What's on Your Life List?

[ScottFromUtah]

Back in February of 2000 at age 55, soon after the turn of the millennium, and at the time of my being diagnosed with heart disease, I made a list of 50 things I wanted to do before I die. Many people have a Life List of 100 things, but for me, 50 things was plenty.

Of the 50 items, I have completed 28 of them. OK, so none of them is earth-shaking. I didn’t discover a cure for cancer or swim the entire length of the Amazon River, but the items are things that I wanted to do and felt I could realistically do. For example, I have done the following:

• qualified for and ran the Boston Marathon
• completed a one-day double-century (200-mile bike) race
• finished a half-Ironman triathlon
• hiked a 13,500-foot mountain
• became CPR certified through the Red Cross
• completed my goal to visit all 50 states
• went on a humanitarian expedition to the altiplano of Peru
• traveled through central Europe
• went on a cruise to Greece and Turkey
• went on a cruise to Alaska
• visited 15 national parks
• learned to play (memorized) three pieces on the piano
• read/studied a Spanish textbook

The rest of my goals are equally simple, but they are important to me. I plan to complete four or five of these goals over the next year.

But I'm now to the point where some of the items on my Life List are going to require that I retire. I’m looking forward to having more time during retirement to complete my other 22 goals.

I’d love to hear what some of your goals are. How has retirement helped you achieve the items in your Life List?

 

[Lsbcal]

Very impressive list! Do you have a name (first, middle, whatever)? If so it would feel a lot more personal to respond to you.

Anyway, my approach is to go about in a casual fashion exploring various avenues of life and not necessarily scaling peaks -- that's just me. Sometimes it feels like I'm in the valleys.

But I do like to set short term goals -- like learning some French for a recent trip. Today I ran a 39:30 (usually run this in about 43min) for an approximate 5 mile run in the hills. It felt good and affirmed that was still alive . Then went out with my son to check out notebook computers for him. Tomorrow I plan to go out to the ocean with DW and paint in oils with a local painting group. Also I keep a list of fiction/non-fiction books I've read and a reading list. Now stuck on David Ignatius, Bank of Fear which is 3rd in trilogy. Have read 8 books through to completion this year, nothing to brag about but reading really seems to make life richer. More then half of my latest Economist issue is read. Oh yes, the lawn is actually green now and mowed. Signed up for French and a botany class at the JC. Ahh, the good life.

Les

 

[Sandy]

Inspired list. At this rate you should complete all 50. what will you do for an encore?

My list is ever changing, started several times, but misplaced over the years as life shifts. So, in practice, I take the more casual approach like Isbcal. Since I am still w*orking and have kids at home, in practice my current life goals focus on getting through the day!

 

[Nords]

I’d love to hear what some of your goals are. How has retirement helped you achieve the items in your Life List?

My "life goals" are goals that'll take a lifetime to achieve. The rest of my list is filled with things that could be accomplished in the next few years.

ER affords the time to work on the important stuff:
- Be a good spouse
- Be a good parent
- Collect more pension than paychecks
(-- Extra bonus points: adjusting for inflation)
- Join my alma mater's "10 oldest alumni" list, which currently requires three digits.

 

[lem1955]

I love the idea of a Life List. I'm a few years from retirement, 5 probably, and am focused on non-profit volunteer work, family and friends outside of work now. But WHEN I HAVE MORE TIME, my list will include:

Live outside for a year (and travel to warmer locations without resort to fossil fuel transportation) tents and lean-tos count as "outside".
And while I'm out there - Learn the visible constellations and then stars
Learn Yiddish

 

[happy2bretired]

I love the idea of a life list too. I don't have one but this msg may make me make one. I love the idea (simple as it is) to at least say that one has been to all 50 states. I might be able to do that. Keep the ideas coming, I love this type of thing.

 

[wildcat]

Just a thought --- I wouldn't wait until 'life after FIRE' to make out a life list of things to accomplish/do.

I just found out about a guy's passing I know back home who owned and managed the gym I had been going to for 10+ years. 59 yrs old and until his sudden health complications, he was in great shape and looked very healthy.

Don't wait to do some things....

 

[CuppaJoe]

completed my goal to visit all 50 states

Dear Heart,

I am so curious about the logistics of this one. Seems like you would have to do a lot of zig zagging. How many trips did it take, etc.? I once met someone who said he had visited all 50 states and later asked me where I’m from, I said, "Wisconsin," and he said, "never been there." So the joke ever since is that Wisconsin must be a foreign country.

Cuppa

 

[ScottFromUtah]

Dear Heart,

I am so curious about the logistics of this one. Seems like you would have to do a lot of zig zagging. How many trips did it take, etc.? I once met someone who said he had visited all 50 states and later asked me where I’m from, I said, "Wisconsin," and he said, "never been there." So the joke ever since is that Wisconsin must be a foreign country.

Cuppa

We didn't do it in one trip but in dozens and dozens of trips. In fact it took my wife and me 38 years to complete this goal. We lived in the Utah, Florida, New York, and Arkansas during our college years and early career years, so we travelled a lot among those states, especially trips back to Utah. Then after we settled down, our career travels and vacations took us to many states. For example, when we attended a professional meeting in Boston, we took a day off, rented a car, and drove around through the other New England states. Over the years, we have attended football bowl games in Tennessee, Texas, California, in Nevada. One of our daughters attended a year of college in Hawaii, so we visited her while whe was there. Our last two states were Alaska and North Dakota. So we took an Alaskan cruise, and finally, a couple years ago, we decided just to drive to North Dakota, spend a night there, and drive back, visiting Devils Tower in WY and Mt. Rushmore in SD along the way.

BTW, layovers in airports did not count in our 50-state quest.

 

[ScottFromUtah]

Just a thought --- I wouldn't wait until 'life after FIRE' to make out a life list of things to accomplish/do.

I just found out about a guy's passing I know back home who owned and managed the gym I had been going to for 10+ years. 59 yrs old and until his sudden health complications, he was in great shape and looked very healthy.

Don't wait to do some things....

This is a good point. In fact, I had a list of goals before 2000, and had accomplished most of them, so when I had a heart procedure, following a "near heart attack" in Feb 2000, I knew I had a lot to live for, but I wanted to formalize the list. I have modified the list almost every year to make it relevant and attainable.

BTW, the goals that I shared are the least important of my goals. I chose not to share my goals for personal and family social and spiritual development and service.

 

[DangerMouse]

I went through the stage of wanting to make a similar list of things I wanted to accomplish in my life. However, when I started thinking about it I realised none of the things I was writing down were really important, I was just thinking of things to have on the list.

It all came together for me when I ran accross the idea of writing your own obituary and what would it say - and for me I decided it wasn't important if I ever ran my first marathon etc. - for me I wanted to go out of this world having made a difference in some way. I know I am never going to find a cure for cancer or win the Nobel Peace Prize, but if I can find something I enjoy doing that can leave the world in a better state because of my actions I will be happy. At the moment I have a few ideas, all of which interest me, including:

1. Volunteer to preserve the Great Barrier Reef
2. Spend time volunteering and donating funds to an orphanage in a 3rd world country. We had thought of adopting, but realised the $30k it would cost us would go a long way in helping out many more if the money went directly to an orphanage rather than into governmental purses.
3. Tutoring at local schools. If I can help one person get an education that they would never have had, I will be happy.

 

[citrine]

1) Become an art teacher
2) Own a gallery
3) Live in Italy for a year
4) Go on a spa/yoga retreat in the Sedona Mountains
5) Do a Native American Vision Quest
6) Learn how to sculpt
7) Become a yoga teacher
8) Write a book

 

[Lsbcal]

DangerMouse -- what a great name. Did you come up with it yourself? Any background on why you chose it?

Citrine -- if you open a gallery I have some paintings . My avatar is taken from part of one (though not my mainline style).

Les

 

[CuppaJoe]

3. Tutoring at local schools. If I can help one person get an education that they would never have had, I will be happy.

I like that one! When I look back at my H.S. yearbook at the list of my extra-curricular activities, the most important thing is not listed. I volunteered to tutor someone all four years and others as needed. What did I do in H.S.? "Peggy P. graduated!"

 

[aenlighten]

Honestly

There is nothing I must do. There is much I might do, but nothing which I would be incomplete without. Satisfied many of my interests. Did everything in my mind that I did not do in person. Now it is more taking each day as it comes for what it is worth. Enjoying the little pleasures. (Sounds ancient doesn't it?)

 

[52andout]

I achieved my number one, going to the Sistine chapel.

list includes volunteering with the local garden club and at the local soup kitchen (already doing this)

exercising more and getting off cholesterol medication (just achieved this yesterday!!) now no medications at all

getting back into pottery, am currently taking a class

traveling to the four states we have not been to through the years

learning how to design a webpage

learning about butterflies. I take pictures then come home and figure out what they are

expanding veggie garden

now eating occasional meat, transitioning to total vegetarian diet.

I like the idea of keeping a list of the books I am reading.

 

[ScottFromUtah]

Thank you all for your thoughtful responses. I like them all--whether you have a long list, a short list, or no list at all.

I especially enjoyed reading the goals of service and personal betterment that most of you posted.

Thank you again. I hope to hear from more of you.

 

[Orchidflower]

Never in my life did I think I would be eldercaring my mother, but I have been here since summer, 2003; and this period of time has given me so many hours of going back and reviewing mistakes I have made in the past and goals I want to accomplish in the future. In a way, I consider this time a blessing; because I used to be such a workaholic that I never stopped to pee...let alone reflect.
My primary goal has changed so much since I have had this time, and that goal is: take better care of my health. Luckily, insofar as I know, I am healthy as a horse; but I have always been so type A that I did nothing to even check myself out. And then, when I did go to a Dr. or hospital for an exam, they always looked at me after the tests like I was loco; since my health has always been great, luckily.

But now I am 62, and getting older. So, my first life goal is to:
1. Maintain good health. I am trying to eater better now, and am on an exercise program; so, it is a start. But maintain your good health should be a must for most of us, I would think.
2. Travel and live in 3 foreign areas: SE Asia; South America and Central America. I've done the European/North Africa tour years ago, so that is done.
3. Settle into an area in America and get involved in some way in 3 things: local politics; Heart Assn.; Cancer Assn. 3 things close to my heart.
4. Study investing harder until I am really the best I can be at it, and get that money to grow.
5. Have friends over more for dinner. I love to cook and am (if I might toot my own horn) considered good at it, love dinner guests, love having a good time. Why not? I worked so darn much before my son and I ate out all the time. I have all the Lenox china, the fancy silver...and never used it but twice in 25 years, I'll bet. Isn't that ridiculous? Well, I don't have to work all those hours now...so, it's on!
6. Okay, now you can snicker at me; but, when I was young and women weren't really into stand-up comedy so much as today, I wanted to be a stand-up comic; so, now I can get something together and do a few open mic nights. Why not? I have made a fool of myself before, have been boo'd off a stage before, so I won't crumble. Plus, in my jobs I did lots of public speaking. Figure the worst that can happen already has. And I might have alot of fun with it...or shuck the whole idea, but I gotta try it once, anyway.

 

[Bigritchie]

I keep a map of the world with red pins for the places we want to go, and blue pins for the places we have been.

 

[LOL!]

See my grandkids graduate from college. Could be tough because my kids are under 16 years old.

 

[tightasadrum]

WithAllMyHeart,

Your thread has really started me thinking. Thank you.

For my first thirty years of life, Act 1, I looked mostly for the physical challenges. Mountains, sky, sea, musical performance etc. The next thirty years, Act 2, was about working and accumulation of assets and helping DW raise DD. As I begin the final thirty years, Act 3, I believe it should be unique in its own way.

Act 1 and 2 merely set up the action for Act 3. As the curtain rises…

• Be more attentive to DW, do more things together. (This arrogantly assumes she wants me involved of course)
• Read much more, go fishing more, and grow vegetables (what on earth are eight acres for if not to grow some food. You can’t eat grass, although the deer eat it, and the trees, and the flowers, and …)
• Exercise regularly, just for the sake of it. Never done that.
• Take courses at the local university that compliment whatever is on this list or for fun
• Attend local music programs, theater productions, art shows and festivals. Try to participate.
• Finally visit North and South Dakota and Minnesota, the only three states I’ve missed. Are they on the way to anywhere?
• Learn how Warren Buffett values a company and take some small financial risks with that information
• Live for a few months each in different countries. Scotland, Italy, Germany come to mind first.
• Tutor/teach a subject I know or skill I have if the community needs it taught
• Spend much more time with friends
• Find out where in the world my family came from; I only have half the picture

Start now!

 

[Martha]

• Finally visit North and South Dakota and Minnesota, the only three states I’ve missed. Are they on the way to anywhere?

They are destinations in and of themselves.

My favorite part of Minnesota is the north, where I live, along Lake Superior. Travel up the lakeshore and visit many parks along the way. The landscape is not typical midwest, it is boreal forest, lots of rocks, stunted spruce trees, and water. If you like adventure, the Boundary Waters Canoe Area Wilderness is the place to go for extended canoe trips far away from civilization.

South Dakota has the Black Hills which is worth visiting. See Mount Rushmore. See Crazy Horse. In the neighborhood is Custer State Park; cruise through and watch the bison and antelope.

Visit the Pine Ridge Indian reservation, the largest reservation by acreage in the entire US. Read about the history of the reservation (including the 1970s Wounded Knee incident) and visit appropriate sites. It is unrelentingly poor so this is for education, not entertainment.

In North Dakota Teddy Roosevelt park is a good place to go. See badland areas and wildlife. The park is somewhat isolated so it is rarely if ever crowded.

 

[Milton]

Okay, now you can snicker at me; but, when I was young and women weren't really into stand-up comedy so much as today, I wanted to be a stand-up comic; so, now I can get something together and do a few open mic nights. Why not? I have made a fool of myself before, have been boo'd off a stage before, so I won't crumble. Plus, in my jobs I did lots of public speaking. Figure the worst that can happen already has. And I might have alot of fun with it...or shuck the whole idea, but I gotta try it once, anyway.

No snickering from me. Why not do stand-up, indeed? Give it a try, you really have nothing to lose.

 

[Orchidflower]

Yup, Milton...after over 30 years in sales, I think I have lost my sensitivity to rejection. I think that will prove to be a good thing in comedy.
But, primarily, I want these next 20-30 years to be happy, productive and filled with lots of joyous happenings. I figure my son is grown now and on his way, so it will be my time to be selfish for once. No employees and no business and no son to take care of anymore once I am thru eldercaring. Giddy-up!

 

[Ydog]

Bigrichie - what a wonderful idea! There are so many places to go.

I have been lucky that many of my life goals have been accomplished. The most recent was that I was able to go to the Kingdom of Tonga before the king died.

I have also found that retirement is making me rethink many things in my life including who I am and what I enjoy.

Here is my current list:
1) Loose my cubicle weight (weight gain from inactivity at work and munching)
2) Rekindle the romance in my marriage
3) Learn how to weld
4) Get involved in a literacy program
5) Experience every state fair. Pork Chop on a stick, here I come!
6) Start a dinner club
7) Take a canal trip

But the main one is to just be open to any new experience that comes my way.