What is "Things To Do By 30"?

I'm 26.

I realized the other day that if I was the solution to math problem, I would be rounded up to 30. I'm almost 30, and that seems like kind of an important age to get to.  An age that we have so many ideas and expectations for; things we expect to have accomplished and concepts about what we will have done and who we will be.

Needless to say, I immediately began a mental inventory of the things I have done, wondering if I would be satisfied by the landmark birthday.  Equally needless to say, I felt there were some areas I had rocked, and some areas I felt woefully unsuccessful in.  After a bit more useless internal dialogue (you know, the kind which requires futile minutes spent comparing your life to what everyone else is doing), I realized that there wasn't actually a way to know how I wold feel about accomplishments.  But, what I could do is to ensure that I have checked off some "bucket list" type items.

With that in mind, and still pondering what it was exactly that I should have accomplished by 30, I decided to  create a challenge for myself...by challenging others to give me what they think is important for me to do in the next three and a half years.

I will walk around with a jar in my purse for the first part of this, and people will write down a "thing" for my to do list, fold it, and put it in said jar.   They need to put their name on that slip too.  In theory, so I can tell them when I've completed their challenge....but really so I know who wants me to murder or commit arson or go streaking in a baby bonnet. On that note, anything that I refuse to do, I will have to create a clever and/or funny interpretation of the challenge.

To document the moments and adventures, I will be using the Happiness Project's sentence a day, five year journal (http://www.amazon.com/Happiness-Project-One-Sentence-Journal-Five-Year/dp/0307888576/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1416790534&sr=8-1&keywords=the+happiness+project+journal).  I will glue the challenge slips in on the day they were completed, and write a short entry to go with it.  Other days will just have a sentence about life...because I have been wanting to do a sentence a day journal anyway.

Thanks for reading, and if you want to send me a challenge and let me know what you think I absolutely must do by 30, leave it in the comments and I will put it into the jar to be drawn out.  Here's to a beautiful 3 1/2 years!

-Em