More than a year ago, I came across Maggie Mason’s Mighty Life List, which inspired me to make my own list of 100 things I want to do before I die.
Now there are two schools of thought behind this whole life list thing:
- You have those people who believe your goals should be unambiguous and have a measurable or clearly defined result. Often, this goes hand in hand with setting a time limit: do 101 things in 1001 days.
- And then there are people who say,
Hey, it’s my life, and if I’m going to make a list with things I want to do, I’ll do it any damn way I like. Thank you very much.
Obviously, I’m all over option two, so my list doesn’t only contain things like “bake an apple-bacon pie,” “climb the Onze Lieve Vrouwetoren in Amersfoort” and “learn a new language,” but also vague stuff like “go the extra mile” and “write something that’s really, really good.”
It’s meant to be a fun and lighthearted thing, to see what’s important to me now. If I, three months or seven years from now, feel the need to drastically revise or completely abandon this list, I will do so in a heartbeat. It isn’t meant to be a rigid to-do list, and I don’t have to account to anyone but myself.
So, go on over to the brand new 100 things page, and have a look. Or don’t. See if I care. ;-)
— 100 things —