This has been the year of podcast listening for me. I have learned so much through listening to people like Jody Moore and Monica Packer, who help others to become their best selves through gaining a knowledge of where our thoughts come from and how they shape our lives.
My favorite podcasts so far are, in this order: Better Than Happy, About Progress, and The Doctor's Farmacy (Yes, FARMacy). I've been more than consumed with those podcasts these last several months and haven't yet added more to my list, but I will!
I recently listened to one of the About Progress episodes where Monica talked about making a list of 30 things you want to accomplish before turning 30. I felt like this would be such a great thing for me to make, because I will be 30 in FIVE YEARS. Okay, more like 5 and a half. I have been going through a strange period where I have suddenly accomplished many of my life goals and now is a great time to re-evaluate and make new goals for myself.
Before now most of my big life goals were made many, many years ago. I was probably between the ages of 12-13 when I came up with them. I decided I would one day run a marathon, which I did last year, and then again this year. I told myself I would visit France one day, which I did this year. I decided I'd go skydiving, which I did 3 years ago. I said I'd get married to a beautiful and good man, which I did two years ago! In high school I added meeting my favorite musician, Lights, to that list. I finally got to meet her this year in February. I have also always wanted to be fluent in a second language. I always thought it would be French, but turns out the Universe wanted me to speak Spanish. So I'll give myself a check on that goal as well.
Finishing my 1st and 2nd Marathons
Meeting Lights before her show. This was the 3rd time I have seen her in concert and the second time with my friend Hailey. :)
In college I created some meaningful and refining life goals for myself. I decided exactly which man I was going to marry. In my journal in September of 2011 I wrote, "There is someone who shares my dreams and adores me as much as I adore him. We have equal values and different strengths. I feel at home with him, and when he is not there I am often reminded of him by something like a song or smell. ...Time will uncover in these next two or three years if we are meant to be. When I am with Ryan I like who I am. With him, life is refreshing and comfortable. I know we could make a great couple for life."
Then in October of 2012, while Ryan was on his mission, I wrote down my life goals. They were:
1. Marry Ryan
2. Run a marathon
3. See the world
4. Help people everywhere I go
5. Get a college degree
6. Have children
7. Be the best wife/mom
8. Keep family and friends close
9. Design and build my own house
10. Be giving, be bright, be helpful
Then at the end of 2012, I had a new life-changing goal practically placed in front of me. President Thomas S. Monson announced that girls could now serve a mission at the age of 19. I had never wanted to serve a mission or even thought about it. Even when it was announced I didn't feel like it related to me at all. I was just barely becoming an active member of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints, and I was busy waiting for a missionary of my own.
I don't know why I never wrote down my experience of how I chose to serve a mission. It is one of the most special experiences I have ever had. At some point during the fall, I ran into my aunt and uncle at Whole Foods. They brought up that they were going to England in December to be with their family who lives there. They casually invited me to come and I excitedly accepted the invitation. That trip is what changed my mind completely. My aunt Anna and her husband Chris had met on their missions to Scotland. They talked a little bit about their mission experiences and I could see clearly how their decisions to serve were blessing their current lives and family.
While in England, my uncle's father asked me why I wouldn't serve a mission. I realized I didn't have a good answer. Then on Christmas Eve, after praying to God and asking if I should serve, I had a dream that I was a missionary serving at the Visitor's Center in London. I was talking to a stranger in my dream and I felt a love for that stranger that I hadn't felt before. When I woke up on Christmas day I knew what I was going to do. I was going to serve a full-time mission. I told Anna that morning and tried not to cry, but I probably did. Then after opening gifts in the Hotel, I got to talk to Ryan on a 3-way call with his family. I told him my decision and he was thrilled.
That all happened in December of 2012, and in September of 2013, I went on my mission to Chicago Illinois. I served Spanish speaking and was lucky enough to be taught in the Mexico Missionary Training Center for 6 weeks before going to Chicago. That choice has shaped my life in so many ways. I can't even imagine never having served. It was honestly and truly one of the best and most important things I have ever done.
It is also probably the most documented period of my life, though not on this blog.
Okay. So now that I have listed all of my previous goals, it is time to create a new list. It should be pointed out that there are still some goals I made in years before that I haven't achieved yet. I do not have a college degree and I don't have any children. I also haven't "seen the world", only some parts of it. And I have yet to design and build my own house.
I don't plan on seeing the entire world in the next five years, but definitely parts of it. Building my own house probably won't come until after I turn 30, which I am totally okay with. I am in no rush at all to buy and establish a forever home with my family. I'd actually consider it more of an accomplishment if we can live in small, inexpensive places, for as long as possible.
This is my list of things (big and small) that I want to do before I turn 30.
1. Visit New Zealand with Ryan for hiking and site seeing. Stay for at least two weeks.
2. Go one month of doing some kind of meal preparation each Sunday night.
3. Receive a bachelor's degree.
4. Increase my Spanish language knowledge by minoring in it, or at least taking a Spanish class each semester. Also, talk to my Spanish speaking relatives in the language when I am with them.
5. Live outside of Utah.
6. Remake my workout routine and attend classes where other people go, instead of always exercising alone.
7. Have a job working with youth in a mentoring position.
8. Visit Scotland and Ireland.
9. Learn more about my own family history so that visiting Scotland may be more meaningful.
10. Go and visit my Granny Dee while she is playing piano downtown.
11. Make each place I live into a home.
12. Read the Book of Mormon beginning to end with a study theme in mind like I did as a missionary.
13. Read the New Testament beginning to end in Spanish.
14. Make time to hang out with each of my siblings.
15. Go on a girls trip. Make it happen.
16. Take Trinity out on sister dates.
17. Dress up for Halloween.
18. Surprise Ryan with something once a month.
19. Practice taking charge of my thoughts and emotions after listening to Jody Moore tell me how.
20. Go all in on the things I say I am going to do. This means fully committing to church callings, my job, etc.
21. Compliment those around me instead of criticizing.
22. Run another marathon in under 4 hours 30 minutes.
23. Go back to where I served my mission in Chicago and visit Atlanta where Ryan served his.
24. Choose to believe in God and the goodness of people.
25. Road trip along the west coast.
26. Have at least one baby with Ryan.
27. Own a pet.
28. Pay off all my student loan debt and my car.
29. Take notice of the things people like. Write those things down for gift ideas. Especially for Ryan. Also for myself.
30. Grow my hair out long again.
The end.
