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Original poster

To ask for ideas of fun/bizarre/unusual things I could do before I turn 40!

56 replies

Gotabadfeelingaboutthis · 28/04/2024 09:34

As the title suggests, in order to celebrate approaching 40, I want to make sure I'm living and doing stuff rather than just plodding through life washing, cooking and working.
So please could you hit me with ideas of things I could include? I have some already, some are expensive, some time consuming, some free and easy. I want a whole mix!
An example of ideas so far are things like
Pottery wheel lesson
Learn BSL
Listen to the dawn chorus
Stay a night in a ludicrously posh hotel
Indoor skydiving
Watch a sunrise on a beach
Run a 5K for charity
Learn to crotchet.

But I would love to hear some more!

OP posts:
quizzys · 28/04/2024 12:58

I'm already well beyond 40 and still have a bucket list!

Travel is my thing and have done all the long hauls I ever wanted to do.

So next up is to cross off every single country in Europe that I haven't been to yet. I've been to about 7 already but there are some intriguing ones to the East, post Communist countries which look interesting. I'm going to do it in chunks, maybe two or three in the same (ish) region together.

I'm plotting it out already! Hope I stay well and mobile enough to do it....

Original poster
Gotabadfeelingaboutthis · 28/04/2024 12:56

@ssd
Oh yes, I definitely plan to keep doing stuff beyond 40, this is just a way of getting out of a bit of a funk of monotony where my life revolves around work, housework and raising a family. I want to make sure myself and my family are living and experiencing stuff together and to show my daughters that life is for the taking and that pushing yourself outside your comfort zone is often a wonderful thing! Having sadly had a couple of friends either desperately poorly or not live to see 40, I am just aware what a privilege life is and I want to make the most of it 🙃

OP posts:
Titsywoo · 28/04/2024 12:54

I'm currently working through a list of 50 thinhs before I turn 50. I'm 45 so working through it. My kids are adults now so it's lovely doing things just for me. Here's some I can think of off the top of my head:-

Walking the North Downs Way - started this
See Pink in concert - got tickets for June
Go to Skomer Island to see the puffins
Do belly dancing lessons
Make a dress
Cook a new recipe once a month
Get makeup lesson
Go to a burlesque show
Start doing yoga
Start weight training

CapaciousHag · 28/04/2024 12:50

Hmm … I’ve done about 35 of the things listed so far - without in any way thinking of them as part of a bucket list; they just happened along. And now something must be missing from my brain because other than buying nice clothes and reading about a million books there isn’t really anything I can think of to put on a list. (I have some professional ambitions but not sure they’d count.)

I do think bucket lists are weird - but it seems reasonable to want to escape the monotony of day to day life.

Growing your own food might make the biggest long term difference to your life as it really changes your perception of and attitude towards mass produced food.

Dareisayiseethesunshine · 28/04/2024 12:49

Go to Mull of you haven't already.
Llama trekking..

TheExclusiveSandwich · 28/04/2024 12:48

I’ve always fancied going to a nudist beach because by the time you’re a bikini might as well be naked. I wonder what it’s like? Lots of ideas of wizened men in Sand dunes. 😫

Eyesopenwideawake · 28/04/2024 12:39

I did indoor skydiving for my 60th - it's brilliant fun!! Not sure why I got the Superman costume though...😂

To ask for ideas of fun/bizarre/unusual things I could do before I turn 40!
curiouscat1987 · 28/04/2024 12:38

Go zorbing
Visit a nudist beach and join in
See dolphins and whales in their natural environment, either from boat or the water!

CJ0374 · 28/04/2024 12:37

-Taxidermy class https://afieldguide.org/workshops.html
-Experience day like gliding, zorbing or flying lesson
-Christmas wreath making class
-Volunteer at a soup kitchen/charity shop/foodbank
-Make your own earrings/pendant lesson
-Duolingo
-Basic car mechanic course (change oil, filters etc)
-Walk through 1 of the many forest cemeteries https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tower_Hamlets_Cemetery_Park
-Foraging course

A Field guide - Taxidermy Workshops in London

https://afieldguide.org/workshops.html

PTSDBarbiegirl · 28/04/2024 12:35

Learn to ride a horse..
Drive a super car on a race course..
Eat the freshest food of your preference in the location it was grown/reared..
Start being completely honest eg. stop people pleasing..
Buy something you class as a treat for yourself, jewellery, art, clothing..
Write a letter to someone who hurt you and say exactly the harm it did, say whatever you want & burn it..

Xenoi24 · 28/04/2024 12:35

TheExclusiveSandwich · 28/04/2024 12:16

anal sex?

WTAF.

ssd · 28/04/2024 12:33

You can still do stuff when you're over 40 too!!!

Riverlee · 28/04/2024 12:32

Go to John o Groats and Land End

Go open water swimming

go on a sailing course and learn to sail (or surf or wind surf etc)

Go to the National Gallery in London

Afternoon tea at The Ritz

Make a macrame plant pot holder

Host an Ann Summers party

PTSDBarbiegirl · 28/04/2024 12:24

Herdingcatz · 28/04/2024 12:18

You class that as unusual? Bless.

Show quote history

Not all it's cracked up to be. 😏

GreenIcy · 28/04/2024 12:22

Learn a new language
Learn to juggle
Go on a silent retreat
Swim at midnight in the sea on a full moon
Ride a cross country course on horseback

NuffSaidSam · 28/04/2024 12:21

TheExclusiveSandwich · 28/04/2024 12:18

Well, you choose your adjective from the original question 🙋🏻‍♀️

😂😂

ODFOx · 28/04/2024 12:20

Sleep out in a bivvy and watch the sun come up.
Climb the 3 peaks
Couch to 5k
Visit a vineyard for a proper wine tasting lesson.
Learn a new craft ( felting or willow weaving etc).
Have some ballroom dancing lessons.

TheExclusiveSandwich · 28/04/2024 12:18

Well, you choose your adjective from the original question 🙋🏻‍♀️

Herdingcatz · 28/04/2024 12:18

TheExclusiveSandwich · 28/04/2024 12:16

anal sex?

You class that as unusual? Bless.

TheExclusiveSandwich · 28/04/2024 12:16

anal sex?

paintingvenice · 28/04/2024 12:15

My sister did a midnight walk up snowdon for charity and saw the sunrise from there which she says was very cool.

SkeletonBatsflyatnight · 28/04/2024 12:13

I have a few years to go til my 50th. My list includes:

People watching in Paris
Drive the undersea tunnels linking the Faroes
Run a 10k
Go on a retreat of some description
Finish Middlemarch which I started in 1998 whilst studying for degree number 1.
Improve my Russian to the point I can read the books I inherited from my Grandfather
Visit all the Dante Gabriel Rosetti paintings on display in the UK

Also
Finish all my many craft projects

Vanillalime · 28/04/2024 11:33

Metal detect on a beach
Hold a snake
Create & perfect your signature dish
Learn Interstellar on the piano
Throw an axe
Chase a tornado
Run a marathon

Newnamesameoldlurker · 28/04/2024 11:18

Ayahuasca retreat

Leeds2 · 28/04/2024 11:17

Complete the Go Ape course.
Walk over the top of the O2 Arena.
Go posh glamping.
Go on a walk with llamas.
Start volunteering doing something you love.

Get tickets to a West End show, in one of the boxes.
Go to the New Year’s Eve fireworks display in Hyde Park.
Eat strawberries and cream at Wimbledon.
Start dance classes to learn salsa.
Read War and Peace.

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