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...
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.
ReplyDeleteI 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...
ReplyDeleteIt'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.
ReplyDeleteAlso 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.
ReplyDeleteLove 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.
ReplyDeleteI 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.
ReplyDeleteI 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.
ReplyDeletexo, gig
Say hi to Sarge and Hedgie
did faycat read my mind?
ReplyDeletei 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.
ReplyDeleteI 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.
ReplyDeleteI 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
ReplyDeleteHi Kylie! Boy, is IKEA ever iconic--and not necessarily in a good way--is it the international language of despair?
ReplyDeleteRima, 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....
ReplyDeleteSarah, 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!
ReplyDeleteHey 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.
ReplyDeleteHey Robyn, I'm so glad you joined my swap!
ReplyDeleteI 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.
ReplyDeleteBest wishes,
Skeeter