About Me: Shawna Joo

The kind of person I appear to be probably differs to each person I encounter, especially at various times throughout my life- even myself! When January 1, 2017 came around, I turned 30 in Korean age and thus celebrated my 30th birthday on December 13, 2016 just a couple days before the new year hit. (For those of you who are unaware of the notion of Korean age, Koreans consider the baby in the womb as living and thus is given the age of zero in the womb and is one year old when born. Each year, when the new year arrives, depending on what year you were born- despite what month- you age by one year. As my birthday is in December, I turned 30 because everyone born in 1988 turned 30 together at the start of 2017.) Just when I thought my 20s were completely over, something magical happened! Well, magical for me. Unexpectedly, I moved halfway across the world from Seoul, Korea to New York City and I was 28 years old again. That’s when I thought I had another chance to be in my 20s and did not want this precious chance to be wasted. Some may have thought I was being “extra” and I definitely was. I wanted to end my 20s without regret. Throughout my life I’ve always wanted to be the best version of myself and live in the best way I possibly could. Although there are times where I feel I should have made a different decision, after seeing my compiled list I now feel satisfied! Below, I’ve compiled my own version of 30 things to do before 30… which actually ended up being 40 things I did before 30.