Happy Saturday my lovelies! This past weekend I turned 25 and got to join the quarantine birthday gang. Since I couldn’t (and still can’t) go out or do anything for my birthday I decided to chill out with a slice of cake, low-alcohol wine and an episode of the Great Pottery Throwdown; which honestly is probably how I would’ve ended my birthday anyway being an introvert and little old lady at heart.
One of my Christmas presents was a gratitude journal so I’ve also been reflecting on what I’m grateful for, what lessons I’ve learnt over the last 25 years and I’ve also decided to make a list of things I want to do before I turn 30.
Things I’m grateful for are:
- My body for getting me where I am today – even though I live with chronic pain, I’m grateful for what my body allows me to do.
- My imagination and creativity.
- My family and friends.
- My job – it’s honestly the best job I’ve ever had and that’s not only because I love me work family but I also love making an impact in the mental health and addiction sector.
- My newfound ability to not care what others think of how I look.
- Finding witchcraft.
- Music – it helps me find motivation, brings me joy and always helps me unwind.
- For finding myself again over the last year.
So, onto the 25 things I want to do before I turn 30 (in no particular order):
Go to pride in London – I wanted to go last year but obviously due to covid we couldn’t, so hopefully by 2022 we can have an in person pride!
Buy my own home – at the moment I’m living at home with my family and saving up for a deposit so I can get a mortgage in a year or two.
Have a full diagnosis of my chronic back pain – if you didn’t know already, I’m a spoonie and have been going back and forth for over 4 years trying to find out what causing my back pain (you can read more about it here!).
Travel somewhere by myself – you always hear about these transformational travels people go on and I want to experience that!
Get a new car – mine happens to be slowly deteriorating on my driveway at the moment..but I’m also not going anywhere so it’s pointless replacing it until we can go out again.
Learn another language well enough to be able to actually have some form of simple conversation with others – I’m currently learning Spanish with the trusty ‘ole Duolingo.
Go to one of the sleepovers at the Natural History museum!
Get two more tattoos – a big one of peonies and another of a robin.
Learn how to code – I’m already learning this and know a decent amount, but it’s always good to keep learning and I want to be able to remember all of the different codes without needing to triple check them.
Take a fitness/dance class without feeling self-conscious – when I say that I look like a robot who has two left feet I’m not exaggerating.
Try throwing pottery – I’ve just never had the opportunity to do and love sculpting with clay in general.
Take a full life drawing course – I’ve dipped in and out of life drawing lessons over the years and I always absolutely loved them so I want to make them a regular thing when we can all meet up again.
Join or form a book club – I just need to read more to be honest and when I find a book I love I read it in about 4 days and then can’t find a book I like for ages.
Learn how to animate – I’ve made a start on this already by learning how to do basic animations in procreate but I want to get better at it!
Fully understand how taxes and all the other finance stuff works that we should’ve been taught in school.
Have a decent amount of money saved for emergencies.
Design and sew an entire outfit – I love the Great British Sewing Bee and I have an A-Level in textiles but I never give myself the proper amount of time to actually finishing sewing projects.
Sell some of my art – I’ve made art all my life and been too scared to actually sell it even when people say it’s great, so I think it’s about time I actually believe it when people say they would buy my work.
Have a solid morning and night routine.
Make more friends – I have less than 3 friends outside of my work family so I really need to learn how to make friends as an adult. If anyone knows how to do this please tell me hahaha.
Get better at swimming – I am an extremely weak swimmer.
Try more food – I’ve been a fussy eater all my life and I’m slowly getting better. Progress is still progress no matter how small.
Grow my hair as long as I can stand it now that it’s healthy – and then maybe I’ll shave it again and donate it for charity? Who knows?!
Do something that scares me.
Learn to stand up for myself when a boundary is crossed.
And those are my 25 things I want to do over the next 5 years. One of the biggest things on that list is getting my own place, and I can’t wait for the time when that happens, not only because it’ll be my own place, but also because I love interior design and can’t wait to decorate and make the place my own. Another thing I can’t wait to do is go to pride because it’s just such an uplifting time filled with celebration, community and love and to be there in person will be amazing.
You may have noticed that there are two things I’ve missed from my list that people my age are quite likely to include which is getting married and having kids. Well, I’m currently single, and believe it or not over the last year I’ve realised that I don’t actually mind being by myself; that doesn’t mean there aren’t days when I feel lonely, it just means that I’m fine with being by myself if that’s what happens in the end. And on the kids front, I’ve always imagined myself having kids one day, in fact when I was younger I thought I’d have kids by the time I’m 25, but as time has gone one I’ve realised that I’ll just have kids when I’m ready instead of putting a proper timescale on it. And if I do end up not having the ability to have children by myself for whatever reason (whether it’s because I’m by myself or if I’m in a relationship and it’s not possible) then I’ll either adopt, get a donor or foster.
It’s funny to me how much I’ve changed over the last year. I used to think that I needed to have so many big life events happen before 25 or before 28 and I would put stupid time frames on events you haven’t always got control of; and that was because I kept seeing people on social media my age having kids, getting married and buying their own places already. But what I completely forgot is that photo of house keys or engagement ring isn’t the entire story, and the majority of people feel like they’re behind. I’ve also realised that I’ve actually done a hell of a lot in the time I’ve been on earth, and I’m pretty proud of what I’ve achieved so far!
So here’s to year 25 and whatever it shall bring!
Have a great weekend my loves!
Love,
The Weight Of My Worlds 