Hello. It’s time for a 39 Before 40 Progress Report. This is a fairly long one so you might want to grab a cuppa. Read on to see how I am getting on with the 39 things I want to achieve by the time I turn 40 (in October 2021).
39 Before 40 Progress Report
1 – Blog 25 times IN PROGRESS
I’m up to 11 posts (including this one). 14 to go with just under 6 months remaining. That’s doable! I’m aiming for 2-3 posts each month.
2 – Release 3 FTGE (Find The Good Everyday) paid for products IN PROGRESS
I have something coming very soon. A Summer Guided Journal and Summer Self Care Kit. I also hope to release an Autumn themed project in September.
3 – Mindset Training IN PROGRESS
- I did Sophie Cliff’s Master Your Mindset course in November 2020
- I also did Sophie’s First 100 Days journaling project
- And I am currently working my way through Jamie Varon’s Live with Intention course
I think mindset is a constant work-in-progress and I am grateful that these trainings have helped me to continue working on it.
4 – 39 Soundtrack IN PROGRESS
This is such a fun one. It’s shaping up to be a list of songs that hold specific memories this year rather than a collection of my favourites. Previous annual soundtracks have been a mix of both. You can see what I’ve picked so far here.
5 – Document Christmas Learn Cross-stitch COMPLETE
I didn’t get myself organised enough to Document Christmas so I changed it to Learn Cross-stitch which I did in February. You can see the little rainbow I stitched here.
6 – Sewing with Stretch course
No progress on this yet. I’ve not been doing very much sewing at all lately. I am still hopeful to make a start though – perhaps over Summer.
7 – Take Reggie on “holiday” IN PROGRESS
Reggie is our greyhound. We have something booked. Just a short overnight break quite close to home to have a practice run and get him used to travelling and staying somewhere else with us.
8 – Go to Skye IN PROGRESS
We’ve got something booked for later in the year. Fingers crossed it goes ahead!
9 – Ride a Horse
I have no immediate plans to do this. It may get swapped for something else. Or I might just get something booked and do it as things start opening up again.
10 – Visit Norfolk IN PROGRESS
This one is tied in with number 7 (taking Reggie on holiday!)
11 – Plan an epic 40th
I’ll wait a bit longer before I make any plans for my 40th in October – who knows what the rules will be by then?!
12 – Spa Day
This is booked for the summer and I am really hoping it will go ahead as it’s been a long time coming. My friend and I originally had a spa day booked for March 2020 and it’s been postponed a few times already.
13 – Day in the Life COMPLETE
I took part in this in March. I blogged about it here and also created a photo book.
14 – Take a creative course/class
Hoping to do this as the world opens back up. I’d love to do something in person rather than online.
15 – Instagram growth – reach 1k and grow my community IN PROGRESS
I’m getting there with the 1k… please come and follow me if you don’t already. And I’ve been trying to share posts and stories that help people feel part of the Find the Good Everyday community. I love having chats with people in my comments and DMs there.
16 – Europe city break First 100 Days Journalling Project COMPLETE
I switched this up as I don’t think a Europe trip will happen this year. I changed it to a project I’d already started at the time and have since completed.
17 – Grow the FTGE newsletter and mailing list IN PROGRESS
I really enjoy sending my monthly newsletters. I create a freebie to send out each month. It’s usually journalling prompts or a worksheet to help you find more good in your everyday. It makes me happy each time someone signs up! If you don’t already get the newsletter you can sign up here.
18 – Visit Bury St Edmunds/Suffolk
We may do this as part of our take Reggie on holiday, on the way to Norfolk. Or it may be a seperate day out. But I plan to do it over the next few months.
19 – Reach my Find Your Happy Sales Target COMPLETE
I am so chuffed to have met my mid-range target for sales. I do still have some copies left though with no immediate plans to reprint the paper copies. You can learn more about Find Your Happy here and purchase a copy here. Every purchase makes me so very happy! I really appreciate each and every one.
20 – Be Published and Paid
I’m working on this by pitching to publications.
21 – Submit the kiddo’s high school application COMPLETE
This was done back in October and we were very pleased to find out he got his first choice school in March.
22 – Family Movie Night with a Theme COMPLETE
We watched Harry Potter, made Butterbeer (here’s our recipe!) and had HP related snacks! (M&S sell chocolate frogs and other wizard treats!)
23 – A Me Day for Whatever I like (follow my nose!)
I haven’t done this yet due to the lockdowns and schools being closed but I hope to schedule this in before the Summer holidays and take myself off on an adventure!
24 – Do some work on the house
I really want to get some work done on our kitchen but we need a surveyor/engineer to have a look because it involves knocking down a wall… the first step is to make some phone calls and find someone to come and have a look.
25 – Solstice and Equinox adventures IN PROGRESS
I made a wreath for Winter Solstice and purchased a beautiful Spring Wreath for the Equinox. And I enjoyed spending time outside on both of those occasions too. Summer Solstice and Autumn Equinox to go!
26 – Find fun ways to use glass jars COMPLETE
I ended up playing with glass jars for my Crafternoon.
27 – Host a Crafternoon to raise money for Mind COMPLETE
I did this back in November. I really enjoyed hosting and would definitely consider doing it again.
28 – Food bank donations COMPLETE
I set up a monthly financial donation to our local food bank at the end of last year.
29 – Share my RA story
I was diagnosed with Rheumatoid Arthritis (RA) in March 2020. I’ve got a blog post drafted about this but it doesn’t feel quite ready to share yet. I might share it around the time of RA Awareness Week which is coming up in September.
30 – Read Untamed COMPLETE
I read it, loved it and recommend it!
31 – Monthly RAKs – big and small IN PROGRESS
I wasn’t as consistent with this to begin with and got a little behind. I’ve got one month to “catch up on” and will continue them monthly. Most recently I gave away a Gratitude Journal on Instagram and a Happiness Toolkit to a newsletter subscriber. I’ve done some RAKs offline as well.
32 – Try dairy free (for a week? Or month?)
Haven’t tried this yet. I think it will be a week to begin with and I’ll see how I go from there.
33 – Bring back a meat-free-day each week
I’ve got meat-free dinners on the menu plan each week but I don’t always make sure I’m meat-free for lunch as well so I need to revise the menu plan to reflect that. One of our favourites is this Smoky Chilli recipe by Jamie Oliver.
34 – Review this list monthly and make plans IN PROGRESS
I’ve not been “formally” doing this but I do have a paper version pinned up and I check/update it every few weeks or so. Plus I’m writing this 39 Before 40 Progress Report!
35 – Aim for 30+ rejections pitches and learn from them IN PROGRESS
This was in relation to pitching to publications. I realised recently that the wording was putting me off so I’ve changed it to sending pitches rather than waiting for the rejections. Part of pitching is undoubtedly receiving rejections which is why I chose the wording originally – to accept that it was going to happen. But I prefer the pro-active wording of tracking the number of pitches I send rather than the responses (or non-responses) I get back.
36 – NLP Training Taster COMPLETE
NLP stands for Neuro-Linguistic Programming. I did this in January. It was interesting and something I would consider exploring further in the future.
37 – Be a guest blogger/tutor/speaker COMPLETE (but would love to do more!)
I was a guest on the Creative Productive podcast – the episode went live in November and you can listen here. I also did an Instagram Live with the host Sarah (@stationerymagpie). And I was a guest tutor for Jocelyn at The Reading Residence Bring Back Paper membership in January – chatting all things journalling.
38 – Make Hot Chocolate bombs with the kiddo COMPLETE
This was fun and we’ve made more since. Here’s a photo of some we made.
39 – Get kiddo ready for high school (uniform/kit, equipment etc)
I’m not sure I am ever going to be emotionally ready for this one but we will be working on this over the summer months ready for September.
Summary
So that’s my 39 Before 40 Progress Report. In summary:
- I’ve completed 13 items on the list – a third complete at the halfway point.
- I’ve made a start or have things planned for another 13 things.
- Which leaves 13 things still to start and get ticked off.
If you’ve read this far – bonus points to you! I know it’s been long but I share my birthday projects and progress for accountability and I appreciate you, as the reader, helping to hold me accountable!
I’ll be back with another update, once I’m 40, later in the year!