The Origins of the List

I turn 30 in just under a month on the 8th September. This past year has been a rollercoaster of grief, health issues, work issues and burn out and I felt just over a month ago that it was time for a change, time for a challenge and to do something worthwhile which is where the 30 things list came into being. I took some inspiration from this article,
http://www.dailymail.co.uk/femail/article-2182280/A-modern-rite-passage-How-mother-set-13-year-old-son-13-ticklish-tasks-grown-was.html  which detailed a Mum's challenges to her 13 year old son as a means of teaching him valuable skills, pick up new hobbies and gain some independence and thought maybe I could learn some lessons from it and use them in my own way.

I started by thinking about what I wanted to achieve out of this, did I want wholly personal goals? Something altruistic? Did I want to share it with the world at large? I knew there were some goals that I needed to do, the first being raising money for Ovarian Cancer Research  (Ovarian Cancer Action) http://lovewomen.tributefunds.com/  and for a Lung Cancer charity http://www.roycastle.org. in memory of my Grandmother Elsie Bailey and my Mother in Law Elizabeth Pett who both passed away in September 2011. The second set of goals were to work upon my own health and well being as I have been troubled with anxiety and depression for some time and wanted to embrace a healthier and happier me. Other goals on the list are to promote communication, travel and creativity as well as learning new skills and a language. It is still a fluid work in progress. I have 17 of the 30 goals/tasks written up and am currently thinking of the remainder.

Ultimately by blogging about it I am looking for encouragement and support over the year. I can promise some entertaining posts, quirky observations, bad photography (still not great with a digital camera) and above all the chance to share my experiences with the world and come out of this unscathed.