30 new things before turning 30

Hello there!

I am Katri, and this is (or, to be precise, will be) the story of how I do 30 new things before I turn 30, which is almost to the day a year from now when I’m writing this.

Some time before my 29th birthday I began to realise that it really isn’t that long until I turn a decade older. And against all odds, I found myself not frightened of the Big 3-0 but rather fascinated. Why? At least in the Western world, we are expected to have a huge crisis at this “turning point”, and a quick Google search with the keyword “30 crisis” gave a whopping 1 billion results.

Maybe I will reach the crisis point on my birthday, but currently I’m truly interested in finding out if life “on the other side” is that much different than what it has been so far. Besides, in my life so far I’ve discovered that the older I get, the more fun I have in general. So I guess in a way I see my next birthday as a threshold to a new level of fun, if you get the gist.

Therefore, at some point I thought that if turning 30 is a big deal, why focus only on the one day when it “officially” happens? Why not dedicate a full year – my 30th year alive and breathing, because, let’s face it, that has now already begun – to this transition, and make it a year to remember?

And that’s exactly what I will do. I decided to call this year my jubilee (I love that word!), and the definition provided for that word by the Oxford English Dictionary (which by the way claims to be The definitive record of the English language, I love that phrase too!) sums up my intentions quite fittingly: “A season or occasion of joyful celebration or general rejoicing.”

Okay, so I’ve decided that the year will be special. But how to make it special? Merely the intention of having fun and enjoying life every day as much as possible wouldn’t take me very far – because that’s what I try to do already. And then the Idea came to me, most likely while waiting for sleep to come (that’s when I usually get the silliest the best ideas).

Of course, you will know this idea already, if you have read the title of this blog or the first line of this post. In case you skipped both, I’ll give a short recap: I will do 30 new things before I turn 30. Things I’ve never done (sometimes never even thought of prior to this project), things I may never do again. Things big and small; things that are sophisticated or silly; things that require some monetary investment, or just the investment of my time, motivation, or courage.

And I will blog about it all. (Now that’s a surprise!) Welcome to join me in this year!