It’s my 40th birthday in a few days.

That feels strange to write because, in my head, 40 always sounded like a very serious, properly grown-up age.

And yet here I am, still figuring things out, changing my mind, dreaming up new ideas, booking adventurous trips, wearing outfits that make me happy and wondering why I still feel like i’m in my 20s 😋

I don’t feel like I need to reinvent myself at 40. Instead, I feel more like myself than I ever have.

I know what matters to me, what I enjoy and what I want more of. Perhaps even more importantly, I also know what I no longer want to make space for.

So instead of creating a list filled only with enormous goals, I wanted to write down 40 things I would love to do during my 40th year.

Some are big. Others, however, are tiny.

Some will require planning, saving and courage. At the same time, others might simply require me to put my phone down, walk outside and enjoy the moment.

Here are my 40:

‘It’s my 40th birthday’ list

  1. Take a budget trip to Asia outside the summer holidays
  2. Buy myself flowers
  3. Try a type of exercise I have never done before
  4. Visit a village bakery early in the morning
  5. Send more messages when I think of someone
  6. Choose a random point on the Malta map and spend a day exploring it
  7. Take a personal makeup class
  8. Eat dinner at home by candlelight
  9. Learn one practical skill
  10. Spend one morning exploring a local market
  11. Give everyone €10 to choose part of a family picnic
  12. Read a classic book
  13. Swim in the sea in winter once
  14. Unsubscribe from all the emails I never read
  15. Cook one dish from every country I visit this year
  16. Watch a movie outdoors
  17. Finish one home project and fix something annoying I have tolerated for too long
  18. Try a new flavour of ice cream
  19. Have an at-home yes day, letting each family member control two hours
  20. Walk part of the coast I have never walked before
  21. Keep a gratitude journal
  22. Learn how to use a smoker
  23. Have breakfast in the car with a view
  24. Read a book I loved during childhood
  25. Clear out clothes that no longer feel like me
  26. Visit three places in Malta I have never been to
  27. Buy a magazine and read it from cover to cover
  28. Find a new food I love
  29. Have one rainy Sunday with no plans
  30. Draw or paint something
  31. Go for a winter walk on a beach
  32. Find five new podcasts to listen to
  33. Watch the sunset from a new spot
  34. Learn to make one thing completely from scratch
  35. Keep my car clean all year 🙈
  36. Visit somewhere each of us loved between the ages of eight and twelve
  37. Watch the Christmas lights somewhere new
  38. Swim at a beach I have never swum at before
  39. Throw away 40 things that are genuinely rubbish
  40. Say yes to one invitation I would normally decline

I do not know whether I will complete every single thing on this list before my next birthday, and I do not want it to become another checklist that makes me feel behind.

Instead, the point is not to squeeze 40 achievements into one year. It is to make a little more room for curiosity, connection, adventure and the ordinary things that make life feel good. For instance, a trip to Asia belongs on the same list as buying flowers. Learning a new skill can sit beside eating ice cream. Both can add something to a year.

Turning 40 does not make me feel as though I need to become a completely new person.

In many ways, my 40th birthday feels less like a turning point where I need to reinvent myself and more like an opportunity to enjoy the person I already am, while still trying new things, following a few unfamiliar roads and saying yes a little more often.

I hope this list inspires you to create your own list of things to do in your 40s and embrace this new chapter in a way that feels right for you.

Here’s to 40, and to a year filled with big adventures, small pleasures and plenty of moments I might not have created without this list.

What would be on yours?

Love,

Nakita xxx