesotho

Although I very rarely set actual resolutions (because I never follow through anyway) I’m just like everyone else and at the beginning of the year can’t help but think about , things I want to achieve, change, etc., etc. So recently I’ve been thinking about a 40 before 40 list, but (and I can’t believe I’m going to admit this) I couldn’t think of enough items. I even scoured the internet looking for ideas and, I don’t know, it made me feel kind of content with my life. Is that wrong? Many of the lists focused on obtaining degrees, traveling places, reading really old books or seeing really old movies that others think you *should* read/see or running extraordinary distances. I have the only post-graduate degree I intend on getting. I work in a field that I’m passionate about and lets me live abroad. I already travel quite a bit not to mention that I’m just not that particular about where I want to go. (Need a companion to travel to Mongolia? Cool. There is nowhere in the world I DON’T want to see.) I’m not that interested in “classics” and I hate running. I’m starting to wonder what this says about me. Also, so many of the lists I looked at were so vague. They want to “be a better person” “waste less time” or “declutter the house” by the time they’re 40. What does that even mean? If you declutter the house once before your 40, do you get to check it off the list?

So, instead of 40 items I came up with 17 because I will turn 40 in November 2017. I have found it a much more more manageable number. I also made a couple of exceptions to my idea of excluding specific travel places for places I have ALWAYS wanted to go. Here’s what I’ve got:

1. Take swimming lessons so that I can …
2. Learn to scuba dive (and go on a dive, duh)
3. Hike Kilimanjaro
4. Travel to all 7 continents (Australia, Asia and Antarctica still left to go)
5. See Cirque du Soleil perform (this is cheating a bit because I’m going in March)
6. Be Deputy Director of an organization managing public health programs
7. Work on a project that is not HIV/AIDS related
8. Ask a man out on a date
9. Fall in love (maybe a few times)
10. Try anti-aging cream for 6 months to see if it makes a difference
11. Take biennial trips with my sisters, either separately or together. (Surprise Lou & Al!)
12. Travel to Prince Edwards Island, Canada
13. Donate blood annually (I really, really hate needles and have only had blood drawn when absolutely necessary.)
14. Knit a sweater that I actually wear
15. Read 250 books (about 3.5 books per month on average. Don’t know what I’m averaging these days, but I’d guess about 2 a month)
16. Be on a digital scrapbooking design team for 6 months
17. Attend a yoga retreat