My Life List, July 2010 edition

In Thursday’s post I mentioned my Life List, and how I had started writing so that I could make progress on #18.  My Life List is basically a “bucket list” of things I’d like to do before I turn 40.  I wrote it when I was 36, and gave myself 4 years to complete all 20 tasks.  Nothing like a little ambition, right.  I thought it would be interesting to see how many of the things I wrote about are still priorities for me, and how many I’ve completed.  So, here’s my Life List, as written 3 years ago:  (the items in hot pink are the ones I’ve completed)

My Life List

July 11, 2007 by Bella |

My book club just read The Next Thing on My List, by Jill Smolinski. The book is in the chick lit/beach book genre. (It’s a quick read!) The plot is predictable, but the premise of the book was so interesting that I recommended the book to the book club.

The premise – two women meet at a Weight Watchers meeting. The protagonist offers the younger woman (whom she’s just met) a ride home. While they’re on their way, they get into a car accident and the younger woman dies. In talking to the family after the funeral, the protagonist discovers that the younger woman had made a list of things she wanted to do before she turned 25. The protagonist feels so guilty (even though the accident wasn’t really her fault), that she decides to complete the list.

The thing I liked the most about the book was that it had the idea of making something that I call a “life list.” A list of things you want to do before you turn ___ age, or before you die.

Ever the English teacher, I asked everyone in the book club to come to the group with their own life list. To be honest with you, I knew that the life lists were going to be a lot more interesting than the plot of the book was.

So, I thought I’d share the items on my own life list with you. I chose each item really carefully, and found that I had to do a lot of self-reflection before I was able to make a list that I felt was not only realistic, but also worthwhile. Some of the things are fun and frivolous, while others are truly challenging.

Things to do before I turn 40:
1. Lose 100 lbs.
2. After weight loss, go on a shopping spree at Anthropologie and Ann Taylor Loft, knowing the clothes will look great!
3. Sky dive.
4. Own a convertible.
5. Find balance in my life. (I’m so bad with the work/personal life balance).
6. Make spirituality a part of my everyday life.
7. Try yoga.
8. Start meditating.
9. Get a Brazilian bikini wax.
10. Go to the beach in a bathing suit and feel proud of how I look.
11. Go to NYC.
12. Go to Boston/Connecticut (CTLB’s wedding in August ’08).
13. Run a 5K. (Maybe even a 10K).
14. Meet “The One” aka “Mr. Right” and be engaged, or close to it.
15. Own a home (condo/townhouse), even if I’m still single.
16. Go on an exotic vacation to Bali or Morocco.
17. Learn to speak Italian.
18. Get some of my writing published.
19. Use my masters in educational leadership, either in school administration at my school or on the district level working with the new teacher program.
20. Adopt a dog.

So far I’ve completed 5 out of 20.  I’m not sure that I still care that much about some of the items on the list, so I’m revising the list a bit:

My Life List

Updated July 3, 2010

Things to do before I turn 40:
1. Lose 100 lbs.
2. After weight loss, go on a shopping spree at Anthropologie and Ann Taylor Loft, knowing the clothes will look great!
3. Sky dive.
4. Own a convertible (Bettie the Blue Beetle).
5. Find balance in my life. I’m so bad with the work/personal life balance (After grad school I changed my attitude towards being a workaholic, and my life is soooooo much better now).
6. Try yoga (Bikram, baby).
7. Get a Brazilian bikini wax.
8. Go to the beach in a bathing suit and feel proud of how I look.
9. Go to NYC.
10. Go to Boston/Connecticut (CTLB’s wedding in August ’08).
11. Run a 5K. (Maybe even a 10K).
12. Meet someone who makes me happy (and someone who I’d date at my goal weight).
13. Go on a vacation by myself to somewhere I’ve never been.
14. Get some of my writing published.
15. Adopt a dog (Lulu!)

As you can see I removed a few items that I don’t really think are priorities right now. I also edited a few others.  Paring it down to 15 from 20 is more reasonable.  That leaves me with 10 things to accomplish in the next year, and I think the odds are in my favor of getting them done.

The ones that I deleted:

Owning a condo.  The more I see people who own their own homes in this economy (where I live), the more I see people who are miserable because they are strapped for cash and involved in mortgages that they really can’t afford.  Call me a rebel, but at the point in my life I’m in right now, I’d much rather live in a rental and “throw money away each month” and have extra money in my bank account at the end of the month.  Just saying.  I also took out the meditation/spirituality thing.  At the time I was going to classes to learn more about Buddhism, but after attending a few, I realized it was very fascinating, but it just wasn’t for me.  And although I was raised and still consider myself Catholic, I’m never going to be an overly religious person, to trying to fit that into my life is just not realistic.

Edits:

I changed meeting “the one” to meeting someone who makes me happy.  Because while I still hope to meet and get married to the love of my life, I don’t think it’s going to happen in the next year (although you never know…).  I may not even meet anyone at all in the next year, but maybe I’ll go on a few dates with someone nice.  Who knows?  As far as the exotic vacation, I would still love to go to Bali or Morroco, but I think my priority in the next year is to go on a vacation by myself to somewhere I’ve never been.  Maybe NYC,  maybe Maui.  If I were to go to either of those destinations, I’d be able to cross two things off my list, so we’ll see. 

I’m going to start doing monthly check-ins on my list, just to see how much progress I’m making.

What would be on your life list?

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