In 20 years I’ll be 42. First off, that’s terrifying, but I hope I’ll be where I’m aiming to be.

1. I hope I will be genuinely happy with my life. I hope that I’ll be able to look myself in the mirror and be completely happy with all I’ve accomplished up until this point.

2. I hope I will have lived abroad in a third world country and truly helped make an impact on a community or two.

3. I hope I will be living in a tiny house, or at least living a minimalistic life style with only the essentials that I need as a reminder that I don’t need much to be happy.

4. I hope I will still be making dream catchers or maybe picking up a new craft like painting (even if I’m bad at it).

5. I hope I will be an author of a semi-successful self-help book or something along the lines of self-help inspiring people to get the most out of their life.

6. I hope I will be truly happy and comfortable with my body. I’ve got 20 years, so I better keep at the gym and yoga classes. Maybe cutting down on the Mexican food wouldn’t be such a bad idea either.

7. I hope I will still maintain good relationships with my friends from this point of my life because right now I’d be no where without them.

8. I hope I will still be writing, maybe for the Internet or maybe just in a journal that no one sees but me.

9. I hope I will own at least two to three dogs that I adopted from a local shelter because shelter pups need love and homes, too.

10. I hope I will live in a great community where I can count on my neighbors and know the 20-something who is working at the coffee shop down the street.

11. I hope I will have loved more than I’ve lost.

12. I hope I will still be close with my family and that we still spend the holidays together (and I don’t dread it).

13. I hope (maybe) I will have some kids of my own to bring over to my parents so they can spoil them (and take them off my hands).

14. I hope I will still always be true to myself no matter what happens between now and 20 years. I hope I still maintain my values and remember what’s truly important.

15. I hope my backpack won’t have too much dust on it.

16. I hope I will be a better person than I am now. I hope that I become more open, more loving, more vulnerable and more accepting. I hope that I only continue to progress with the world and that I never let it make me cold and bitter.

17. I hope I will never work the standard 9-5 job that I’ve always promised myself I would avoid like the plague. (Unless I find a super cool one.)

18. I hope I will be doing something to constantly be giving back to the world, whether it’s with my words, with some other form of art or just by planting trees in my community and being there for a friend in need.

19. I hope I will have found someone who’s got an adventurous soul like me, and I hope we haven’t let life take that from us.

20. I hope I will never forget where I came from because this place has made me who I am.