A couple years ago a friend told me about a list of things he wanted to do in his lifetime. He wrote it while he was in high school and by this point he had graduated college and realized his time was running out to accomplish some of the things on his list before the strains of adult life held fast their unrelenting hold on him. The most remarkable thing on his list was to run a marathon. This man was at least a hundred pounds away from running a marathon but that didn't stop him, it actually became greater motivation. He inspired me to come up with my own list. Now two years later I think I'm finally ready to give this list a try.
Life Goals:
1. Hike the entire Appalachian Trail
2. Run a Marathon
3. Spend a minimum of 8 years in another country
4. Adopt children
5. Write a book
Now we all know that dreaming about doing things is not enough. Unless we make concrete efforts to accomplish goals they will never get themselves done.
So here's where I'm at in accomplishing each of these things:
1. Looks like I'll begin preparing to make the voyage across 14 eastern states from March-September 2009.
2. I'm trying to run 2-3 times a week to maintain current shape but have not selected a marathon or year.
3. Preparing to work on a Servant Team with Word Made Flesh this fall to see if WMF would be an organization that I could serve with for many years.
4. I know that I want a boy from Africa and a girl from South East Asia but I'm single and in a transitional stage in life so I am not prepared to have kids of my own yet. I would prefer to wait until I'm married and plan to live in one place for several years before beginning the adoption process.
5. I have an outline for the book I want to write. I plan to work on the majority of it after graduation from Wheaton while working in Lubbock. Some before the AT and finishing after just before going overseas long-term. Approx. date of release: 2011.
There, that was a fun exercise. I'll come back to this in a year and see what kind of progress has been made. You should come up with a life goals list as well. No matter how young or old you are goals and very good to motivate us to constantly better ourselves and benefit the world we live in.
blessings,
jp
1 comment:
Hey. First thanks for having a link to Word Made Flesh. I'm knowledgable about gobs of great charities but I'd never heard of that one before. Looks interesting and like they do great work!!
But listen... toss out that list of goals. Why? You're 21, right? You have absolutely no idea what God has in store for you. He might not want you to hike the A.T. or adopt or He might want you to never again leave America for whatever reason He has in mind for you. Of course on the other hand, these things could all be very achievable... but you mentioned about your friend -- "before the strains of adult life held fast their unrelenting hold on him." -- that's rubbish. Maybe I'm different, being one who tries to always go against the grain... my philosophy is that no one should ever be unrelentingly bound by "adult life." That's not saying one should always act childish or like a kid but if one wants to break free from the monotony of whatever, they should have the guts to do so! There should be no such thing as 4 years of high school, 4 years of college, career, maybe an MBA, family, 1, 2, 3, A, B, C, everything goes in a line la di da di da. If that's cool for some people then so be it, so long as it's not hurting anyone or themselves. But others can't be held to such a "normal" life. I believe it's great to have ideas of what you wanna accomplish. Having goals could mean you might never achieve them and that could bring disappointment. I know this is kinda crazy saying Have No Goals but seriously, ideas can be like goals... but life changes and it can change in a heartbeat and make a goal become completely impossible for whatever reason. But ideas can morph, they can change, and we change... plus God's in control, or at least He oughta be!
Well, I found your unconventionalwisdom and felt the need to ramble/rant and I hope you're not offended or think I'm nuts in any way. Thinking about kayaking down the Tigris River nuts or gaining entry into North Korea nuts, that kind o' nuts I might a little bit be... but not clinically nuts :)
And I do like your goals even though I'm against having goals when ideas, I think, serve a better purpose in one's life. Myself a future marathoner (possibly though I'm a looooooong way from it) and A.T. thru-hiker (10,000% more probable) I wish you the best o' luck on all of 'em and I'll keep readin' ya in the future.
Take Care & God Bless!
P.S. plant this idea in your head -- hike the A.T. to raise awareness and money for a charity close to your heart! If you want some links to people doing just that, let me know and I'll be happy to provide! Ciao!
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