Well the good news is that I have crossed off more from the bucket list journal of 40 things before I turn 40.

The bad news is that the item most important to me from that list will never come to fruition.

First, let’s talk about a bucket list book or other material, what it can look like, and why I’m so adamant about keeping one.

Perfect Bucket List Journal

The perfect way to store your bucket list is via whatever way you will look at it the most often because the goal of creating a list like this is to complete it.

Therefore, here are some ideas to get your wheels spinning:

1. Bucket list notebook
2. Front/back of a journal
3. Blank items (like large sheets of paper) that you intend to hang somewhere with plenty of room for writing out your list
4. Vision board
5. Daily planner

Why Keep a Bucket List

Similar to a Vision Board, a Bucket List helps keep your “eye on the prize,” whatever that might be. And therefore, there are many different types of bucket lists you can choose to keep:

1. Bucket list experiences (new adventures and/or travels you’d like to embark on)
2. Seasonal bucket lists (i.e. 39 Gut Health Fall Bucket List Ideas)
3. Personal growth
4. Small goals
5. Huge goals
6. ….before a milestone birthday

Literally, anything you have your sights set on could be a great way to turn it into a bucket list.

Perfect Gift

Because today is my birthday, I’ll also say that no matter what day it is, gifting someone a journal for their own bucket list is a perfect gift.

Heck, I’m so obsessed with planners and journals that any planner or journal relevant to them is the perfect gift!

Anyways, here are 5 ideas:

1. Hard Cover Bucket List Journal. Cute and simple and states, “Bucket List Journal” on the cover. Purchase HERE.
2. Funky new journal. For the artsy types, a funky-cover journal is a fun option. Like THIS one. It’s definitely different, but fun for the right person.
3. Small journal, portable. THESE are small, adorable, and they come in a pack of 8. (Also, free shipping if you have Amazon Prime.)
4. Vision Board e-course. I have a Vision Board E-Course that teaches how to create your own Vision Board (in a day). You could purchase a vision board for someone along with this e-course to inspire them to make that bucket list on a Vision Board. The e-course information is HERE.
5. Any other type of journal. Shameless plug, but I know two women who have journals and planner. One is my business partner and (thankfully) one of the most important people in my life now, Makayla. And the other is – yours truly. Kayla has a daily planner – the Alexander James Edition – and you can learn more about it HERE. Mine is more of a journal for those with big health (namely gut health) goals. It’s called Healing Blooms from Within: the 90-day gut healing journey journal and you can grab it HERE.

Alright, now let’s peek at my own list which was created on my 35th birthday.

Bucket List Journal (for the 40 before 40)

Click HERE to save this post for later.

On my 35th birthday I created this list, and shared these words over on A Gutsy Girl. I no longer write posts like that on that (highly-focused women’s gut health) website, so I’m storing these bucket list adventures here, on A Thyme for Milk and Honey.

These were the bucket list ideas:

1. Find my cadence and truly embrace being a mom
2. Go to Vietnam
3. Make $XYZ per year (I’m not totally driven by money, but I am definitely driven by it. If you know me well, you know it’s not so I can buy material things, but for all the other things on this list.)
4. Be in our forever home
5. Go to Italy
6. Complete 20 trail races (that’s 4 per year) (I decided today for my birthday, I’d sign up for the first race as the gift to myself. I’m still deciding which one to do!)
7. Take a trip with only mom
8. Go hiking and exploring in 3 different and unique places with my brother JJ
9. Surprise 4 people each year with a gift they were not expecting
10. Have zero SIBO relapses and a gut that’s functioning 100% at least 90% of the time in the next 5 years
11. Continue improving strength + endurance (This one is definitely not a SMART goal, but I know what it means and what it feels like. During this past year, I have focused on less overall running miles, but more strength-endurance training and I feel like I’m in the best shape of my life with all gut issues at Bay. That’s the sweet spot that I want to keep building upon.)
12. Read The Bible
13. Go on a mission trip
14. Publish The Gutsy Girl’s Bible: an approach for healing the gut 3.0
15. Get licensed in the state of Minnesota to foster
16. Get a dog for the kids (we have a breed in mind, but the time is not right yet)
17. Read 4 books a year (20 total), any and all topics welcomed
18. Have my work featured in a magazine or some other national outlet
19. Be at the Director (or higher) level with Beautycounter and instead of focusing on my own sales, mentor other women to hit their own high levels of sales. (I climbed from Consultant to Senior Consultant to Manager in just a few months due to a wild passion for the product and company, so I’d love to continue climbing on the fast track, and sharing with others how to do it, too.)
20. Be part of a company that gets bought out by a larger company.
21. Run the Ultimate Hawaiian Trail Run
22. Produce and release my recipe for ‘Instant Pot Bone Broth’
23. Have or have our plan for our family getaway home in the mountains somewhere (not the West coast mountains, but something closer – it’s a life dream for Ryan and I for us and the kids) 
24. Take the kids on a cruise
25. Go on a date with Ryan once per month – just he and me, no kids
26. Give up something + add in something every single year for Lent (I already know what I’m giving up this year for Lent, but still haven’t decided on the adding in part)
27. Meet Mark Cuban (am I crazy?!)
28. Go to Guatemala with Makenzie on behalf of personal growth and exploration but also Kakao
29. Produce another e-cookbook (still trying to decide who I’m making it for — SIBO friendly? Paleo Baking? AIP Cooking? etc.)
30. Hire my VA full time (or keep her PT and hire someone in person PT as well)
31. Try a class (even if it’s just one session) that has to do with something completely new to me (bonus if it’s something with Ryan)
32. Take several food styling classes
33. Go on a weekend trip with just Samarah (not until she’s at least 5)
34. Do a weekend trip with just Isaiah (not until he’s at least 5)
35. Take a weekend trip with just Amiya (not until she’s at least 17 5 🙂 )
36. Getaway trip with Kristi, Kristi, and Meg (my MN besties)
37. Girl’s only weekend in Chicago with Shondra and Missy (my other besties)
38. Getaway trip with Kim (+ many more weekends like last – duh!)
39. Create one recipe per year that becomes a staple go-to (like my AIP Bread)
40. Absorb as much as possible from ADAPT and/or enroll in another Chris Kresser program

Now, go back through and everything I’ve crossed off are those things that I’ve accomplished.

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Notes from my list that thrill me!

1. #12. I’m finally reading The Bible in its entirety this year. I’ve been loving the daily reads.
2. #14. Not only did I publish that final e-book, but in just about a month from now the physical book, A Gutsy Girl’s Bible will publish!
3. #16. Don’t worry. We got three. So much fun.

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Today I’m 39 – not 40. That means, of course, that I have a year left to finish more from the list.

To be honest, I won’t do many of them because they are no longer important or relevant. And, in fact, I think this is one of the biggest things you can extract from any sort of large bucket list: WE CHANGE. And change is okay.

It’s so fun to look back on the goals I had when I was 35, to see what I did accomplish, what I have yet to accomplish and what is no longer important (or what is that I have not yet done).

I’m taking myself on a little solo vacation for this birthday, and while I’m gone, I’m going to narrow done this list to just 7-10 things to focus on and accomplish during the last year of my 30’s. Maybe I’ll report back 🙂

One this is for sure, though, there is one on my list that never came to fruition and will definitely not come to fruition.

At the end of that original list, I stated,

And last, but definitely not least, making this the 41st goal (and perhaps the best part of this list).

My hope is to spend my 40th birthday with family – all of them in Minnesota. My biggest and best wish today, on my 35th birthday, is that on the day I turn 40 and this list is complete, that I find myself clanking glasses with and toasting to my dad who will have kicked cancer in the a#$.

Silently, this one will kill me a little bit, each year on my birthday.

I think of that huge bucket list goal I set for m 40th, and knowing that it just can’t be, makes this bucket list feel frustrating to me.

Perhaps it’s why I want to scratch the list altogether.

And yet, I won’t.

The bucket list is made up of so many different things that have made for this crazy life to make more sense. During the past 4 years, while my heart was broken, it also has been fulfilled in a million other ways.

These countless other ways are what I’ll choose to cheers to today, next year on my 40th birthday, and each and every single day in between.

Join the magic and chaos.

p.s. This is how I feel about my 21 year old self saying, “Daaaaannnnngggggg 39 is old. Don’t ever turn 39.”

Xox,

SKH