30 before 30

I turned 22 a little over a week ago, and I'm at a kind of strange place in my life.

I just graduated from college and I'm in the process of choosing a career. In a way, I feel like this is the end. I've been filled with regret about fields I didn't study and opportunities I didn't take during college. I'm a little terrified of choosing a career because I'm afraid of pigeonholing myself into a job, a place, and a routine--forever.

Logically, I know this isn't the end. I know I can still learn, and I know that careers change. In fact, I don't even need a career right now. I need a job (or a few jobs), an internship, some volunteer experiences, some traveling. I need to know what's out there before I settle into a career, and I'm lucky enough to be able to float around (kind of).

Still, for those moments when I'm feeling stuck, or when I'm stupidly afraid of my life being at its end, I decided a needed a list. I work well with goals. I like lists, I like planning, and I like achieving. So I've made a list of 30 things I plan to do before I turn 30.

Within the next eight years I plan to (in no particular order): 

1. Go abroad. 
2. Run a marathon. 
3. Take a cooking course. 
4. Become fluent in Spanish. 
5. Take a computer programming course. 
6. Move to the West Coast (at least temporarily). 
7. Take my cousins apple picking and/or to Plimoth Plantation. 
8. Learn to play soccer. 
9. Join a flag football team. 
10. Take a voice lesson. 
11. Learn to play piano. 
12. Do karaoke. (With Nicole.) (At Spats.) 
13. Volunteer at a hospital. 
14. Volunteer at a group home. 
15. Become a mentor to a first-generation college student. 
16. Start a network of first-generation mentors. 
17. Adopt a dog. 
18. Participate in local politics. 
19. Begin work toward a new degree. 
20. Buy a car. 
21. Pay off my loans. 
22. Get an article published. 
23. Get a short story published. 
24. Make the Best Chocolate Chip Cookies...Ever. (With Allison.) (Plus an ombre cake.)
25. Host an elaborate Halloween party. 
26. Hike to the top of a mountain. 
27. Go on a cross-country road trip. 
28. Start my Christmas village. 
29. Go on a ghost tour. 
30. Write a novel. 

Some of these goals might be impossible (i.e., paying off my loans), and others might change over the course of eight years, but for the most part these are things that are within my reach. Framing them as goals that I will achieve within a certain timeframe (as opposed to things I would like to do someday) gives me hope for the future, and makes me excited about the adventures I have ahead of me.

Miles run today: 0 (Rest day! Also, I have cracked bones in my foot.)

Miles run since the start of training: 25.2

Days until the race: 187