Well, after seeing Seattle on so many lists, I was reminded of a couple of my own lists that I made a few years ago while I was studying abroad in Italy. I was 21 at the time and made two lists of things I hoped to have done by age 25. I have about 10 months left to finish this list, so I guess now is a great time to review them.
The first list, dated “Martedi, 30 Maggio 2006 alle sei di sera” (Tuesday, May 30th, 2006 at 6 in the evening):
- Visit 25 different countries.
- Speak 3 languages: English, Italian, and Slovak.
- Complete an Ironman Triathlon
- Publish a book/or be published in a magazine.
- Read the entire Bible
- Get a Master’s degree or live in a foreign country for at least 1 year.
The second list, written only a couple of weeks later (14 Giugno 2006, Mercoledi, alle 17:45 while on a train somewhere between Bologna and Ancona, Italy, headed towards an over-night ferry to Split, Croatia) was entitled 25 x 25 and was supposed to be 25 things to do before turning 25. (I only ended up with 12, many echoing things in the first list):
- Read the entire Bible
- Publish something
- Olympic distance triathlon
- 1/2 Ironman
- Ironman triathlon
- Visit 25 countries
- Get MA or live in a foreign country for at least a year
- Speak 3 languages
- Graduate from college
- Go whitewater kayaking
- Visit the Rockies
- Visit a developing country
So, now, three years later, how have I done?
My first thought, glancing at these lists for the first time in three years is, wow, those are some ambitious goals. Also, it’s interesting to see how dreams and goals change over time; if I made a list right now of things I hope to do before I turned 25, it would be a little different. However, it’s also interesting to see that I’ve already reached some of those goals.
Since everything on the first list is repeated in the second, I’ll just look at that one:
- Read the entire Bible: I spent over two years working on the entire Bible, had read about 80% of it, and then lost my checklist where I was keeping track of what I had and hadn’t read sometime this year in the pipe freezing/apartment moving fiasco. Since then, I’ve started over completely. I still hope to finish it by next May!
- Publish something: ✓ Even though three-sixty-five was self-published, I think that counts for this one!
- Olympic distance triathlon: I had forgotten about this goal, but I’m actually contemplating doing a sprint thriathlon at the end of this month. I think completing an Olympic distance before May is possible…
- 1/2 Ironman: Probably not gonna happen...
- Ironman triathlon: Definitely not gonna happen… and that is okay with me!
- Visit 25 countries: If you consider Vatican City a country (and officially, it is), then I’ve been to 24! I’ve got 10 months to travel to one more country… any suggestions? (And any monetary donations you want to contribute? … Just kidding)!
- Get MA or live in a foreign country for at least a year: ✓ Finished my MA about three weeks ago!
- Speak 3 languages: Hmm, I should have defined “speak.” I can speak bits and pieces of lots of languages now, thanks to my students. As for speaking three languages well, I still need to work on that.
- Graduate from college: ✓ Enough said.
- Go whitewater kayaking: Haven’t done this, probably won’t. I’d still like to some day, and Washington would be a great place to go, but right now I have a lot of other things I’d rather do…
- Visit the Rockies: ✓ Drove through them on the way from NC to WA.
- Visit a developing country: Haven’t done this yet… maybe this could go along with #6?
After looking at those lists, I’m somewhat tempted to make a new, up-to-date list. If I do, I’ll be sure to post it here. Also, if any of you reading this has a similar list, or wants to make a list of things you hope to do before some point in time, post it as a comment… I’d love to read them!
