Birthdayoween Month: 40 Fun Things To Do in My 40s (A Bucket List)

I've noticed a massive difference between the leadups to my thirtieth and fortieth birthdays. Thirty felt like the end of my freaking life. Forty feels like the start. 

I have a theory. (It could be bunnies.) It has to do with how fucking awful my childhood was and how, the further away from that and the more I get to experience life on my terms, the more I enjoy it. 

Or maybe I'm just on better medication now? 🤣

Whichever, I'm approaching 40 with a determination to have fun and make memories, rather than tick off boxes. There's so much pressure out there to do this and have that before you reach a certain age and OMFG screw that. No wonder we all have freaking Anxiety!

I just want to enjoy the next decade! (Goddess knows how long this dumpster fire of a planet has left...)

That being said, I've made a list of things I'd like to do - if I get the chance - in my forties. I made a similar list for my thirties and it did not go well. Probably because I encountered serious physical and mental health conditions that kick the shit out of me for a very long time. 

(I haven't beaten them, by any means, but we're on a first name basis now so I know what I need to do to bring them along on field trips. Spoonie life, y'all.)

Bucket List: 40 Things to do in my 40s 

1. Visit a Disney Park

2. See my novel in print

3. Watch every Disney (animated) movie ever made

4. Build a witch’s apothecary

5. Play with an octopus

6. Go whale watching

7. Ride in a hot air balloon

8. Take an art class

9. Take a cooking class

10. (Finally) get my British citizenship

11. Go to Eurovision

12. See Hamilton on stage

13. See Les Misérables on stage

14. Swim in crystal clear water

15. Do an animal zoo experience

16. Start a family cookbook 

17. Learn a card trick/magic trick

18. Learn to juggle

19. Try archery

20. Go ice skating

21. Learn to make a flower crown

22. Do a wine tasting

23. Eat at Nando’s

24. Try blowing glass

25. Go on a sausage walk

26. Try Ecstasy

27. Try magic mushrooms

28. Go to Oktoberfest

29. Go to a RHS flower show

30. Drink in an ice bar

31. Learn Braille/sign language

32. Get a Twenty One Pilots tattoo

33. Get my dogs’ pawprints tattooed

34. Learn another language (more than a few nursery songs, lol)

35. Make a quilt

36. Watch Wales women play (rugby/football)

37. Try axe throwing

38. Go on sausage-friendly vacation

39. Ride in a helicopter

40. Go on a cruise

One and Forty are the big ones. The ones that I have very little chance of actually pulling off without some kind of divine intervention or winning the lottery or something - but a girl can dream. 

There are things that will be difficult, with my arthritis, or that will require a buddy, because of my social anxiety, etc. etc. etc. but I don't think anything is too far-fetched. After all, I didn't think I'd cross 'Be on TV' off my last bucket list!