Five things I want to be better at in my fourth decade

So that's it. I'm 30! I feel like I've been waiting forever to reach it and am really excited to see what the next decade brings. I have a feeling it's going to be a corker! There's a few things I'd like to improve on to make myself a better person and nicer to those around me. Work on a better, improved me I suppose!

1. Educate myself more
I want to read and read and read. I want become better at knowing what is going on in the world around me. I want to learn more about Britain's dark history that we don't for some reason learn about in school. I want to understand politics more. I want to understand my white privilege better. I hope this will make me more compassionate, more understanding and more knowledgeable. I'd like to get out of the very lucky bubble I live in.

2. Make more time for those around me
Over the last year I've been really thinking about friendship, about the type of people I want to surround myself with. Turning 30 has made me feel so incredibly lucky to have such wonderful friends and family who went out of their way to make me feel loved. I want to make more time for them and be just as kind. I'm going to try and say yes to a lot more gatherings, have more evenings full of good wine and food and make more of an effort to keep in touch.

3. Be more present
It's so easy to be caught up in things when you lead a busy life and get distracted. I want to try and reduce my social media presence - although I'll never be able to give up Instagram! I'd like to be more reflective on things that go well in my life rather than dwell on the negative. Life is full of little joys so I'd like to spend more time finding these and appreciating them for what they are. It's not always about the big gestures!

4. Look after my body
I'm fully aware that I will never be as young as this again. It's about time I start looking after my body more. I'm a huge lover of junk food and a very lazy person. A combination which isn't the best! I want to be more mindful of the type of food I put into my body, I want to eat more vegetable and I want to move more. I don't think I'll ever be a slave to the gym but I do need to find something that keeps my heart rate up.

5. Listen more
I suppose this one also ties in with educating myself more. I want to listen to people more and truly understand the way they think, even if it's something that I don't agree with. I have the memory of a sieve which I think is down to me living too busy a life. So I want to take a step back and and really make an effort to engage with friends and family. Be the person who is always there to listen to them.