It’s officially my Golden Year! Or lucky birthday, or champagne birthday. Whatever you want to call it — they all sound good.
What is a golden birthday?
Your ‘Golden Year’ is the year that you turn the age of your birth date. I turned 27 this year on April 27th, and it’s really got me feeling some type of way. I’m at the age where I’m simultaneously reminiscing on the past — the things I’ve done so far (has it been enough?) and the people I’ve allowed into my life (you are the company you keep) — while planning for the future — well, attempting to at least. Kind of like a quarter-life crisis, but less crisis-y.
I feel really lucky to be where I am in life right now, but there’s always room for improvement. Since this is my own personal new year and one that’s supposedly lucky, I’ve decided to set some goals for myself for the year ahead that hopefully will turn into sustainable lifestyle changes.
Consider this my way of holding myself accountable.
Goal 1: document the year in video
It’s so easy to get thrown off by the bad things that happen in life and disregard all the good little things. We have a million things on our minds at all times and forget to live one day at a time.
I recently saw a video on Facebook of a father who recorded one second of each day for a year and thought it would be a good way to remind myself to slow down and cherish every day — even the days that suck, even the days that I’m bored out of my mind, even the days where it seems like nothing happens at all.
Not only will it be fun to look back on it after the year is over, but I’m hoping it’ll also serve as a reminder that even the worst days are minuscule in the grand scheme of things and teach me not to dwell on them.
Goal 2: write down 10 ideas every day
Confession: I already failed this one and didn’t write down even one idea on the day that I was supposed to start this, but I digress.
I read this in an article I was editing for YourTango about the little things millionaires do that set them apart from the rest of us. It comes from entrepreneur James Altucher who wrote that the key to becoming an “idea machine” is, as with anything, practice.
Not all my ideas will be good. In fact, I’m expecting most will be completely worthless. But how many times have you had a genuinely good idea that you forgot about ten minutes later? Writing down literally everything will guarantee I don’t miss anything, and maybe even lead to something incredible.
Now… does this piece count as seven ideas?
Goal 3: stop caring about what other people think
Unfortunately, I spend a lot of time concerned with the way others perceive me. I get embarrassed by things easily and have let this stop me from doing this I wish I would’ve in the past.
Where In The World Is My Drink has been one step in overcoming this. Do I look ridiculous holding my drink up to take photos? Maybe. Does that matter? No.
Now I just have to work on applying that thought process to the rest of my life.
Goal 4: trust my intuition
It. Is. Always. Right.
I cannot think of a single time when my gut led me in the wrong direction. But far too often I either want my intuition to be wrong or I just don’t have enough confidence to listen to it.
That stops now.
Goal 5: unsubscribe from every single email list that haunts my inbox
Hey, I never said all of these goals were gonna be huge existential life changes.
Goal 6: drink more water
How many glasses of water are you supposed to drink a day, like eight? I drink maybe one. On a really good day.
I’m not saying I’ll get to eight glasses of water a day (seriously, is there enough time in the day for that?), but if I can start with one and work my way up, we’re moving in the right direction.
Goal 7: stop talking about the things I want to do and just freakin’ do them
This starts… now.