Beginning at 30
Since I have been celebrating, reminding and basically harassing people about turning 30 all of 2007, one would think that I would be better prepared. But the day has come for me to let my 20s go and head into full adulthood. Though officially I became an adult at 18, 30 always seemed like the age when you should have it all figured out. The career, the relationships, the life. So I spent the year leading up to this age having a bit of a crisis because I felt like I had nothing figured out! It was as if I had missed some important class that guided you through the planning and goal setting process and now I was winging it. In my early twenties it seemed like I knew exactly what I wanted to do and where I wanted to go. Now most of that is no longer true and I feel like I am starting all over. I would read articles about these amazing people in their late twenties and early thirties that were changing the world and feel so dissatisfied with my day to day. Was I missing some gene that told you what was your destiny and how to follow it? And what happened to that overly confident teenager who knew exactly how she was going to change the world? I had several moments of self doubt about my chosen career, city, life…name it, I worried about whether I had made the right decision. Every day it seemed like I was heading towards the point of no return. If my life continued on this path then this was going to be my reality for the REST OF MY LIFE. Yikes! I know I am being dramatic but for some reason this was all I kept thinking.
After several conversations with friends who were also heading into this new decade, I realized that I wasn’t the only one who was bamboozled into our adulthood feeling insecure about our role in life. We all felt entirely too unprepared and young to really be “30″ and were all questioning how we ended up here so quickly. Many of us finished college on one career path and 8-10 years later wondered why we even made that choice. We all were working hard and focused but it seemed that many times life was living us instead of the other way around. With the impending change in decade it seemed like if I was going to make any changes this was the time.
As I reflect on my twenties, I had some great experiences including an amazing trip around the world and the opportunity to realize my dream to start a non-profit for African American youth. Unfortunately, I also realized that the last few years of my twenties I have not really lived life and have just gone through the motions. There are so many things that I want to do and I may never have a time like this again.
And that is the foundation of my list. I have several things that I want to try or experience so I have created a wish list that will force me to start new things. It is a way for me to add a timeline and schedule to some of the things I want to include in my life. It is my hope that by the end of my thirties I will have added even more great things to my list and have experienced all I hoped.
I invite you to join Chanda and me on the journey by making a list of your own. You don’t have to be just turning 30 or even in your 30s. Just make a list of the things, places, etc. you want to do and put an end date! Have a list? Share it in the comments.