the "Almost 30" project

I'm almost thirty. Well,  precisely 29 years old and 11 months. And for some inexplicable reason, I've been completely PETRIFIED of my thirtieth birthday. So to distract myself from the inevitable, I've given myself a challenge. Thirty challenges, to be exact. In the last 30 days before my birthday, I have to do one new thing every day. 

I asked the people in my life to each give me something "to-do" and I've added a few things to the list myself... And I got a little bit of everything, from "go wakeboarding" to "cook me dinner" and "spend a day without underwear"... a long list of thirty things that I have to fit in my life, with work and everything else...

The project kicked off last week, and will go on until my birthday on JUNE 20... I've been documenting it daily on instagram (@yashatem) and tumblr (http://thirtytothirtyinthirty.tumblr.com/)

But for Rhapsodies readers, I'll summarize it week by week...

• Day 1 - "Get interviewed on the radio" : I randomly received a message a couple of weeks ago inviting me to Light FM to talk about my blog and my book... and I got a lot more nervous than I thought I would! I used to do live TV once upon a time so I didn't think a little microphone with two super cool ladies could intimidate me! But I guess it's different when the roles are inverted; when you're not the one asking all the questions. I'm used to opening myself up in writing but saying things out loud is a different story! Made me realize: if there's one thing I really need to do in my thirties is to stop asking so many questions. 

• Day 2 - "Do a sexy photo shoot": I found myself sitting in a beautiful garden, wearing a straw hat and a flower robe, and nothing else. That was my challenge: To let go long enough to be able to be taken a picture of, nude. It’s not an easy thing to do… to be that comfortable in your body. It takes a lot to let go of all the years of constant dieting, always comparing to other girls... and showing your body without anything to hide behind. At first I couldn’t stop laughing and wanted to hide every part. Then one picture after the other, I relaxed. I started loosening up. And it’s an incredible thing, to let go of all your insecurities for a moment and just feel sexy. To forget to push in your stomach and turn more towards your good side and tilt your nose up to avoid a double chin --to actually feel a little cocky staring into the camera. It was freeing.

• Day 3 - "Go somewhere you've never been" : It wasn't easy to keep the challenge going as I was on my first weekend trip home in 4 months… But I persevered and despite the (harsh) hangover, I went along on a drive south: an afternoon in the Chouf, in a place I’d never seen before: Bkersay. Beautiful green mountains all around me after four months in the desert was like a vacation for my soul. 

• Day 4 - “Read The Prophet (Gibran Khalil Gibran)”: I am embarrassed to admit that at almost 30 I had never read the most famous literary work to come out of my country. So I attacked the book as I caught an overnight flight back to Dubai. I read the book, some parts more than once. And the truth is, I felt like it was the perfect time to read it, as I'm feeling lost in transition between my different lives and different choices. I don't think I would have ever understood or appreciated this book if I had read it before.  One of my favorite parts: "But if in your fear you would seek only love's peace and love's pleasure, Then it is better for you that you cover your nakedness and pass out of love's threshing-floor, Into the seasonless world where you shall laugh, but not all of your laughter, and weep, but not all of your tears. "

• Day 5 - “Watch a classic you've never seen" : A couple of weeks ago a friend was dumbfounded that I had never seen "Back to the Future" --so I decided this would be the classic I'd watch. Plus it turns out it came out the same year I did --1985. So we're both celebrating 30... I made a little bit of pop corn (because what's a movie without pop corn?) and I illegally made my way to a streaming of the film (probably not the way anyone watched it in 1985). But I loved it. It felt serendipititiously appropriate too! Here was Marty McFly going 30 years back and forth and reinforcing the idea in my head that everything happens for a reason and that I might understand it, 30 years from now.

• Day 6 - "Reconnect with a childhood friend" : Truth be told, the challenge was to “track down” a childhood friend but I honestly have already tracked down all of my childhood friends in the last few years –it's something I actually enjoy. Whether through Facebook, or knocking on a door in Paris 20 years on, or trying to figure out the name of that girl I was best-friends with when I was four years old (got my dad to play detective...) I have long run out of friends to track down... So for the sake of this challenge, I decided to reconnect with a friend that I haven’t spoken to since I was a teenager. It turns out we live in the same city, and we spoke on the phone earlier today and I’ll be visiting her and her newborn baby very soon!