Is it just me, or have folks been going a bit existential of late? LOL, who am I to complain, I love a good reckoning with the great beyond and hereafter as much as the next gal...sort of...
Brian at CSI Seattle has a great post up, all about making one's life list of goals and aspirations small and greater...in fact, as I suddenly remembered, Gig from Gigsville also had a post on her own take on this very interesting topic. Oh, and don't forget Kylie!
So motivated, I went to do my own version of this exercise and found it hard, in a way. I revisited old regrets (dropping out of Rabbinical school), inadequacies (hello? dissertation? where art thou?) and my ever-present fear of death and dying. Between this list and my memoir...oy. But then I decided to cheer up, and also to not call the list "things to do before I die." I mean, are we so sure I'm not going to live forever anyway? But I digress...
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17 comments:
This gives me anxiety, pressure to accomplish something. Is it bad that the only thing I can really think of is to make my apartment a non-cluttered, aesthetically pleasing grown-up home? I just find that goal so overwhelmingly out of reach (due to my own laziness) that I can't get past it.
I think I just have an aversion to writing goals down because it feels like it boxes me into specifics, and then I'll feel disappointed in myself if I either change the goal or decide that I don't really want to do it. So I'll just keep my mouth shut.
Faycat, I totally know what you mean. But somehow, I can't stop loving lists...
It's funny about the "grown-up" apartment. I think A. and I are still struggling with that for ourselves. I mean, we're not that far from futon-and-boards-on-cinderblocks-bookshelves-and-milk-crate-storage-units...not far at all. This weekend we put together a new tv cabinet (from where else but IKEA, of course) and I was both pleased with the look and also had that feeling you get when you're tacking in the cardboardy faux wood back of a piece of IKEA furniture--you know the feeling? Like, will I ever be someone who doesn't have furniture backed with pasteboard? Oh, well. Now I think I might adopt that goal of yours as one of my own.
Then it begs the question: will I ever feel like a grown-up? And do I want that as a goal?
ergh...
xoxo
Leah! Hey doll! Oy is right when it comes to 'bucket lists'! You should see that movie as well...the bucket list! So funny I had to watch it twice to make sure I saw everything.
Also I joined in your swap, truly fantastic! Can't wait. But I too am a list maker of sorts...not the 'bucket type' but what I need to accomplish or finish up, etc. In fact I need a list to list all my lists! *snort* lOL!
Miss you come by and say hello girly!
Robyn
I'll be back. I know what I want to say, but don't know how to say it yet. So I'll be back.
Love you, XO
Yeah, I still have a stack of milk crates, I have absolutely no furniture with a real back, and my coffee table is an aerobic step with a bed sheet covering it. When I realized how many years I am actually out of college already, I wept with shame.
I don't really think I'll ever feel like a grown-up, but I guess having a grown-up home would be my feeble first step.
I make a list of things to do everyday. Sometimes I'm able to do all of it and sometimes, I don't on purpose, and sometimes the list is so that I'll actually remember to do it. Oh wait, that's not the kind of list we are talking about it it. LOL.
I am still working on lists, just depends on how crazy it is here with kids...some days are better than others. I have found that I have accomplished more than I thought. I will put up the link to my50, if you want to check it out.
xo, gig
Say hi to Sarge and Hedgie
did faycat read my mind?
i dont list things cos i probably wont get it to happen
and i WISH i could have a grown up aesthetically home but i still havent got it together and at 37 i think hope is running out. i kind of get a feeling of despair when i put together ikea furniture
cheers
xx
I think about it all the time (did I say all the time?). Of how over time I have let go some of things I love and moved way from "some life" that once met a lot to me.
I think about it even more during my PhD process--of why exactly I am doing this, what does this mean to me, and what am I becoming. I should make a list of goals, life goals, etc. I love the My50 idea.
I have the list of things I want to accomplish and see... every day it seems to grow longer and longer. Sooner or later I'll have things crossed off on it rather than just adding to it.
I think its great to have the list and strive towards the goals on it... but I'm so bad at the day to day to do lists. I always forget one or two things on those... especially when I am packing.
Hi Gig--do put up your list, we'd love to have a peek! You were at the forefront of the craze that's sweepin' the nation! hehe
Hi Kylie! Boy, is IKEA ever iconic--and not necessarily in a good way--is it the international language of despair?
Rima, I know, I'm always taking stock, for better and worse. It can be very painful at times...I tried to keep my list a mixture of some (perhaps) dreams that may never be realized, some prosaic stuff that definitely will, and some in-betweens...hmmm....
Sarah, I think lists for The Biggies might be good...might not...depending on whether it makes one feel worried to articulate stuff, you know? And the daily to-do lists--well, I need them just to get from point A to point B--but in your unusual (and might I add, fascinating and amazing) job, I imagine things are in so much flux, between travel and the sudden changes that go on in prep work, that maybe a to-do list would actually get in your way!
Hey Miss Cece--I think the daily to-do list and The List are partners--they belong together somehow, at least for some people (like I said, I need my daily to-do list to steer me). They complement each other.
Hey Robyn, I'm so glad you joined my swap!
I haven't seen the Bucket List yet, but I will for sure.
xo
Hi ya! Dunno if I'm up for making a list like that right now, and you're right about 'em. Makes for a few minutes of interesting thinking though.
Best wishes,
Skeeter
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