A few years ago (okay, quite a few years ago), I wrote a list of “Things I want to do before I’m 30”. At the time, I imagine that the idea of being 30 was something akin to old age. Those episodes of Friends demonising the age probably didn’t help. I’ve lost that list, though I can remember a few of the things on it. From what I recall, many of them were expensive, and I’ve completed very few of them. But I’m not really worried. For one thing, turning 30 isn’t going to be the end of my life: I’m pretty confident that won’t happen until I’m at least 40(!). For another thing, I’ve still got a bit of time left before I turn 30; just under eleven months in fact.

Have child, tick. Get child obsessed with Lego, tick.

Here’s a few of the things I do remember from the list:

• Get married, buy a house, have kids

Yes, yes, and mostly. I have one child, so I think I can call that a pass, right? Despite being a list that was mostly full of expensive adventure type things, I was pretty certain that I wanted to settle down and have a family. I probably didn’t fully realise that this wouldn’t help with the rest of the goals, as I was probably still in the heady stage of thinking that university graduates earnt gazillions. This was before the economy crashed after all. (And before I got my university results!!)

• Complete a marathon and a triathlon

I ran a bit while I was at university (I had a three mile loop that I’d run about three times in one week and then not again for two months, but it was running, dammit!) So obviously, I wanted to run a marathon. Since I’ve started running “seriously” I’ve shunned running a marathon in the short-term, choosing instead to focus on improving my speeds over shorter distances. Now that I’m not barely old enough to legally drink, I’ve realised that I’ve got a while yet to build up to marathon distance if I want.

• Climb a mountain, skydive

There were definitely more along these lines; pretty standard “once in a lifetime” sort of stuff I seem to recall. The main issue with all this sort of thing is the cost. I don’t really like spending money; I’m more of a hoarder I have to admit! I’m one of these sad people that will probably die with thousands of pounds in a savings account because I was too cheap to spend it. So maybe, just maybe, I need to start admitting that if I’m sensible, sometimes spending that money might be worth it for some life experiences. I also need to stop being so prideful. When we were on honeymoon in Hawaii, I knew that it would be an ideal opportunity to take a few surf lessons: who doesn’t want to say that they’ve surfed in Hawaii?? But… I didn’t, I was too worried about sucking.

So what am I going to do? Obviously it would be impractical, and stupid, to try and get all of this done before my 30th birthday next July. In addition, it would be completely pointless, as life doesn’t end at 30. However, I am going to make an effort to do more, and to move out of my comfort zone. It would be nice to get a couple of “bucket list” experiences squeezed in before my next birthday, and then maybe I can fully assess what I might want on my “lifetime goals” list.

Snowdon, credit: Chris Dixon

Trip to Snowdon anyone???