Monday, July 23, 2012

Let the Dirty 30 Challenge Begin


One day, I was talking to someone and he asked when my birthday was because he knew it was coming up. I paused, asked and asked what the date was. It was July 15th…exactly 30 days to the Dirty 30! I’ve had a lot of friends turn 30 before me and some met the milestone as if it were just another birthday and some had a little bit of the, “Oh, shit, I’m 30!!” freak-out. My favorite was a friend who actually had a harder time turning 31 because he was “no longer even touching the twenties”, he was now firmly in his thirties. I realize that I’m not yet 30 but I have yet to have any sense of foreboding come over me at the thought. Probably, that’s because I have such awesome friends that have been there before me and shown me that it’s really not a big deal. And, as I see it, things are only getting better. I’m more confident in myself, I care less about living up to other people’s expectations of me (although I am  getting tired of my older brother telling me I should probably be married with kids by now because I can’t have kids forever!) I’m making more money, I feel more confident at work, I have more clout at work and I get to do whatever I want.

But, let’s be honest, turning 30 is a milestone. So, when I realized I was 30 days away from turning 30, I thought I should do something over my last 30 days in my twenties as a good sendoff and a positive way to ring in my thirties. I got some great ideas from friends on what to do over the next 30 days.

  • 30 pairs of new shoes (awesome idea…if I can find someone to finance the challenge)
  • Visit 30 of the 60 National Parks (Unfortunately, I do still have to maintain my job…and this would be more expensive than the shoes)
  •   Visit 30 states (see above)
  •   30 different beers in 30 days (this was suggested twice…I guess my friends know what I like J)
  •   30 days of movies (that’s a lot of couch sitting and if combined with the beer and cheese challenge, I’m pretty sure I’d be buying a new wardrobe in 30 days!)
  •   30 days of “Be a Kid” activities (color, go to a park, swing…)
  •  30 Random Acts of Kindness
  • 30 letters to 30 people you haven’t connected with in a long time


I can be a little fickle and indecisive, so it was hard to pick just one thing to do for 30 days. So, I decided I’d pick a few and challenge myself to pick out one of the options every day until I turned 30. That means I won’t necessarily do 30 days of each activity but that’s ok. I like variety!

The three I settled on are:

  •  30 days of “Be a kid” activities (color, go to a park, swing, paint…)
  • 30 days of random acts of kindness
  •  30 letters to 30 people (modified from the haven’t connected with in a long time because sometimes, even if you email, chat, etc. with someone fairly regularly, it’s still nice to let them know you appreciate them)


 p.s. To be honest, I’ll probably be buying new shoes at some point in the next 30 days anyhow… I mean, my birthday IS coming up!

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