If you want to know what’s really important to you, make list
50 THINGS TO DO BEFORE I DE
BY WENDY SWALLOW WILLIAMS
Afew weeks ago I followed a friend into an art- supply store. Ifound him picking out tubes of watercolor paint, wich surprised me because he’s not an artist.
“ I signed up for watercolor class, and it starts next week,” he said sheepishly. “ I don’t really have time for it, but it was on my list of 50 things to do before I die, so I went for it.”
This sounded interesting. “ What else is on the list?” I asked.
“ All kinds of things, “ he said. “ Every few months I look at the list and decide what to focus on next. Before I had the list. I moaned a lot about what I was missing in my life. Now I just do stuff.”
“Can I see your list sometime?” I asked.
“I don’t know,” he said.
“ It reveals a lot about me. Write your own list, and you’ll see what I mean.”
So that night I did just that, and he was right. The list revealed a whole lot about what was important to me. It also revealed how hopelessly behind I am at getting to the things Ireally want.
Just writing the list helped me sort through priorities. I filled up the first 20 blanks quickly, but then began to think carefully. Eventually I added items I’ve thought about for years dreams I’ve carried with me since I was young, and things that resonated when I first heard about them. When I reviewed the list later, some entries surprise me.
First, I want to travel much more, particularly now that my children are3 older and can go whit me to see the world. There are ten trips I would like to make whit the boys—from biking through Denmark to camping in the Canadian Rockies.
I also was surprised to find somet things on the list that need to be done soon. If I’m going to learn to Rollerblade, for instance. I’d better start before I turn 50.
Some items, though, I can put off until I’m older. I would love grow flowers, to really garden, but while I’m raising kids and working, I don’t have time ror rosess.
I would love to do volunteer work in a hospital nursery someday, rocking crying infants and giving them their first baths. I would like to work with teenagers, leading youth groups or helping at the local school. If I’m going to do these, though, I may need reconsider running the bakesale for the school fair each year.
A few of the items are intimidating because they mean a serious commitment of some sort. I would like to publish a novel before I die, and I would like to get a Ph. D. in English literature.
I also would like to learn to draw and play piano with a string quartet. If I’m going to accomplish these things, I need to start writing everyday and polishing my piano skills.
I may not make it through the list. Some things may just be out reach, such as New Zealand, and others ultimately may not work with the rest of my life, such as owning a horse. Yet I see that already have built the framework for many ofthese pipe dreams, and that if I make them goals today, there is no reason I can’t fin a way to taste at least part of that reality tomorrow.
Like my friend, I now have an alternative to complaining. When I’m bored with my life. I take out my list. Maybe I’ll send off for travel brochures or take my pencils out in the back yard and doodle for an hour, trying to sketch trees that look like trees.
I have no idea how the boys and I will get to Africa, but if it’s important enough, we’ll find a way, I might became nature writer and get sent on assignment, or maybe we’ll just save our money till we have enough.
I had a cousins who accomplished an amazing string of interesting things. She told me the key was preparing so that life could work in mysterious ways. “ If you want your ship to come in, you must build a dock,” she said.
Thanks to my list, I’m working on some big docks.
© 1996 BY WENDY SWALLOW WILLIAMS FROM WASHINGTON POST (JULY 4, ’96), WASHINGTON D. C.
50 THINGS TO DO BEFORE I DE
BY WENDY SWALLOW WILLIAMS
Afew weeks ago I followed a friend into an art- supply store. Ifound him picking out tubes of watercolor paint, wich surprised me because he’s not an artist.
“ I signed up for watercolor class, and it starts next week,” he said sheepishly. “ I don’t really have time for it, but it was on my list of 50 things to do before I die, so I went for it.”
This sounded interesting. “ What else is on the list?” I asked.
“ All kinds of things, “ he said. “ Every few months I look at the list and decide what to focus on next. Before I had the list. I moaned a lot about what I was missing in my life. Now I just do stuff.”
“Can I see your list sometime?” I asked.
“I don’t know,” he said.
“ It reveals a lot about me. Write your own list, and you’ll see what I mean.”
So that night I did just that, and he was right. The list revealed a whole lot about what was important to me. It also revealed how hopelessly behind I am at getting to the things Ireally want.
Just writing the list helped me sort through priorities. I filled up the first 20 blanks quickly, but then began to think carefully. Eventually I added items I’ve thought about for years dreams I’ve carried with me since I was young, and things that resonated when I first heard about them. When I reviewed the list later, some entries surprise me.
First, I want to travel much more, particularly now that my children are3 older and can go whit me to see the world. There are ten trips I would like to make whit the boys—from biking through Denmark to camping in the Canadian Rockies.
I also was surprised to find somet things on the list that need to be done soon. If I’m going to learn to Rollerblade, for instance. I’d better start before I turn 50.
Some items, though, I can put off until I’m older. I would love grow flowers, to really garden, but while I’m raising kids and working, I don’t have time ror rosess.
I would love to do volunteer work in a hospital nursery someday, rocking crying infants and giving them their first baths. I would like to work with teenagers, leading youth groups or helping at the local school. If I’m going to do these, though, I may need reconsider running the bakesale for the school fair each year.
A few of the items are intimidating because they mean a serious commitment of some sort. I would like to publish a novel before I die, and I would like to get a Ph. D. in English literature.
I also would like to learn to draw and play piano with a string quartet. If I’m going to accomplish these things, I need to start writing everyday and polishing my piano skills.
I may not make it through the list. Some things may just be out reach, such as New Zealand, and others ultimately may not work with the rest of my life, such as owning a horse. Yet I see that already have built the framework for many ofthese pipe dreams, and that if I make them goals today, there is no reason I can’t fin a way to taste at least part of that reality tomorrow.
Like my friend, I now have an alternative to complaining. When I’m bored with my life. I take out my list. Maybe I’ll send off for travel brochures or take my pencils out in the back yard and doodle for an hour, trying to sketch trees that look like trees.
I have no idea how the boys and I will get to Africa, but if it’s important enough, we’ll find a way, I might became nature writer and get sent on assignment, or maybe we’ll just save our money till we have enough.
I had a cousins who accomplished an amazing string of interesting things. She told me the key was preparing so that life could work in mysterious ways. “ If you want your ship to come in, you must build a dock,” she said.
Thanks to my list, I’m working on some big docks.
© 1996 BY WENDY SWALLOW WILLIAMS FROM WASHINGTON POST (JULY 4, ’96), WASHINGTON D. C.
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