So apparently I have good ideas. Sometimes.

The other day I wrote a post about how other bloggers have started to BELIEVE ME when I say that creating a “Before I Turn… List” actually works. Kind of like the way when you write a grocery list and the food you need/want sort of ends up in your cart and somehow appears in your kitchen and then in your mouth, feeding you and nourishing your brain. Kind of like that. Only a Birthday List is 10x more awesome, because it can score you things that are equally as fulfilling as food, but better, like success or accolade or a tattoo or a vespa or peace of mind or money or a dream job, or all of that. It all starts with a List, just like your favorite dish. That’s not a coincidence.

So, without further hold up, stop what you’re doing at work because THIS will be the best post you read all day. It’s by the lovely and humorous Cheryl, creator and purveyor of Confessions of a Twenty-Something Year Old, which has amassed a well-deserved following for her poignant to-the-point posts about shit that’s relevant to 20somethings and that 30ishes wished they thought of 10 years ago. Seriously. She’s a gal with sass and she takes her Venti straight up, like a real woman.

Take it away, Cheryl.

You know how sometimes you read a motivational blog, and on the sidebar, the blogger has written a whole list of things he/she wants to accomplish before a certain age?

Yeah, okay. I vowed to never come up with one of those lists- mostly because the people who write those lists actually attempt to do the things they’ve written, but not me. I’m lazy, which means I allow life to roll its own course, and should one of these things happen to me, then great; but if not, I’m not particularly bummed. My cousin, Jacqueline, once said something about how if you have no expectations in life, you can have no disappointments, and as morbid as that may be, I am pretty much stoked everyday of my life, which means that her theory has to be at least partially true. But anyway, the other day, I opened my inbox to find a really long e-mail from Sandyb asking me to guestblog a “things I want to do before …” list for her. Of course, my first thought was “ah, crap” because making this list would mean that I would have to do some serious soul-searching. But whatever. Sandyb is awesome, so I’d do it for her. So here I am, and after 72 hours of obsessing over all the crap I haven’t done in my life,  I’ve come up with the following.

The Top 20 things I’d like to do before 30- because 30 things would require too much thought:

1. Write for a magazine.
2. Study graphic design.
3. Live in Australia.
4. Become featured blogger.
5. Get through one morning without having to look for my keys.
6. Get through one day without using my cellphone or some sort of chat device.
7. Learn to speak Spanish perfectly.
8. Learn to play the guitar.
9. Finish writing a song.
10. Write and publish a novel.
11. Make a difference in someone’s life.
12. Own a dog
13. Completely stop saying “like” and “um” in every conversation, unless necessary.
14. Be less critical.
15. Find out whether it’s actually possible to be friends with an ex.
16. Be cliche, and do something supposedly incredibly romantic like visit Paris with my boyfriend.
17. Get married.
18. Change my look- because it’s been the same for 7 years. Seriously.
19. Drink less coffee, because at this rate I’m going to die before 30.
20. Watch the Leafs win the Stanley Cup.

***

UPDATE: Wow! I should use invite Cheryl more often. Seriously though, the responses here are great (keep ‘em coming!) and my inbox has equally awesome messages about this. BUT, I need to clear something up: Your “Birthday List” starts and ends on YOUR BIRTHDAY, not necessarily at 30, which is a long ways away for a lot of you (so jealous, by the way).

If your birthday has passed or is seven months off or whatever, don’t sweat it. You can STILL MAKE A LIST OF THINGS TO ACCOMPLISH BEFORE YOUR NEXT BIRTHDAY (why am I yelling?). Most folks are bummed about turning another year older- a Birthday List, however, helps change that, because it’s the day on which, if you complete your List, you’ve accomplished so much. See what I did there? I reverse-psychologied aging. And yes, that does make me a mild genius in some circles (albeit some very small circles, but they’re circles, nonetheless).

Again, would love to host your List over here, but if you decide to just post on your own blog, totally cool, just link it back to here. Spread the love and give this little project some legs!

xo
sb