When I was in my early 20s binging through Friends, I watched the episode where Rachel turns 30 and each of the cast woefully reminisced over turning 30.

I thought to myself “that’ll never be me – plus 30 is SO far off, like that’ll ever happen anyway!”

So, once I did turn 29 – and 30 was just one lap around the sun away – it felt weird. Not “AGING IS A CURSE WHY IS THIS HAPPENING” weird, but more in the sense that it was weird to be closing out my 20s in a society where 30 is viewed as “old” in pop culture. In addition to that, with how much I’ve learned and grown in my 20s, it’s hard not to have a sense of regret for all of the things I could have done or could have accomplished had I just done things I wanted to along the way instead of being too nervous to do something or worrying what other people would think.

I’m very proud of where I am in life, but I recognize some of the best experiences I’ve had were because I decided to be brave or learn something new. These are two qualities I didn’t develop until later in my 20s, in part because my early-20s were just focused on learning how to be an adult, my mid-20s were focused on “thank god I’m not in my early-20s anymore, let’s finally relax a bit,” and then, suddenly, I was 29.

But, that regret itself is misplaced. It leans in to the mentality that life is over at 30, which is crap. To combat that, to celebrate turning 30, I’ve compiled a list of 30 things that I would like to accomplish by 30 to set myself up for all kinds of new adventures in my 30s. Some of these goals are fairly lofty, so I don’t expect to meet all of them, but it’s nice to have them all in one place as a reminder of things I want – and can – do with just a bit of bravery and effort.

These 30 goals are evenly broken up into 5 domain – creative goals, health, community, technology, and bravery. It would have been very easy for me to just set 30 goals in one domain, so this forces myself to go out into the world and try new things instead of keeping to my tiny comfort zone.

✅ = Complete

🚧 = In Progress

With this – hold me accountable! I’ll post updates on my goal progress, but please feel free to ask how a certain goal is going – or ask to get involved if it’s something you want to work on together!

Regardless of how many goals I accomplish by 30, it’s important to recognize that aging is a luxury that not everyone gets. And for that, I’ll be proud to see 30 once that day comes.

(But, it’s also okay to admit it feels weird to turn 30. It is.)