I have my friend Sharon to blame for this. There we all were, on a typical Wednesday night get together, eating and drinking more than we cared to admit, when out of the blue, Sharon calmly told me that before she was 40, she would quite like to sleep with Bon Jovi. Apart from the fact that she is happily married, Sharon doesn’t make a habit of hanging out with rock stars on a day to day basis, in fact the nearest she’s ever got to Bon Jovi, is watching them live in concert at the Milton Keynes Bowl, so the odds of her actually getting to fulfil this wish are against her somewhat. Which made me begin to wonder – before I’m 40, what do I want to do with my life, that would be achievable?
So over a matter of weeks, I began to make a list. Of course, this would be a list like no other list before it. A list of gigantic proportions, a list that when people took the time to read it, would definitely ‘ooh’ and ‘ah’ over. The list began to grow and grow and before I knew it, a few points turned into, well forty aptly and could have grown even more, but forty seemed like quite a good number, so the list remained there. Not that it was easy to compile this, you understand. I had to get the right combination of achievable/challenging things and it had to have a few of ‘I’ve always wanted to do that’ scenarios mixed in as well.
There were also a few tasks that as soon as I had written them down, I immediately crossed out. ‘To be thin’ was one of them, after some hesitation, I just thought it was too superficial to be included within this list, when there are so many more meaningful things I could achieve.
From shopping to flying to meeting Mr T – I think I have covered every avenue that I can think of and if I had to pick a favourite amongst the forty things, than it would have to be working in Africa. I first fell in love with Africa as a young girl, watching the Born Free films and more recently had my love affair fuelled by the emergence of ‘Mission Africa’ where fifteen young trainees are building a game reserve and eco lodge in the region of Sera.
So here I am with a list of ‘forty things to do before I’m forty’ and well just over four and a half years to achieve them. I have to admit at this point, that my track record of actually sticking with something is not good. I stayed with the Girl Guides for the sum total of one day and decided that three days was more than enough to spend at Sixth Form College, after planning to go there all summer, so the odds are stacked against me. But I have developed a strange determination to complete this and a gut feeling that this may well change my life. I don’t want to be one of those people in ten years times, that have regrets, nor do I want to be one of those people, bemoaning, that ‘I wish I had done that’. So ‘forty things to do before I’m forty’ begins now – wish me luck!
So over a matter of weeks, I began to make a list. Of course, this would be a list like no other list before it. A list of gigantic proportions, a list that when people took the time to read it, would definitely ‘ooh’ and ‘ah’ over. The list began to grow and grow and before I knew it, a few points turned into, well forty aptly and could have grown even more, but forty seemed like quite a good number, so the list remained there. Not that it was easy to compile this, you understand. I had to get the right combination of achievable/challenging things and it had to have a few of ‘I’ve always wanted to do that’ scenarios mixed in as well.
There were also a few tasks that as soon as I had written them down, I immediately crossed out. ‘To be thin’ was one of them, after some hesitation, I just thought it was too superficial to be included within this list, when there are so many more meaningful things I could achieve.
From shopping to flying to meeting Mr T – I think I have covered every avenue that I can think of and if I had to pick a favourite amongst the forty things, than it would have to be working in Africa. I first fell in love with Africa as a young girl, watching the Born Free films and more recently had my love affair fuelled by the emergence of ‘Mission Africa’ where fifteen young trainees are building a game reserve and eco lodge in the region of Sera.
So here I am with a list of ‘forty things to do before I’m forty’ and well just over four and a half years to achieve them. I have to admit at this point, that my track record of actually sticking with something is not good. I stayed with the Girl Guides for the sum total of one day and decided that three days was more than enough to spend at Sixth Form College, after planning to go there all summer, so the odds are stacked against me. But I have developed a strange determination to complete this and a gut feeling that this may well change my life. I don’t want to be one of those people in ten years times, that have regrets, nor do I want to be one of those people, bemoaning, that ‘I wish I had done that’. So ‘forty things to do before I’m forty’ begins now – wish me luck!
