20 Things To Do Before I Die
I posted this on Facebook, but then realized that some people like Roo won't see it there, so I'm crossposting it here. =)
[If you'd like to make a meme out of this, or just want a chance to reflect in such a way yourself, feel free to fill in a similar list yourself.]
I'm sure some of you are familiar with professor Randy Pausch's Last Lecture. If you're not, I suggest you go read it, or if you're too lazy, watch it on Youtube.
The Last Lecture really got me thinking: if I were to die tomorrow, would I be satisfied with my life thus far? What would I have to do before I would feel at least somewhat satisfied? In other words, what's really important to me in life?
The idea is not new. Organizations like the Children's Wish Foundation exist for just this purpose - fulfilling wishes and dreams of children with life-threatening diseases. Variations on the idea have also been explored in literature and film, where a character's outlook on life is often profoundly changed by the realization of their (rather imminent) mortality. This is one thing with the power to override our evolutionary propensity to accumulate wealth, which I think is sadly quite often front-and-centre for younger people.
So I decided one day to sit down and write a list of 10 things I wanted to accomplish before I die. I quickly realized that 10 wasn't enough, so it grew to 20, then to 50. I then extended it to around 100, and got up to 93 before I was completely out of ideas.
Today, I took a few minutes to skim over that list and realized that a lot of the goals were redundant or unnecessary, so I managed to trim it down to just a few. I've listed these below. I'm sure I could come up with a few more, and I don't necessarily need to do all of these to be satisfied, but if I could complete most of them, and then found out I would die shortly, I would be relatively satisfied with my life.
(By the way, things which are more or less impossible are not included. I also excluded things that are extremely easy which I am already likely to do soon, i.e. prepare curry from scratch, read X book, etc.)
Things to do:
1) Explore subterranean caves
2) Forage for, prepare, and eat various edible wild plants and mushrooms
3) Learn about local history (Ottawa)
4) Track my genealogical history / family tree
5) Practice archery
6) Work on an organic farm
7) Contribute to educational reform
8) Obtain a bronze cross in swimming
9) Participate in a 10 km run
10) Travel on a tall ship
11) Volunteer for a political campaign
12) Have something I've written published
13) Participate in the development of a video game
14) Construct an old-school computer
15) Write letters to people expressing admiration and gratitude
16) Read a novel in Japanese
17) Play in a chess tournament
18) Learn to handwrite beautifully
19) Become an amateur astronomer and scientist
20) Study a martial art and/or Yoga
People to meet:
1) Jack-kun
2) Elizabeth May
3) Patrick Stewart
4) Corey and Lori Ann Cole
5) Rick Mercer
Places to visit:
1) Japan
2) The U.K.
3) New Zealand
4) Rome
5) The U.S.
What's most conspicuous, actually, is what's ABSENT:
- anything about money or material goods
- anything about career or job prestige
- anything about relationships or social status
etc.
Again, I'm certain I could think of more (particularly under 'people to meet') but for now I chose to limit each to a few key points. I'll likely revise this in the future, but I'm at the point where I can't think of a heck of a lot more to add. It's kind of a nice feeling, actually...especially when you realize that a lot of these are not that difficult.
[If you'd like to make a meme out of this, or just want a chance to reflect in such a way yourself, feel free to fill in a similar list yourself.]
I'm sure some of you are familiar with professor Randy Pausch's Last Lecture. If you're not, I suggest you go read it, or if you're too lazy, watch it on Youtube.
The Last Lecture really got me thinking: if I were to die tomorrow, would I be satisfied with my life thus far? What would I have to do before I would feel at least somewhat satisfied? In other words, what's really important to me in life?
The idea is not new. Organizations like the Children's Wish Foundation exist for just this purpose - fulfilling wishes and dreams of children with life-threatening diseases. Variations on the idea have also been explored in literature and film, where a character's outlook on life is often profoundly changed by the realization of their (rather imminent) mortality. This is one thing with the power to override our evolutionary propensity to accumulate wealth, which I think is sadly quite often front-and-centre for younger people.
So I decided one day to sit down and write a list of 10 things I wanted to accomplish before I die. I quickly realized that 10 wasn't enough, so it grew to 20, then to 50. I then extended it to around 100, and got up to 93 before I was completely out of ideas.
Today, I took a few minutes to skim over that list and realized that a lot of the goals were redundant or unnecessary, so I managed to trim it down to just a few. I've listed these below. I'm sure I could come up with a few more, and I don't necessarily need to do all of these to be satisfied, but if I could complete most of them, and then found out I would die shortly, I would be relatively satisfied with my life.
(By the way, things which are more or less impossible are not included. I also excluded things that are extremely easy which I am already likely to do soon, i.e. prepare curry from scratch, read X book, etc.)
Things to do:
1) Explore subterranean caves
2) Forage for, prepare, and eat various edible wild plants and mushrooms
3) Learn about local history (Ottawa)
4) Track my genealogical history / family tree
5) Practice archery
6) Work on an organic farm
7) Contribute to educational reform
8) Obtain a bronze cross in swimming
9) Participate in a 10 km run
10) Travel on a tall ship
11) Volunteer for a political campaign
12) Have something I've written published
13) Participate in the development of a video game
14) Construct an old-school computer
15) Write letters to people expressing admiration and gratitude
16) Read a novel in Japanese
17) Play in a chess tournament
18) Learn to handwrite beautifully
19) Become an amateur astronomer and scientist
20) Study a martial art and/or Yoga
People to meet:
1) Jack-kun
2) Elizabeth May
3) Patrick Stewart
4) Corey and Lori Ann Cole
5) Rick Mercer
Places to visit:
1) Japan
2) The U.K.
3) New Zealand
4) Rome
5) The U.S.
What's most conspicuous, actually, is what's ABSENT:
- anything about money or material goods
- anything about career or job prestige
- anything about relationships or social status
etc.
Again, I'm certain I could think of more (particularly under 'people to meet') but for now I chose to limit each to a few key points. I'll likely revise this in the future, but I'm at the point where I can't think of a heck of a lot more to add. It's kind of a nice feeling, actually...especially when you realize that a lot of these are not that difficult.