40 Under 40: Celebrating My 30's, July 2014 - 2024

As much as I was bummed about turning 30 years old, I was even less excited about turning 40. I remember my Dad turning 40 and thinking he was so old. I couldn't possibly be that old, could I?

When I turned 30, my sister Christy told me that her 30s were some of her favorite years and that the decade was so great because she actually had money to go do the fun things she wanted. I definitely agree with that sentiment to an extent, that money has not been an issue as my career has progressed and with a little luck in the real estate market. I've moved around a lot in my 30s, and just now getting settled into my latest home in the Fort Worth, Texas area.

My ex- was a major part of my life throughout my 30s, but after nearly 10 years of both amazing adventures and interpersonal frictions, I released him back into the wild and have been single for the last year and a half. Dating at this age has been a little miserable and a little crazy, but I'm in a good place right now romantically, even if not in a dedicated relationship yet.

One of the reasons I was bummed about turning 30 ten years ago was because I felt like I hadn't accomplished what I wanted to yet by that point. To attempt to combat that disappointment, I wrote a blog listing thirty things I had accomplished and of which I was proud. Continuing that theme, I thought I'd do the same for turning 40. What I ended up with was a little different, but here are 32 Life List accomplishments plus 8 other categories of things for/of which I'm grateful or proud.
    
In my 30's alone, I completed 32 things from my Life List, and did some items more than once (e.g. sleep in a capsule hotel, swim with dolphins, swim with giant sea turtles).

 

32 Life List Achievements Accomplished in My 30's:

Number	Act	Date Completed
6	Walk the Boardwalk in Atlantic City	7/11/2015
11	Ride a tandem bicycle	7/4/2021
15	Publish a book	2/10/2020
19	Ride a bullet train	5/21/2016
23	Confront a cadaver	3/28/2015
24	Sleep in a capsule hotel	5/19/2016
29	Read Catch 22	10/29/2016
31	Walk the Champs-Élysées	7/1/2018
34	See the Colisseum	6/22/2018
42	Swim with a dolphin	2/27/2020
45	Go to the top of the Eiffel Tower	7/1/2018
48	Eat a fugu	5/21/2016
49	Ride a gondola	6/21/2018
51	Attend a performance at the Grand Ole Opry	9/16/2022
53	Snorkel or Scuba through the Great Barrier Reef	9/25/2017
56	Stay at the Hamptons	7/14/2017
57	Spend a night in a haunted house (or hotel, or castle, etc)	7/30/2016
59	Tour the Hershey Chocolate Factory in PA	7/13/2015
68	Spot a wild javalina	12/25/2014
78	Tap a maple tree for sap	4/7/2018
84	Tour Niagara Falls	7/10/2015
89	Cruise through the Panama Canal	2/19/2020
93	Photograph an endangered species	12/21/2023
96	Walk the ruins of Pompeii	6/1/2018
101	See the Louvre Pyramid	7/1/2018
110	Swim with giant sea turtles	7/22/2014
129	Watch a Sumo wrestling match	5/18/2016
132	Watch a show at the Sydney Opera House	9/28/2017
134	Drink at the Taste of Chicago	7/8/2015
135	Attend a tea party during the cherry blossoms	3/26/2019
144	Go wine tasting in Europe	6/26/2018
145	Eat at a Wingers	4/1/2022

 

8 Additional Highlights of My 30s:

1.  Achieved career goals of making 6-digit salary and becoming a manager 

 

2.  Performed multiple times with the Gypsy Jitterbugs, including my favorite routine, Rosie the Riveter. Post break-up, I got back into swing dancing and recently joined a new dance troupe locally!

3.  Painted some pretty neat artwork of which I'm proud

4.  Had several amazing vacations:

         - Epic Road trip - 6607 miles of driving, 61 unique roller coasters, 7 theme parks, 15 days

 

                             

 

         - Traveled to Australia on long-awaited itinerary planned ~10 years prior 

 

   

         - Learned about Ice Wine and attended an Ice Wine Festival

 

         - Dressed up and attended Dapper Day at Disneyland

 

 
         - Took the time to do the full transit Panama Canal cruise while in between jobs 

 

 

 

 

          - Treated family to vacation home in Hawaii for Christmas and to celebrate my parents' 50th Anniversary 

 

 

 

5. Moved five times for work-related reasons:

• AZ --> CT June 2017
• CT --> FL July 2018
• FL --> San Diego March 2020
• San Diego --> Palmdale, CA June 2021
• CA --> TX April 2024

 

 

6. Did some crazy things that maybe should have been on my Life List but weren't:

• Went splunking (guided, but still neat)

 
 

 

• Played knockerball

 

 

• Hiked "The Wave" in Coyote Buttes North (again)

 

 

• Swam with rays (rays not pictured)
  

7. Had a "White Christmas", a "Christmas in the Sand" and even a "White Sand Christmas" (in PCB)

8. Designed and created Lego Room in Palmdale house, complete with a mural, ceiling light fixture, and custom curtains

 

 

All in all, I guess you could say I had a good decade. And so far, my 40's are looking to be even better! 

What To Do During Quarantine / Social Distancing (Without Sports, etc)

While laughing at memes and trying to stay educated and informed around this Coronavirus thing does pass time, I thought I'd contribute to society with some ideas of other things you could do. Plus, I don't know about you, but I'm getting bored of seeing almost 100% of my Newsfeed talking about COVID-19. I want to see book recommendations, DIY projects, interesting videos and celebrations of completing something. Wouldn't it be great if we could do a bunch of awesome stuff this month (instead of binge-watching Disney+ for the next two weeks)? So, here are some ideas to make some productive use of your time at home to help you feel more rejuvenated.

1. Watch some TEDTalks (click here for my recommendations)
2. Clean out your closet and make a donate pile
3. Use YouTube to learn a new skill, like belly dancing, sign language, how to fold origami, draw cartoon characters, Microsoft Excel skills, or just about anything else you can think of (its not YouTube, but my Microsoft Excel Formuals class is online here)
4. Read a book (or listen to an audio book) (click here for my recommendations)
5. Organize your closet, sock drawer, or other drawers, Marie Kondo-style
6. Write down the resolutions you haven't done for the year yet, make a neat graphic to post it on social media, or make a vision board, do something to commit to them!
7. Get your taxes done!
8. Give yourself a pedicure and/or paint your toe nails
9. Make some artwork with computer graphics and frame it (click here for an idea)
10. Learn to cook a new dish
11. Practice an instrument you've been meaning to play
12. Update your resume or LinkedIn profile (see ideas here)
13. Clean out your garage or another area in your home (or your car!)
14. Build a fort out of all the toilet paper you hoarded (just kidding) - actually, look at what Digital Wellbeing / Screen Time settings your phone has or download a digital wellbeing app to help you monitor and limit the time you spend on distracting apps that help you procrastinate
15. Reach out to a friend you haven't spoken to in a while
16. Review your Credit Score (I use Credit Karma) and retirement savings
17. Start a new class on edX or Coursera
18. Build something out of Legos (google easy Lego creations for some ideas, or check out this Pinterest board for some more ambitious ideas)
19. Stretch and really spend time with it
20. Take a bath and zone out
21. Splurge and order updated checks or address labels (I don't know about you but I didn't update my checks for years! It's kinda fun to have updated checks!)
22. Research the history of your town, stories of hauntings, etc.
23. Draft the TEDTalk you'd give, and practice it
24. Clean out your fridge / pantry / cupboard

Now, if one or more of these sounds like a good idea to you, but you are lacking motivation or having trouble deciding, I have a couple strategies to help you.

If you are having trouble deciding:

I'll assign it for you. Just take your birth month and double the number (i.e. if you're born in July, your number is 14), and then if you're born after the 15th of the month, add 1. Boom! There's your assignment. If you don't like that one, I'll give you one respin: take that number and add the number of the current month (3 for March, for example), and if you go over 24, subtract 24. That's it, that's your assignment. Now go forth and do something!

If you think one of these is a great idea but are having a hard time starting or getting motivated:

I'll borrow a page from Mel Robbins and say, count down from 5 and when you get passed 1, get up and go, start doing it! Close facebook, turn the game off, turn off the show you've been binge-watching, and go now!

LinkedIn Must-Haves

Whether you're actively searching for your next job or just want to put your best foot forward for any great opportunity that might come your way, it's always good practice to get your LinkedIn profile completed as much as possible and keep it updated. Here are my absolute minimum requirements for a good LinkedIn profile as well as some bonus things to make you stand out. 

Minimal Must-Haves

1. Add a nice, professional photo (no kids, dogs, sunglasses or hats)
2. Write great Headlines - don't just stick with the automatically generated headline, talk about what you want employers to know about you
3. Write great Summaries that include formal and informal credentials (i.e. certifications and degrees as well as "Lean guru"
4. Add projects & docs like a portfolio (Green Belt, MPS, Req Training) that can be shared (not proprietary), schoolwork is great for this
5. Use numbers to show magnitude (number of unique SKUs, spend $, inventory $, countries operated in, number of suppliers, volume of units per month, etc), specific software applications used (which MRP or CRM tools did you use, for example) - this is also good to do on your resume

Bonus Ideas

• If you have a secret clearance, make note of when your last investigation was completed
• Update your URL in your account settings to remove the numbers if possible and make it easier for people to navigate to

Luckiest Girl Alive

I recently listen to an audio book called "Luckiest Girl Alive." The beginning made me nauseous, with the narrator's stuck up view of the world. She had a giant rock on her finger, worked at The Women's Magazine and fluctuated between a size 0 and 1 (oh the poor thing had gained a pound and a half! ). I guess I get why the author titled the book so, but I would not consider this character, or even just the front she puts on, as lucky. She worked hard for those things, clearly, and anyone calling her lucky must be jealous, which I guess is the point. Anyways, as the story unfolds, you see that the past she is coming from is terribly unlucky. When everything is revealed, you may conclude that she is truly the unluckiest girl alive, if you assume luck had anything to do with it. The only way for her to be less lucky, perhaps, is to be dead, and that could really go either way.

Anyways, I've always considered myself lucky and fortunate and smart. I say these three together because some people associate the latter two with being lucky, and I think that's a grave disservice to all the people who have contributed to my life, and a downplay of my work ethic and insight. I'm fortunate that my parents supported me through college, that my Dad steered me into a major I loved and excelled at, that they had the money to send me to study in Japan. More recently, I'm fortunate that I have a sister in HR who gives me great career advice, that I have a colleague who has my back and helps me out, that I have an immensely supportive manager. These things are out of my control, so I consider them fortunate aspects of my life. I know all too well what it's like to be stuck with a two-faced, selfish ass-hole of a manager, and while leaving a job is always an option, sometimes staying is necessary or at least smart in the short-term. I am grateful for these blessings.

I am also grateful for the things in my life that I've worked at. I worked hard to get a house right out of college, I went through lots of relationships and growing pains to understand what I want and find a man to fill that role, and I continually work very hard on my career. So I don't consider those things lucky. They are, in my mind, more a result of effort, personal growth, and smart decisions. If it wasn't this house, it'd be another, if I didn't do this for work, I'd do something else, and if I wasn't with this man, I would still know what I want and not settle for anything less. I am grateful for these things, but they are not results of luck.

Luck is always getting the best parking spot in a crowded lot on the first pass. Luck is never getting rained on. Luck is getting good news immediately before a vacation, putting me at ease. You can't work to make these things happen. No amount of effort will stop the rain or free up the parking spot. And some how, right before leaving for Vegas after college graduation, I got a job offer. It happened again just before I left for Japan 10 years later - I got the news of my promotion. I think this is lucky because the timing of hiring people is always a bit unpredictable - things never seem to happen as fast as you think they will even if you don't think you're being overly optimistic. Vacation timing, however, is usually more planned and set, so the loose timing of hiring can float all around the firm timing of vacations. Yes, in the most recent situation, the hiring manager knew I'd be leaving for Japan, but still, he was restricted by other powers and barely was able to give me the news before my departure.

So here I am, on a plane headed for Tokyo with my loving, supportive boyfriend, and I get to enjoy comfortably knowing that I got the promotion. I think I am the luckiest girl alive.

The Three Things Everyone Should Learn: Act III

You have undoubtedly heard or seen the outcries that music and art programs are being cut from school budgets and why this is bad for the kids. But there's a good chance that you don't comprehend what YOU are missing out on, if you don't dance. It's not all artsy-fartsy, it is just as practical, maybe even more so, than the other two "must-learns" in this series. Don't believe me? Read on. 

Dance has been a part of almost every culture since the beginning of civilisation, and for that reason among others, represents more diversity than the diversity of the world's languages and religion combined. Two people dancing the same genre can have their own incredibly unique stylizations, and new forms of dance spring up, especially in densely populated regions, all the time. At the core, it is aerobic, so it's good for the heart and a great way to lose weight. But it's so much more than other aerobic activities, because it is expressive, mentally challenging (in a fun way, of course) and uses varying muscle groups at different times and in different styles. You learn about yourself and become more aware of your surroundings as you learn to dance.  Have you ever been in line at a grocery store or similar setting, and had been bumped into multiple times by someone whose back is to you? I would say that this lack of spacial reasoning can be alleviated with dance and experience on the stage or in a crowded dance floor. It's a personal pet peeve of mine, and a compelling reason to me to keep (better yet, increase) the arts in schools. 

Science Tells Us to Dance

Look, there are a lot of artistic aspects of dancing, but that doesn't mean

science is absent from it. Children at very young ages intuitively move, clap and wiggle when they hear music they presumably enjoy. So it's built into our DNA. Nobody, or at least almost nobody, is literally born with two left feet. If you can walk (and even for many who can't walk), the capability is there; whether it comes easily or with great difficulty may depend on how much musical background you have, but you can always start developing it now. As we get older, we need dance even more; compared to other physical activity like walking or biking, dancing activates more parts of the brain, keeping us mentally healthier, and reducing the chances of dymentia and alzheimer's. 

Society Tells Us to Dance

At many traditional types of weddings, one of the first acts of a newly married couple is the first dance. We start much earlier than, with school dances being a major part of the traditional high school experience. There are several popular

TV shows dedicated to dance competitions, such as Dancing with the Stars, So You Think You Can Dance, and Abby's Ultimate Dance Competition. Amazing Race challenges often also involve local dance styles. Dancers perform at top award shows, during half time for basketball and football games, and in music videos. Football players themselves express touch down victory through their unique end zone dances. There are many popular quotes about dancing like nobody is watching and the like. My favorite of these is, "It's not about waiting for the storm to pass, it's about learning to dance in the rain." I don't think it's meant to be taken literally, but if you do learn to dance in the rain literally, then you can learn to handle the things life throws at you. 

To me, one of the most compelling reasons to learn to dance, besides the health benefits, is that dance is so social. Whether it's a girls' night out at a hot night club or a ballroom dance workshop, relationships can be forged in the comraderie of dancing experiences. I think dance teaches you to be comfortable in your skin, and gives you confidence, and when you have that then you can go out dancing by yourself and make friends. I met my boyfriend at a dance workshop that I attended by myself not too long after a rough breakup. If I had needed someone to go to the workshop with me, I either wouldn't have gone at all, or I wouldn't have put myself out there nearly as much. But because I went alone, he and I started talking, and we were dating within a week or so. Guys I've met otherwise, in school, at bars, through online dating, haven't worked out for me in the long run. 

Employers Tell Us to Dance

Creativity is one of the most valuable assets to employers. Communication skills is another. Ability to learn and adapt is also valuable. Dance may not be on most job requirements, but it can enhance and develop these crucial

characteristics. Many styles of dance entail both choreography and improvisation, and each of those develops different abilities. When improvising, you have to literally think on your feet, recalling your vocabulary of moves and stringing them together in a fresh way. When learning choreography, you have to take in information quickly, commit it to memory, repeat it back and adapt as variations and styling are added. Sometimes you have to break habits, we call muscle memory, in order to perform the given choreography, which again is a challenging mental exercise. Creating and teaching choreography also require adapting, strong communication skills and creativity. 

In addition to the valuable skills you learn through dance, having dance on your resume can set you apart. Your potential employer may have had dance experience, or have a son or daughter or niece or uncle who dances, and it can create an instant point of connection and interest other than your work in your day job. When I say I dance, people almost always want to know more, like what style and where do I dance, how did I get into it, etc. It's a great way to show that you're more than a (fill-in-the-blank) worker, with an artistic and very human flair. 

Get Started

I won't try to hide my bias; I think a great way to start is by taking some east coast swing dance lessons. It's fun, doesn't require crazy hip movements or stiff arm positions, and it can be danced to different tempos of music. Maybe best of all, you get to pair off with members of the opposite sex, because it is a very social dance. 

Lindy hop and Charleston are very closely related to east coast swing, and blues, balboa are somewhat related. So if you get involved with one, you'll probably get exposure to the others, and eventually want to learn them as well so you can go in and out of them seamlessly. 

I believe it is important to study multiple kinds of dance, even just a little of each. I've found that I can incorporate bits and pieces from one style into another, and having a broad vocabulary of dance styles allows me to also pick up new styles easier. Other styles I've enjoyed taking classes in include hip hop, tribal belly dance and pole dance. The only downside is that those are less social, more about performing alone or with a group. 

Lots of people enjoy salsa and the various related styles as much as I enjoy

swing. Both swing and salsa have whole communities with various venues in many regions, meaning you can pick up those styles and go dancing several nights a week if you want. Interestingly, there are many moves that are shared between salsa and swing, and simply stylized differently. So if you've gotten good at one, it's not as hard to learn the other. 

There's so much more I haven't even touched on here, but to wrap up, I'll summarize by reiterating that dance is good for your physical health, mental health, social life and work life. And yes, it can be a spiritual activity to, so it is good for your soul. I dare you to find another activity or topic that applies to so many aspects of our lives. Mind, body, heart and soul, what else is there? Just dance.