List 2: 30 Questions I’m Living Right Now
30 Lists of 30 to Celebrate my 30th Birthday
The What & Why Behind This Project:
This year I turn 30. And my gosh, I have been thinking about it a lot. I don’t know if it’s the pandemic, or the fact that this milestone is loaded with many societal expectations, but my mind has inundated me with reflections and memories from the past, with questions arising about my life choices and lesson learnt, about my expectations of being a human and about my desires for the future. And this combined with pandemic reflections has meant there has been a lot on my mind….🤔
I started writing a series of questions and lists of all the elements I wanted to capture and articulate. There were a lot, unsurprisingly; 30 years is a long time really! So I gave up on the 1 list idea that I normally write (30 reflections/lessons turning 30) and decided to write 30 lists.
30 Lists of 30, for my 30th Birthday.
Who are these lists for, you might wonder? I started writing reflections many years ago to get to know myself better. And when I shared these raw and real accounts with friends I discovered that what I wrote about my individual journey, touched upon something universally human. Beyond the masks and labels we wear is a messy, beautifully complex life, with highs and lows. And more similar to others than we might think.
So I share them in the hope that you too might feel something — intrigue, joy, resonance or maybe even difference — as you reflect on what it means to be a human. I recognise that my experiences are my own, that some come from a place of privilege and that they may not all be relatable or interesting to you. I know I can’t please everyone, so take what you can…(and let me know what lands!).
So, Back to Lists…
The Why Behind List #2:
This list is inspired by the poet Rainer Maria Rilke, who asks us in Letters to a Young Poet to ‘live the questions’ and not seek answers.
“To try to love the questions themselves like locked rooms and like books that are written in a very foreign tongue. Do not now seek the answers, which cannot be given you because you would not be able to live them. And the point is, to live everything. Live the questions now. Perhaps you will then gradually, without noticing it, live along some distant day into the answer.”
The best questions I find are those where the answers aren’t obvious, so I am kept open-minded and searching, curious and listening to the world.
List #2 – 30 Questions I’m Living Right Now
- When my gut intuition isn’t clear, what positive impact might happen when I make a decision by just rolling the dice? What if what makes a good decision is just the one I choose to commit to following?
- To what extent, when living a life of impact, do I need to focus on capturing value (i.e making money) over creating value?
- What would need to happen for trust to be the default setting? And on a large scale?
- What assumptions am I making right now? How are they impacting my behaviours?
- How many and what needs would it be unhealthy for me to rely on my romantic partner to fulfill?
- Which values are the most important for my partner and I to share? Which are less important?
- What ingredients are needed to create a feeling of connection and belonging?
- What is the formula and the ingredients for an awesome conversation?
- Can I create a meaningful life and impact by focusing on multiple projects at a time? How many projects is too many?
- What is this prana energy running through my body (spine and head) about? What happens when the bands of tightness are completely released?
- Is love ever unconditional?
- Is altruism ever not self-serving?
- How much rest do I need each day to perform as my best self? How can I create more energy on a day to day basis?
- How do I help others take more ownership and empowerment around their challenges when they don’t want to meet them?
- How flexible are the edges of my identity? Who do I want to become?
- What story about who I am or core beliefs do I need to let go of to become something else?
- Is reality actually simulated? A series of games we play, like the Matrix? In what way do I actually exist? As I wouldn’t be able to acknowledge non-existence, what does this mean for reality?
- What if there is no greater reason or meaning behind why we are alive?
- How can I future-proof my body and mind (so that the final decade of my life is not spent in ill health)?
- How many moves ahead should I be thinking about in life? Is it helpful to direct myself long-term when so much of life is emergent and in flux?
- What else can I be grateful for right now? How can I continue to lean into the mindset of abundance?
- Is it a good move to start my PhD this year without solid funding or should I wait?
- What do I know for sure? What is uncertain?
- What else can I do right now, with what I have, where I am?
- How can I lean into self-love even more?
- How can I ensure I stay humble when I achieve success?
- How can I practice turning down my active intellectual mind and just feeling more?
- How can I accelerate the process of acknowledging, welcoming in all parts of myself and feeling the full emotional experience?
- What is the most important quality in a parent?
- What are the essential qualities of being human that need to be protected in a digital world?
☕ If you enjoyed reading this list and want to support my writing I would love a coffee!
👉 https://www.buymeacoffee.com/30Listsof30 👈
Your support will help me fund my PhD starting in October 2021 at the School of Design Engineering, Imperial College, London. The subject: Human Connection & Conversation Design. This research lab > interactionfoundry.com
Want To Read More Lists?
I’m publishing one list every day in August (and will add the hyperlinks below).
Want To Read More Lists?
I’m publishing one list every day in August (and will add the hyperlinks below).
- 30 Reasons Why I’m Writing 30 Lists of 30
- 30 Questions I’m Living Right Now
- 30 Ways To Have An Awesome Conversation
- 30 Risks I Took & What I Learnt
- 30 Ways to Create and Cultivate Community
- 30 Questions I Reflect on Every Saturday Morning
- 30 Essential Items I Pack Backpacking
- 30 Skills We Need But Don’t Teach
- 30 Things I Wasn’t That Grateful For But Am Now
- 30 Reflective Questions that Lead to Fascinating Conversations
- 30 Signs I am Most Definitely an Adult
- 30 Beliefs I Changed about Myself & Life
- 30 Games I’m Playing in Life
- 30 Confusing Messages I’ve Internalised About Who To Be & How to Live
- 30 Ways I’m Totally Imperfect
- 30 Considerations for Designing Meaningful Human Connection Experiences
- 30 Mundane Experiences That Can Actually Be Quite Magical
- 30 Words To Describe Elements of My Pandemic Experience
- 30 Things I’ve Learnt About Human Behaviour That Show Up Everywhere
- 30 Words I Love
- 30 Parts of Me
- 30 Principles I Live By
- 30 Lessons from 5 Years of Entrepreneurship and Creating
- 30 Health, Productivity, Creativity and Happiness Optimisation Experiments I’ve Explored And The Life Hacks that Resulted From Them
- 30 Things I am Proud of (Achieving) Before 30
- 30 Experiences (& Goals) For the Next 10-ish Years
- 30 Things I Need To Let Go As I Move Forward Into The Next Chapter
- 30 Journal Entries from the Last 20 Years
- 30 Lists That Didn’t Make it to the 30 Lists
- 30 Reflections Writing 30 Lists of 30
Follow me on Medium to read them.
Still Curious?!
💬 Watch my TEDx talk: Talking to Strangers: Having a Meaningful Conversation
📖 Read about some of my work recently published in Entrepreneur.com How to Become a Master at Talking to Strangers
✍️ Stay connected through Conversations With Georgie: The Home of My Thoughts as a Life-Long Learner. Curious. Deep. Exploratory. Real and Raw.
📧 Contact Me: Georgie@Triggerconversations.co.uk
