So when i was born, i think some sort of wire got crossed in my brain. I don't remember a time in my life when i wasn't focused, or more like consumed with life goals. I think i knew i wanted to teach, or open a school, since i was like 10 years old. And since at least 12, i've been keeping a list of goals to accomplish in my life.
I think it started in young womens class at church where we wrote ourselves a note with things to accomplish in high school. We sealed it and stuck it in our scriptures. And then we were supposed to open at the end of school and see how we did.
I took this process very seriously. I lugged that stupid self addessed sealed envelop around for 6 years. I didn't forget what was on it. I made sure to make myself two copies so I knew exactly what i needed to do to be satisfied when it came time to opening the letter.
And so these lists (which i genetically attribute to my mom) have been around for years. And i'm usually pretty good at them.
Valedictorian - check.
Black belt before college - check.
Full ride scholarship - check.
Ivy league school - check.
Skydiving - check.
Blah blah blah on and on it goes.
I'm not trying to brag here. I'm just saying it's like a obsession. If it goes on my life goal list, I don't stop until I can cross it off. And i don't make new lists i just keep adding to the old ones. I like to see the crossed off list. It's just so psycotically gratifying for me.
And so this weekend, on my weekend of release and lack of control, I crossed of so many life goals that i didn't even know were part of me.
It's like that scene from Breakfast at Tiffiny's when they spend the whole day doing things they've never done before. And it's silly and playful and horribly unadult and perfectly exactly how i spent my weekend.
A few things I never knew I alwasy wanted to do:
I've never taken a should be 3 hour bus ride through the mountains of Rwanda. I've never had to pull over so the president's motorcade could pass us on the street. I've never almost puked on the back seat of a bus. I've never gone dancing in a Rwandan disco to throw back 7th grade skating rink songs. I've never had sugar cane and advocado bought from right off a lady's head. I've never walked to the border of the Democratic Republic of Congo - or really any border for that matter. I've shared a shower (my first hot real steamy shower in 3 weeks) with a lizard - a cockroach yes but never a lizard. I've never had an audience while swimming. I've never stood on a dirt road with one arm in the air and danced like a crazy person. And i've never never never gone skinny dipping in a crystal clear lake by the light of a full moon at 3am.
But this weekend? Check.
(For the record, the audience was not during the skinny dipping portion of the swimming experience. That part was during the day, fully covered in a modest one piece bathing suite. Promise. Being a free porn star is not a life goal.)
I'm loving this living in the moment kind of craziness. It makes long term committment and future plans and BIG DEAL life goals a little difficult (can you really accept a cow from a stranger if you don't know where you'll be or who you'll be in 3 weeks?)
But it's so fun and i highly recommend it. Release your inhibitions. Make a life goal list and then start crossing them off. Not all of them have to be huge 'open a school in africa' kind of things. Just a list of things to do that would make your life deeper, more fun, and more colorful.
And then blog about them, and laugh about them, and lay awake at night dreaming about them.
Blessings for your life goal attainments,
Shai
This is my latest shower companion...
He came in through the open window and bungee jumped into my shower bucket. He forgot the bungee wasn't attached and hastily swam to solid ground . Crazy African critters have no respect for privacy!
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