For me, the month of August is the month of celebration. Between my grandparents's wedding anniversary, my best friend's and mom's birthdays and, oh yeah, my birthday. And this August I will be turning 20, meaning I have officially been on this planet for two decades and will be starting a my life on my own soon. So instead of writing a list of things I want to accomplish in my life as a whole, I figured I'll just take it one step at a time, or in this case one decade at a time. Without further ado, here are five things I have put on my list:

1. Graduate College with my Bachelors

Yeah, I know, " big surprise" right? To you, this may not be a big deal and may come across as cliché. A lot of people go to college and get degrees these days and always graduate in huge amounts of debts. What is there to be excited about? For me, graduating college will be a big deal because I will be the first one in my family to graduate a four year college and earn a degree. So far, I have studied the things that have interested me, and a few out of my comfort zone, and it will make it easier for me to ease into the field of work I want to pursue in life.

2. Start a job that I will love for a long time / be happy with my career choice

Speaking of careers, I bet this one was another cliché. Our generation seems to be all about doing what we love most and doing it right after college and making tons of money. But this point isn't about that. This point is more of me graduating and "testing the waters" of the job world. I know that I am not going to find a job that is going to be "right" right away; I know there will be different job positions I will have to fill before I get to my end goal and I know I will have to move from place to place. I hope that by the end of this decade of my life I find a job that suits me and I am comfortable with and will be happy with for the rest of my life.

3. Move into my own house/ apartment

As much as I love my parents and have cherished the time I have spent living with them, I think I should move out when I get a job. While in college, I learned how to be on my own and not have to rely on my parents every day. I learned how to balance classes with work and a social life. My parents have done their part in raising me to want to have goals and passions, but now it's my turn to work toward them and pursue them. And I think being on my own will help with that. Not to mention I think where I want to go with my career will take me to a different state to call home. And I know it will be hard for my mom, but knowing of her love for the HGTV channel, I think she'll be more excited to help me decorate my new home.

4. Travel

This one can be tricky. I know this is a list of goals I am setting up for myself, but when it comes to traveling the world, I never know where to begin. Instead of having a bucket list, a list of things I want to do in life, I have a travel and music list, meaning I have two lists of places I want to go and see and musicians I want to see live. My music list I am not afraid of never being able to finish, but my travel list is a whole other thing. I have been saving up for a trip for a while now, but I haven't had the time to actually go out and cross some countries off my list - actually I haven't even had time to figure out where I should go first. Hopefully after I graduate school I'll be able to map it all out.

5. Be healthy and happy (No matter what)

I think this should be on everyone's list. Whether it is your bucket list, your "decade list" or your to-do list; to be happy with your life should be on the list. I think we focus a bit too strongly on the negatives that affect us than the positives that help build us. Like I said for my first point, many people look at college as an easy way to get your self in debt, and I couldn't agree more to it, but I'm not going to focus on that in my life. I'm going to focus on how the experiences of college got me to the person I am as well as my family and friends have, too. I think that to get through life with some ease and grace I should take things as they come and not freak out when unplanned things ruin the planned. No matter what obstacle I am given in life, and I know there may be many, I will conquer it with a smile on my face.

And there you have it, a list of my goals that I wish to achieve during my twenties. You may be wondering why I decided to create this list and most of it is because my birthday is coming and I will no longer be a teenager, but the other part of it would have to be about how I met a 70-year-old lady while waiting to have my car worked on. After I told the woman my age, she responded with "Oh, you're just a baby!" I giggled to this, but then she added, "Listen, be wise and safe and life will be grand." After our small conversation, I walked away thinking of how I could be wiser in my life and this was the outcome.

So what do you think? How would you plan out your life to make it wise and safe?