A new year calls for a new year’s resolution. However, this year I thought to myself, “instead of one resolution, why not have a 2012 bucket list instead?” I don’t know about you but I find this whole monogamous ONE resolution thing limiting, and daunting! That’s a whole lot of pressure to put on one goal. A bunch of things could easily throw you off track, and then bam, that’s it – your one resolution goes out the window. I say better to have a whole bunch – then the likelihood of you experiencing some success is much higher, and if you don’t feel like working on one particular goal at any point in time, well, you can just focus on another one.
For me, this is a year of rediscovering my inner child. I have a habit of putting a lot of unnecessary pressure on myself to be all things to all people. This year I am to remember to take life less seriously, enjoy each day, and reconnect with the creative, stress-free spirit within. Have fun with life! J
My 2012 Bucket List
1. Go to the symphony with somebody who’s never been: There is something magical about going to a live symphony. There is also something magical about being there with someone who experiences something magical for the first time.
2. Learn more about money management: I’m about as financially savvy as a four year old. Now that I’m actually earning a salary, it’s due time for me to learn about automatic bill payments, RRSPs, tax free savings accounts and the like.
3. Spend less time on internet communication and more time on real communication: Big one! I feel like the digital age creates an unnecessary emotional distance between us all. We actually communicate more, but don’t feel closer to one another; it actually almost starts to feel like the internet version of a person isn’t connected to the actual person! You lose that feeling of intimacy. I’d like to minimize that and instead have real conversations with the people I care about more.
4. Try at least 3 unexplored restaurants in the city: Trying new food is always a fun adventure… (my recent soiree into Ethiopian food reinforced this idea...)
5. Get lost wandering the streets of Toronto with a friend: Setting out to explore the city without a particular destination in mind might just win as my favourite thing in the whole world to do. Might as well make it a resolution
6. Write a letter to each person in my immediate family describing all the things I admire and appreciate about them: I think this one will be highly mutually beneficial. It will give me the chance to rediscover why I’m so lucky to have the family that I do, and also allow them to be reminded that they are loved and appreciated – which is easy to lose sight of, as we all take each other for granted way too often.
7. Rediscover High Park: Every winter I drive by High Park and think to myself “man, I should really take advantage of that place more”. Then every summer, I forget. Not this one! (Hopefully).
8. Chart out the map of the world by hand, and chose 5 places I want to see before I die: My knowledge of world geography leaves a lot to be desired. I have a strong urge to release my inner cartographer and just draw out the whole world, which I don’t think I’ve ever done before; what better way to learn where everything is? Then, I can make a more educated decision about the places I would love to see.
9. Start riding my bicycle again: This is the year. I would love to finally dust off my bicycle and release it out into the world again. (This will tie very nicely into my “Living Green” phase of my blog, too!)
10. Learn to speak some Spanish: Yes - I want to ultimately learn to speak Spanish in its entirety. However, I added in the world “some” as a realistic caveat, acknowledging that learning an entire language from start to finish while doing all of these other things and working might be a tad ambitious.
11. Try a new activity/sport/enjoyable form of exercise: My healthy living has not totally gone by the wayside – my diet is still much improved, compared to how it was before. However, I have yet to figure out how to incorporate regular exercise into a full work week schedule. I think the trick may be to find something I really enjoy doing, like a sport or activity, which will motivate me more to keep it up…now I just need to find what that thing is!
12. Do more things I used to do as a child, like painting, that have no purpose other than sheer fun: There is something incredibly freeing about doing something for absolutely no other reason than because you enjoy it. I think it even carries over into other areas of your life that you used to find stressful – once you get back in touch with your inner child, you can start to bring that side of you to almost anything. So I’m going to try to make more time for this!
13. See the quarter-life crisis project to its completion: This has been a fabulous experience so far, and it will be a proud accomplishment next September 6, 2012 to look back at the year’s worth of adventures!
14. Drink more water: I am constantly dehydrated. It seems I’ve inherited my mother’s bad habit to drink just about as much liquid as is necessary to survive, and not a drop more. I think I feel the effects of it more than I’m aware, though. So time to give my body something to celebrate this year too by ingesting a little bit more of nature’s liquid gold.
15. Rediscover the joy of making music for music’s sake: Play show. Produce CD. Advertise. Got so caught up with all that crap in the last few years that I totally lost touch with the beautiful process of just making music for no real reason at all – just for creativity’s sake. Time to put down all of my external motivators and just start exploring music again!
Excited, hopeful and ready for 2012... :-)
xo Janine
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