24 months ago I challenged myself to accomplish 30 goals before my 30th birthday. My 30th birthday has now come and gone and I barely made a dent in the 30 goals I set for myself two years ago.
Achieved
- Get Stress & Rescue Certified. Again this one feels like a cheap win since everything for it was completed before I began the challenge. But it is on the list, so, CHECK.
- Dive with whale sharks. CHECK and it was amazing! So amazing I am struggling with putting it into words, but post coming soon so say tuned.
Happy 30th Birthday to me! Can you tell I loved diving with the whale sharks at the Georgia Aquarium?
- Less screen time. This goal depends on the day. In the grand scheme of things I feel more present and able to put down my phone in any situation; but bad days or slow days make it easy for me to blow some serious time behind a screen.
- Create a yoga/meditation habit. When I set this goal, I had intended for it to be more along the lines of developing a yoga habit but I am glad I left the door open for meditation. Prayer became my meditation practice after I received Ruth Ann Nylen’s Just One Word Bible Reading Calendar & Journal as a gift for the 2018 New Year. I have found the inner peace I was hoping for when I created this goal through reflection and prayer, often around bible verses.
Began but not completed…
A sweaty mess after my favorite hikes that technically didn’t even count for this challenge!
- Section hike 100 miles on the Appalachian Trail. While not achieved, I did hike 1.8 miles on the AT and I hiked many more miles off of the AT. Honestly, they do not total anywhere near 100 miles but I am getting outside more and that was the spirit of this goal.
- Kasikunda Climbing Trail, Washington Slagbaii National Park, Bonaire
- Lagadishi (Lizard) Walking Trail, Washington Slagbaii National Park, Bonaire
- Upper Pond Creek Trail, Beech Mountain, NC
- Carver’s Gap to Grassy Ridge Bald, NC
- Linville Falls, Linville, NC
- Little Manatee River State Park 301 Trail, Sun City, FL
- Log 30 dives. The final count is 21 logged dives. This one would have been easy if I could have dove in Bonaire as originally planned. Excuses, excuses but I lost 11 months of this challenge to pregnancy and postpartum. Give me those 11 months and I would have blown this one out of the water!
SCUBA selfie while diving off of Cayman Brac!
- Build a productive blog earning enough money to support itself. I haven’t made a dime from this blog and I am okay with that. I have not dedicated the time to it that I should have been to accomplish this goal; however I have tripled the posts here and overcome my paralyzing perfectionism. The baby steps continue and maybe I will generate some moo-lah in 2019.
- Learn Spanish. While I am far from fluent, or even conversational, my Spanish vocabulary has grown and I have found an appreciation for the language. Hopefully I can continue to learn and one day be able to call myself fluent in Spanish.
- Get Dive Master certified. I am half way to this goal and in the same place I was when I checked in on my 29th birthday. I will get this one done. Its paid for and the book work is complete; I just need to get to my local dive shop and do the training and diving required to receive certification.
- Learn how to do the splits. I still cannot do a split on either side but I can get lower to the ground. If I would have mixed some yoga into my exercising I probably could have easily checked this one off.
Not Accomplished
- Travel to Cuba.
- Visit the deserts of the American West
- Experience New York City
- Go to Diagon Alley, Universal Studios Orlando
- Ride in a hot air balloon
- Go ziplining
- Visit Monterey Bay Aquarium
- Camp in the Dry Tortugas
- Dive Mexico
- Do a “Heavy metal” tour
- Get my Scientific Diving certificate
- Dive in the Pacific Ocean
- Get Dry Suit certified
- Develop a financial portfolio
- Make organization a habit
- Be enrolled in and actively taking classes for Grad School
- Sell a print of one of my pictures
- Land an axel
- Attend a major figure skating competition
- Complete some kind of photography training
My challenge didn’t even start out right. The original design was supposed to be 30 goals in 30 months leading up to my 30th birthday, instead I waited until 6 of my 30 months had passed before setting my goals. That procrastination is why some of the easier goals, that would have just taken some dedication, were not accomplished. Confession: The result would most likely be the same even if I had started 6 months earlier.
Valerie from Valerie & Valise had warned me to think about the cost of each goal when choosing them, and it is very clear that I did not heed her advice. Many of the goals, especially the travel ones, were just too expensive when our finances were already strapped.
In the End
Two years is a long time. A lot can and will happen in that time. I did not expect to have a second baby during this challenge. My family’s travel intentions and interests shifted, our financial situation changed as we adjusted to having one child and again after having two. Some of these goals no longer interest me and there are a couple that I am confused as to why I wanted to do them in the first place. Many of them are things I would still love, or need, to do and being 30 is not going to prevent me from checking them off the list in the future.
This list shows that I accomplished less than 30% of my goals but it does not reflect all the awesome things that I did over the last 24 months of my life. Instead, my family grew by two precious feet, we traveled internationally with both of our young daughters, I took my daughters to Washington DC for a long weekend, and I learned to knit; just to name a few things not reflected in my goals above.
My 20’s were fun and I expect my 30’s to be the same. I am not setting goals this time. Instead, I am going to follow where my life leads me and be open to God’s plans. That is what I did for most of my 20’s and it worked out pretty well.
How about you? Do goals help you live your best life? What are some of your goals for this year?
