Hopes for 2020 onwards

We’re in the 2020s! It officially feels like we’re living in the future (albeit a slightly dystopian one – feels like we’re only a few bad political decisions away from living in a post-apocalyptic wasteland, Tank Girl style).

2020 goals

I’ve been thinking a lot about the idea of what I want to carry over from the last decade into the new – so, a few of my goals are things I really wish I’d completed before I reached 30; still, better now than ever. I’m seeing this year as a bit of clearing of the decks ready for the next few years.

Big goals:

1. Complete my ‘Thirty Before Thirty (One)’ list
2. Release a single
3. Upgrade my piano set-up
4. Redesign my website
5. Create 3 live music videos
6. Run a half-marathon

Little goals:

1. Apply for music funding
2. Back up my photos and files from my PC
3. Set up an air miles account / credit card / whatever
4. Try 6 personal trainer sessions
5. Make a new zine to sell at Swansea Zine Fest 2020
6. Re-bind and re-print Here. In My Head issue 10.
7. See a financial adviser (sorting out my finances seems like a sensible thing to do at my age)
8. Get my car valeted
9. Go to a rave (can you believe I’ve never been to a rave?)
10. Finish the self-reflection exercises in ‘The Desire Map’ by Danielle Porte

Thirty Before Thirty (One)

Just after my 29th birthday, I wrote myself a Thirty Before Thirty list – 30 things I wanted to do before my 30th birthday. Some are things I’ve always wanted to do (try oysters), some are things that I’ve done before but wanted a reminder to do them again (stargaze); some are personally meaningful goals (visit a Scandinavian country – I wrote a bit about why that was meaningful to me here), others are things that just sound like fun (go paintballing).

In retrospect, most of the items on the list were too ambitious to complete in 1 year alongside starting a new full-time job and co-organising a zine fest, so I got to my 30th birthday having only completed 9 out of 30 tasks (ouch). Instead of moping and scrapping the whole thing as a failed venture, I decided to extend the deadline to my 31st birthday – a 1-year grace period seemed fair while still in the spirit of the thing. Managing to tick off another 6 items between September and December, that now leaves me with 15 on my list still to be completed by September 2020:

1. Record an album
2. Do a charity skydive
3. Run a 10k – completed
4. Visit a Scandinavian country – completed
5. Eat in a Michelin Star restaurant
6. Publish the 20th issue of my perzine – completed
7. Complete my Orphan Black cosplay project
8. Go camping
9. Go surfing
10. Visit Stonehenge – completed
11. Watch all the films nominated for the Academy Award for Best Picture (2019) – completed
12. Go paintballing
13. Try oysters
14. Get 2 new tattoos
15. Go on a creative retreat
16. Stargaze
17. Host a garden party
18. Visit the Harry Potter Studio tour – completed
19. Try a piano lesson
20. Redo the ‘Artist’s Way’ program
21. Try a course of singing lessons – completed
22. Get another ear piercing – completed
23. Get my teeth whitened – completed
24. Go to the USA – completed
25. Negotiate my salary – completed
26. Party until sunrise – completed
27. – 30. [private for me!]

Things I would like to be in the 2020s

• More sociable. Specifically, I’d like to make sure my quietness doesn’t come across as aloof, cold, or disinterested – projecting more of a warm friendly vibe. (I have slight Resting Bitch Face. I’m working on it.)
• More proactive, more spontaneous – be a little less of a thinker, and a little more of a do-er
• Better at making decisions, and committing to them – even when the outcome is disappointing
• Better at finding making the time to do creative things outside of work
• Improved upper body and core fitness/strength – I would love to be properly buff and muscular for at least a few weeks of my life. I’ve been thinking of doing a LeeLoo cosplay (5th Element) so perhaps this could coincide with that. 
• Better posture. No more slouching!

Hopes for the next decade / things I want to do in the 2020s

• Simplify to amplify – which is a wanky way of saying that I’m going to focus on fewer things and doing them well, rather than spreading myself thinly and trying to be good at everything and then getting overwhelmed when I’m not. 
• More travel. At some point in the next 5 years I plan to take a few months off work and travel all around the world – either in 1 long block, or breaking it up into a few mid-length breaks. Some specific travel goals for the 2020s: Disneyland Florida, San Francisco, New Orleans, Bali, more of Eastern Europe, drive a scenic route in the USA.
• More music projects – write, record and perform more often, collaborate more, get better at tech and recording (curse my analogue heart)
• Figure out what to do with my career – or at least, have a better idea than I do now.
• Attend a weekend-long music festival. Can you believe I’ve never done this before?!
• Go on a yoga retreat
• Buy a house, maybe?
• Live in another city for at least a few weeks

 

“There is no question I am someone starving. There is no question I am making this journey to find out what that appetite is.”

Anne Carson