Carpe Diem: What’s On Your List?
So I wrote an entry in February about growing older gracefully, in which I said:
I’ve decided my theme for Year 35 is going to be carpe diem, and to that end, I’m going to try and cross 35 items off my lifelong to-do list. Carpe diem, man, it’s a classic. I mean come on, I don’t have that poetry degree for nothing!
Since then, time has marched on, and I’ve turned 35, and the world has not ended. But I did make that carpe diem list, and I’m already working on crossing things off of it! Some themes have emerged, which I will list after the jump, for the curious…
Appreciating my parents more. My grandparents are all deceased, and I really regret not sitting my grandmother down and asking her to talk about her life, because so much of what she went through is hazy in my memory. (Some of it involved outwitting Nazis, and there was the time she ran off to Paris when she was 13. Her life was not uninteresting.) And I feel like I’m letting the years slip by with my own parents as well. Things I included on the list: write down my parents’ life stories, write down my grandmother’s story (based on my mom’s memories) and spend some quality time with my parents.
Travel. I’m going to be in Europe for part of the summer for my older sister’s wedding, and I want to take the opportunity to visit Ireland and the UK, where I’ve always wanted to go. (Plane tickets are insanely expensive, though, oh my god.) I also have whale watching on the list, and I included “visit a brand-new city” as kind of a gimme, as we already have a trip to Seattle planned and, weirdly, I have never been there. Also I want to improve my Dutch skills before we go back to the Netherlands, so my 13-year-old nephew can stop laughing (quite so hard) at my terrible Dutch!
Creative stuff. I’ve already signed up for a photography class, and I also am going to finish my YA novel this year. The first draft is essentially done; my first reader has read it and offered me feedback, there are more plans in the works, and if all goes well it should be done by the end of the summer!
Body and wellness stuff. I took a dance class last year and would really love to take another one. Plus, I want to start bike riding again, so I can do a long bike ride (50 or 100 miles) in Napa. That’s something I’ve been wanting to do for literally years, so why not now? Also, I’d like to do a healthy detox, so if anyone has any ideas, let me know. I don’t want to do that thing where I don’t eat for a week and then drink cayenne pepper and maple syrup or whatever that is, but I would love to cut out sugar, alcohol, caffeine, etc. for a period of time… something like that. That’s a thing, right? Thoughts are welcomed!
Organizational and house stuff. There are some specific pieces of furniture I need. (Again, looking to get these cheaply, so it requires some creative searching.) I want to continue my habit of keeping fresh flowers in the house. We also may move to a different part of the state next year. Lots of possibilities on the agenda there.
Etc. Amidst some other random items is HAVE A BFD MEETUP. Can you believe we never really have? So ridiculous. Especially for those of us who live in the Bay Area.
So that’s a little peek at my list. Now I’m itching to know: what’s on yours?
Posted by mo pie
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I’ve been trying to get in a few of the “life list” items and have done a fair amount of travel with more planned. I’m having issues balancing it all out though since I start to get stressed out about getting these done with the day to day stuff.
As for the detox, I’ve done a mild version of suggested in the book Raw Detox Food diet and a friend has done the hard core juicing and soups only for 21 days with the full on cleanse. While she looks and feels fabulous, mid-cleanse she did seem to loose most rational thought and had no energy so that makes me pretty nervous.
On the cleanse thing – Why? What do you hope to accomplish with it? If you’re saying you want to give up alcohol and caffeine permanently, that’s one thing. But as a temporary thing, what do you hope to accomplish? Your body already has some pretty awesome cleansing/filter type things – namely your kidneys and liver. There’s no health reason or benefit from a so-called “cleanse”.
Hmm. When I was young, I did so many things. I travelled, I tried lots of new activities, I got deeply involved in political issues, I worked hard at school, I tested my limits for sex, drugs and rock-n-roll. And I always saw something new I wanted. Then I got a career and a partner and kids, and now what I really want is to just stop carpeing the diem already!
Maybe it’s because I’ve arrived at such a good place in life I just want to sit back and savor the prosaic little routines and crises of the life I have. Or maybe it’s having reconciled myself to death back in my pre-treatment depression so that I’ve lost the urge to look to the future. Or maybe I’m just old and boring now.
But you. You seize. And I hope you love every minute of it!
Re: cheap furniture. Craig’s List, Craig’s List, and Craig’s List. We got our slept-on-once king size bed frame, solid-wood headboard, mattress, and box spring all for $150. The dual-reclining leather sofa was $200. The few-years-old Weber grill in perfect working order was $150. Ok that’s not furniture but you get the idea….
Travel is a big one on my list. Things that fall under that umbrella: visit Platform 9 3/4, the town in Germany from whence my people came, as many important WWII places as I can afford, South Africa, Rwanda, Zambia, Morocco, Russia, pretty much the whole of Europe. Okay. I want to travel a lot.
Another is to take a 3-6 month writing sabbatical in both Maine and northern California.
See snow fall on the ocean.
Watch the sun rise on the east coast and set on the west, in the same day.
ATTEND A BFD MEET-UP. I’m moving back to Sacramento in a few months, so I’m down for a Bay Area meet-up. :D
Yo Mo,
These are some fantastic goals. You will never regret the family stuff, enjoy every chaotic minute of it. Travel, yeah, always good. I hope you will include the picture you took of me at Tom Clark’s in your photography portfolio! I have books & resources for the organizational stuff FYI.
My list includes continuing to work on my most recent writing project, continuing to blog, finding a better paying job, spend more time with my husband outside of the house, travel, and to not worry so much about things that I can’t control.
I’ve done this cleanse a few times. It’s healthy and rejuvenating…for me, at least.
However, it sounds like what you actually want is a lifestyle change. I’ve never had any meaninful progress “jumpstarting” those sorts of things, but that’s me. I usually just make tiny, but very conscious, changes, focusing on the source of the problem (for example, my caffeine intake was incredible, which was because I was tired, which meant I needed to sleep more, which meant I needed to change my life around so that I would have more time for sleep). It’s a process, not a goal.
Hey Mo
This is a ‘diet’ (I say diet but its really not, it’s more like a lifestyle) that I try to live by and while it may not be a cleanse by normal definitions, it will definitely make you feel awesome if you follow it for a week!
There’s only one rule: don’t eat anything your great great grandmother (think someone from ~ 1850) wouldn’t recognize. That means you can still eat pretty much anything you want, as long as it’s homemade. You’ll love cooking for yourself and start to realize how crappy eating packaged/processed/otherwise technology-aided things makes you feel!
Enjoy!
Alyssa
This… really went in a strange direction. I’m not talking about a “cleanse” or a “lifestyle change” or any of that… Let’s call it a religious fast, instead! I’ll celebrate Ramadaan!
I think it may have been the word detox that brought about the cleanse talk. I agree with Toni that you don’t really need to do anything like that, but you did say that was not your intention.
You don’t need to do anything to “detox” your body other than eating a healthy diet. Limit your red meat and dairy consumption. Eat lots of healthy leafy greens and fresh veg, organic when you can swing it. Drink plenty of filtered water and fresh juices (NOT bottled, which contain added sugar). Eat as many foods as you can that contain the antioxidants and vitamins that you want to have more of. You can also invest in a good multivitamin, though in my opinion you are better served getting them through the foods you eat than through a pill.
You know, I intend to age disgracefully. Age yes, but bring on the tattoos, the purple hair, the loud clothes, the cheeky behaviour, the practical jokes, the FUN! Basically my list is to have as much fun with my life as possible.
Umm… why has Morgan’s link not been removed? Disturbingly triggering and gross stuff over there. Is this a late April Fool’s?!
ooo I’m all for the bay area bfd meetup!
Thanks for the heads up, K, I’ve removed the link. Flo, email me!