Why I’m Excited for My Final Year of My Twenties
Happy birthday to me!
This Saturday is my twenty-ninth birthday and the start of my last year in my twenties. It’s so wild to think that I began the second decade of my life in my final year of university, desperate to escape my hometown and ready to explore what was out there. Now, as I’m about to start the countdown to my thirtieth birthday in a year’s time, I am so happy with what I’ve achieved in the last nine years. I got married, started this blog, found my new home in a new city, landed an amazing job in marketing and have an amazing core group of friends. Who I will be celebrating very much in style with tomorrow- and documenting it on Instagram and in my next vlog on my YouTube channel.
HERE’S TO THE FUTURE.
It’s amazing to think that if you asked 16-year-old Elle where she would be coming up to her 30th birthday, the answer would have simply been married, with kids, owning a house with an amazing job. And don’t forget the dog. My life is nothing like I thought it would be in my twenties, and I am so happy with that. It’s funny how thinking about what I want to achieve before my 30th birthday brings up the idea of milestones and things that we have to have ticked off before this time.
To societies to-do list, I’m very much behind. But I simply don’t care. Life is not about ticking everything off a list. And yes, that’s the Type A person who loves a list pad saying that. If I had achieved all of the things that I thought I wanted- I 100% wouldn’t be where I am now. I would have met my amazing husband, have my amazing group of friends and live in amazing city. So sorry 16-year-old me, we didn’t smash that list. But I promise, what we’ve achieved in the last nine years is so much more amazing.
READY FOR A GLOW UP.
Now, as I’m saying life is not about checklists and ticking things off, there are a few things I want to do during the last year of my twenties. Some are practical things. But most are personal, more spiritual things that will benefit me in the many years to come. So with this in mind, here’s what I’m looking forward to in the next 12 months…
FEEL MORE CONFIDENT/ GAIN STABILITY.
This one is a major one for me. Whilst this goal is aimed at something very specific (which I’m not prepared to talk in detail right now, but I promise, one day you’ll be let in on it), this can apply to a lot of areas in my life. I’ve not felt settle in my who I am as a person for a while. Probably longer than I want to admit. So for the last year of my twenties, I really want to work on feeling more confident in who I am, where I am in my current stage of life and what I stand for.
LEARN TO SPEAK FRENCH.
Told you there would be a goal within this post. I’m not too humble to admit that I class myself as being pretty decent at speaking french. When on holiday I can get myself from A-B and order the all-important un café au lait et un croissant. However, I’m humble enough to know that I can do better. With the plan to be in Paris next year for my birthday, I want to brush up on my french and hopefully become fluent in another language. This means downloading my language app and possibly investing in lessons.
BECOME MORE CONFIDENT IN MY BODY.
I don’t think it’s any secret that I’ve not been feeling great with the way I look for the past couple of years. And while we are all gorgeous no matter how we look, being comfortable and confident in how we look and feel is just as important. Recently, I’m back to working out with my Sweat app and I’m happy to say that I’ve not missed a workout since I got back onto it. Water intake though, that’s not looking great. One of my main goals is to keep going with the workouts and feel my confident with the way I look.
The other side of this is changing my attitude to beauty. I love my skincare routine. As someone with dry skin, I have to ensure that I’m constantly moisturised. However, everything else falls a little to the waste side. Now, beauty isn’t everything, but we cannot deny the confidence that we sometimes feel when we give ourselves a little pamper and TLC. This is something that I want to invest in more in the upcoming months.
DO MORE IN MY CAREER.
I love my job in marketing. It’s a passion that I didn’t realise I had, but now I can’t think of doing anything else for a living. I also love my side hustle, my blog. I would love to make something of it, even build a product that incorporated all my passions together. I’ve already started a new channel for my content, my YouTube channel and I can’t wait to give the blog another glow up and continue to create an amazing multi-hyphen career.
GO TO MY FIRST FESTIVAL.
No, you are not reading this incorrectly. I’ve never been to a festival. Something that my bestie Laura is dying to fix next year. With a promise that I will be experiencing Leeds Festival in style next year, I can’t wait to tick off this mini goal within the last year of my twenties.
GO ON HOLIDAYS.
Sadly, this year, I haven’t actually left the UK or been on a holiday. In fact, other than my bestie’s wedding last year, I haven’t really had any sort of getaway in a long time. Paris is the main event that I will be doing in style come next November, but I would like to fit in some other mini-breaks before this time. We have Edinburgh in March which I’m so excited for. Sadly we can’t go away for our anniversary, as it happens to be Easter Sunday next year and prices were jacked up. But I think we are planning to do at least two additional trips, even if one of them is a long weekend away somewhere.
BE AN ADVOCATE/ HELP A CAUSE.
This feels really big-headed as I type it, but I really want to do more for the world. I do a lot of giving to charity, but I would love to donate my time or even my platforms for causes that I am passionate about and want to do more for. I also want to really push and try and change the attitude on something that is close to me, renting. The goal is to show more than one perspective on what it means rent these days and how your temporary housing situation doesn’t have to be where you put your head at night. It can be a home, your home.