Part Three: The Next Steps on My Bucket List: 26 Things To Do Before Turning 26

In one of more recent articles I talked my bucket list and how there were 26 Things To Do Before I Turn 26.  As much as it is awesome to put together this list, its scary to continue to try new things. At the end of January I had completely 10 of them and still had 16 to go. I shared that in my next steps on my bucket list article. Since this article I have accomplished 10 more things with only 6 to go.  Since this is all about turning 26 and trying new things, I figured I should share my experiences with each item crossed off and as I continue on this journey…. I have 20 days to finish this…but who is counting…..

1. Pitch a new idea to my boss: 

   This can be one of those things that can make you extremely nervous. I have had some ideas that I wanted to implement in my job but like most people it is hard to go against the normal. However I knew had some great ideas so I pitched them!

2. Do 1,000 crunches a week

   This was a lot harder than I thought, I consciously had to make time to do crunches and not stop after a hundred a day…But since then I have also changed other things I have done with working out too and lets just say the abs are coming back….slowly…

3. Buy a stranger a meal

4. Capture photos of God’s beauty

   This has to be one of my favorite things I had the opportunity to do. See the photo that is featured in this article…I took it, yes me! I spent time in Haiti and it changed everything for me and just capturing the beauty to show others meant a lot to me. Sometimes a picture can’t tell the whole story, but it can start it. God’s work is so beautiful to me and I want to continue to capture it to tell the story behind the photo.

5. Go to my first ski resort

6. Try a church other than my domination:

   I have a had a strong faith since I was little but that doesn’t mean I never questions the practices or asked questions to understand my faith more. I recently wanted to try another domination besides my own (I am Catholic). I decided to attend a Lutheran church with one of my closest friends. You get nervous trying something new, you are out of your comfort zone and unsure how will you feel accepted. I totally understand why people are scared to try new churches. It is one of those things where you have to fight the fear and take the first step into the church to understand, God just wanted you to feel welcomed. The pastor did an amazing job and tears were brought to my eyes. I still will never forget that moment of what that taught me. I still adore my faith but the experience was great to understand another domination.

7. Write a card to a friend each month

   This was one thing I enjoyed a lot. It takes time out of your month to send cards, but snail mail means so much to people. My God mother taught me that, every holiday, or moment she had a reason to send me a card she did, and I never had the opportunity to tell her how much it meant to me because she recently past but I do have the chance to follow in her steps.

8. Run a marathon

   I did it! I ran a marathon #26milesfor26years. I ran this in March with the best friends/runner partners around. I will be writing a whole article about this because this was a major milestone for me.

9. Try swimming:

   I am pretty sure this is one of those things you put on your list praying eventually you could make up a grand excuse as to why you needed to take it off your list. This decision was scary. I decided to reach out to a girl at work whom I knew was a swimmer and asked if she would take me and teach me how to practice swimming. I knew the basics but to actually train in pool scared me. I won’t lie I was nervous all week and even thought of 25 reasons why I could bail on her and not have to learn. I decided that I needed to take my own leap of faith and push through it…so there I was in the locker room putting on a one piece (flattering I know), goggles and a cap. We went to the pool and she taught me how to do laps in a pool, how my arms and feet should be positions and how my breathing should be. It was such a hard work out, I had to teach my body how to react differently to this work out. I love cardio and can run for days but this was different. I now have a strong encouragement to continue to learn and strive to get better. Megan was an extreme sweetheart with her patiences and  I know am excited to have her as someone to swim with.

10. Sponsor a kid in a third world country

    I officially sponsor a child in LaFond, Haiti. In July of 2015, was my first time in Haiti and while everyone on my trip found someone to sponsor I did not. I can’t explain it but you know when you should sponsor someone or not. In February of 2016, I went back and the second day there, I found the little girl who in a crowd of hundreds of kids, found my hand and wouldn’t let go. I instantly knew, she was the child for me to sponsor. He name is Chnydina Joseph and she is 7 years old. God is so amazing for making me her sponsor.

11. Redesign my blog:  

    My passion is my blog, helping people and making a change in their lives. I knew if I wanted to take the next step I needed to redesign my website. I spent the whole month of December 2015 working through this process. My full time job has nothing to do with an external website so I had to take youtube “How To” class, narrow down a list of 100 types of websites to one and create a site for my audience. The plans I had for December and the holiday went out the window because I spent a ton of time on this but truthfully, I am so happy to my site built for everyone.

12. Apply for my small business ID: 

    I never thought I would apply for this or have a reason to. To be honest, the day I decided to apply, I had no idea how to or how complicated it would be. It was easier than I thought, however it is scary to take the next step toward figuring out what exactly what to do with it. But that is something to do at another time.

13. Try hot yoga: 

    Oh another fear. Yoga. The exercise I always thought would be not worth even doing because I thought a work out meant cardio and lots of sweat. So I decided to try hot yoga to get a sweat and try yoga. When I injured my knee last year I was told to try yoga to help. I wasn’t sure on that idea. I finally tried it and it changed a lot of things for me. I learned it wasn’t just about the work out, which let me tell you kicked my butt, it was about what yoga teaches you during that one hour.

14. Plan a medical mission trip:

    I was not blessed with being medical savvy. I was born with a very different quality however medical information is always interesting to me. After spending in Haiti I decided I needed to go back but for medical. After meeting the amazing people in Haiti I couldn’t think of anything else I would want to do. I decided to make sure that many of the people in this community get the right care they need. In July I am heading to Haiti to help lead this trip.  I have been planning for a couple months now and I am excited to continue this journey.

15. Try a barre class:

    Hot yoga was one of those exercises I did not want to try as a I stated in another bucket number….well barre was another one. Mainly because I like cardio and knew this class would something out of my comfort zone. Well I tried it and let me tell you just like hot yoga, it kicked my butt again. I love trying these new classes.

16. Do something that scares

17. Collaborate with other businesses to advertise Self Love Beauty

18. Stop my nervous habit of biting my nails

    I never thought I would conquer this, but I knew eventually if I set my mind to something I could do it. I officially have learned new ways to handle this nervous habit.

19. Visit the hometown dive bar:

    I love trying new places, fancy sometimes but other times I like to try the small hometown bars. I have been living in the same city for about two years now and have not tried the dive bar. A couple months ago, I went. All the talk about what is was like from everyone in the town and I loved it. It reminded me of my home town. Sometimes you have to do the smallest things and they are so fun!

20. Sign up for my first conference

    I signed up for my first conference for the website and as much as I wanted to back down I knew if I want to grow in relationships and in my writing I needed to continue it. I am so glad I did, I ended up meeting some amazing women and learning so many things.

21. Stand up for someone else

22. Go hiking

    I love everything about the outdoors and luckily I have had the opportunity to hike in Haiti. It was absolutely beautiful and hard.

23. Do Mission Work in Haiti :

    This one is something I have wanted to do for years, God has asked me to do for years and I have continued to put it off because well it is a lot harder than it seems. I decided to use this past year as the year I would finally do mission work in Haiti. The was by far the best decision and the most humbling one to scratch off my bucket list. I have decided since then to go back two more times, one before I turn 26 and one after. Each trip has a different meaning. I look forward to spending time in Haiti again.

24. Apologize to someone I did wrong

25. Buy a camera and start taking more professional photos: 

    I love photos! Anyone that knows me, knows I love taking photos and showcasing memories. However normally it is on my iPhone. As I have continue to grow my site, I wanted to take photos of other people and make the stock photos being used to be more personalized. It was one of the best investment and now I am learning to take professional photos and edit them. I cannot wait to continue to deep dive into this.

26. Collaborate with four bloggers

    This was so fun! I had the opportunity to talk to a few bloggers and figure out what they do vs. how I operate. I love meeting people with the same thoughts on beauty as myself.

I am looking forward to completely this list. What are your goals? What is on your list?