I doubt that any of the current readers, lurkers and trolls that stumble across this blog have actually read the ‘short list’ post that I put up in 2006. This is not, nor was it ever intended to substitute for a ‘bucket list’. Here it is again, just ‘because’ I’m thinking that I will begin to build the core of the current incarnation of the blog around it with homage to my cancer battle and my challenge with the stroke. What do you think?
the ‘re-post’ starts here>>
As I am drawn through the day-to-day meanderings that make up my world, I am encountering more and more youngish people on the verge of being thrown into the rough-and-tumble adult world… and I can’t help but think that, for the most part, they just aren’t properly prepared for it. Hell, I know I wasn’t.. and I sure wish that someone had made a few suggestions at key moments when I might have listened.
These days I’m fighting with a number of different demons, not the least of which is self awareness. I had always thought that I was ‘aware’, but the more time I spend on the business of living, I am discovering that I spent way too much of my time ‘being cool’ instead of being aware. And to be aware means to live, fully. Now I’m not suggesting that finding your cool, and being the you in the cool is a problem or a waste of time or energy, but what I am saying is that your cool can have a drive-by sort of relationship with the mainstream, not-quite-so-cool world that awaits you. And from those occasional oblique visitations with the mainstream world, you may find that your level of satisfaction increases, and, strangely enough, sustained happiness becomes a lot easier.
Its about doing yourself and those around you a favour. Its the favour of Getting involved in living your life: Stop standing outside watching it live you...
I doubt that anyone of the target group is listening now, but on the off chance that there is, here is a short list of some of the things I wish I had done in preparation to move into adulthood;
- learn to dance and then get out and do it
- learn to meditate
- learn to negotiate and mediate
- learn to manage time
- learn to manage friends
- learn to manage money
- discover the wisdom and understanding of when to wear the uniform of the rowdy thrill seeking ‘kid’, and when and how to wear the uniform of responsibility
- learn how and when to shave
- I wish I had learned earlier when it was time to think about personal hygiene; when to begin using deodorant, when to begin showering daily, when/how often to wash my hair, face and hands
- learn how not to chew your fingernails
- learn when to spend on quality, and when to spend on throwaways
- how to buy good shoes and then how to maintain them
- buy a good bed
- learn to cook
- learn to tell a good bottle of wine from overpriced plonk, when to spend the money on good wine and when beer is not an appropriate choice
- develop a lifelong exercise regime
- learn yoga/tai chi
- learn to type
- learn how to set a table properly, with all the plates, cutlery and glasses and napkins
- learn how to use all of the cutlery and when
- get a motorcycle license, and learn to drive properly
- learn to swim
- learn the difference between intimacy and sex
- find a dentist who you can keep seeing for years, who will help you keep your teeth for your lifetime
- find a doctor who you can keep seeing for years, who can become a confidant and help keep you healthy
So that’s the short list, without explanations. There is, of course the back story for each item on the list and of cours a longer list, and all of the stories and explanations that substantiate them. Those will come later as I grow bolder, and irrevocably older…