New Year's Un-Resolutions

I don’t do New Year’s resolutions – at least, not the “this year I’m going to lose 20 lbs, exercise more, drink less, organize the basement, and be nicer to my sister” kind of resolutions that everyone makes  in January and everyone breaks by March.  But still, I find the new year's eve a time for reflection -- not resolutions, but a time to think about priorities, “What will I write in the blank book that is my life, 2013?”

In my 20s, when the possibilities were infinite and future was wide an green and forever stretching before me, I had definite goals for my life; things like “Have a meaningful career,” “Find a forever lover,” “Raise a child,” “Live in a great place.” Some were achieved, some fell away.

Now in my late 50s, after retiring from a satisfying career and well past the age when I could have a kid if I wanted to, I realized that although I don’t have big life “goals” there is still definitely some big stuff I want in my life.  So instead of wearing a funny paper hat last night while drinking champagne, I drank cherry lemonade and sat with a pencil and my thoughts.  Below is the list I came up with, trying to articulate what big stuff I want in my life.  Getting up of course to watch the fireworks at 7:30 and at midnight; I’m not too old to love magic lights in the sky at night!

Big stuff I want in my life. The items on this list aren’t finely worded or for publication, they are not in order, they’re just for me (and you if you are interested).  I’ll probably come back and tweak this list from time to time. It intrigues me to see how many of the things I’ve prioritized are linked and intertwined.

• Dan!!!
• No worries about money, i.e., living below our means.  I feel wealthiest when I balance the checkbook and have a bit left over for charity and for being able to overtip my server at a restaurant.
• Opportunities for engagement with people in stimulating conversation – time for friends old and new, in ‘real life’ and online.  True to my Leo horoscope, I’m an unabashed extrovert.
• Health, being able to go for long leisurely walks and maintaining my physical therapy exercise regimen.
• Building the world I want to live in, and leaving the world better than I found it – volunteering and giving back, charity, having an impact, being mindful of our environmental footprint.  Writing something that leaves an impression.
• Opportunities for continued learning.
• Being in touch with Nature and seasons.
• Small space living, part of both having a great home, and creating a small footprint.  
• A home that works for me.  This includes both a great town, and a great house.  A great town would be on that is literate, politically moderate to liberal, lots of educational and cultural opportunities, probably a college town with both seasons and scenery. When I was shopping for my first house I told the realtor that what I wanted, the only requirements, were lots of wood, lots of sunshine, a great view and a great kitchen.    That list has never changed.  Although the sizes of the homes have varied for many reasons, there has always been a strong preference for small space living. from the massive Victorian we owned in Wyoming to the little sailboat. Settle somewhere I could have a cozy home and be in touch with nature and the change of seasons (a stone cottage on a bluff beside the ocean in New England, maybe, or a cabin in the Colorado mountains).  Most important, I need a feeling of safety at home. 
• Seasons, change, and newness.
• Time for hobbies, and growth, lifelong and new – cooking, reading, travel, history, maybe some art. Writing.

As interesting to me as what I put in the list, is what I left out.  Traveling by sailboat isn’t on the list. (!!??)  I love our life afloat and don’t have any plans to change it in the near or moderate future; it’s a perfect platform for getting everything on my list into my life.  It’s just that sailing, in and of itself, isn’t a goal; the things on my list could be accomplished in other ways.  I don’t necessarily want to be a great sailor.  I want to have a great life, while sailing.