What's on your list?

I am taking this news writing class in summer school where we are being taught how to write different types of stories. Well, recently we have been writing a lot of obituaries. It is kind of morbid I know, but it really was not that weird until we had to write our own

...and I had nothing to write.

I have done some incredible things in my life: I have lived all over the U.S. and in Spain and traveled to various other countries; I have learned another language (although my grammar is not that great, but it's not great in English either); I have competed in and won many athletic events; I have jumped off, repelled down and climbed up cliffs; I have surfed, skied, snowboarded, wake boarded; I have maintained a high GPA at two of the top universities in the country....but none are quite the stuff of legend.

In a previous class assignment, we were given the 20 page resume, which is the shortened version, of our accomplished professor and were asked to write his obituary and include some of his most important accomplishments. When I first looked at the 20 pages of awards, titles and accomplishments of my professor I was extremely overwhelmed. How can anyone compare to that? Now, I realize that I am about a third of the man's age, but it is daunting to look at what I must one day measure up to.

I have recently finished Michael J. Fox's new book, Always Looking Up: The Adventures of an Incurable Optimist. It is such an incredible book. Michael J. Fox is not only a gifted actor but an incredible husband, father, activist, optimist. He is not only an inspiration for all suffering from any life-altering event/disease, but he is an inspiration for any one who wants to make a positive difference in the world.

In his book, he wrote, "if ten years ago, as I set upon this second-act odyssey [meaning his career in activism, politics and parenthood, after he left his acting career in 2000], I had compiled a list of everything I'd hope to accomplish to this point, I would discover that I had sold myself short" (page. 263).

What a bold statement. To say that the lofty goals you set for yourself were not quite high enough. I hope I can say that I did not dream big enough.

As you can probably guess from prior blog posts, I get a lot of ideas from movies and television. Well, A Walk to Remember is one of the movies I have gotten plenty of ideas from. I carry around a journal to write down quotes that catch my attention or share a bit of wisdom, so that I might one day be able to give it to my children and they might too find them enlightening. Also, I think the notion of writing down a list of goals is a great idea. Some of mine are as lofty as traveling to every continent or writing a book, and some are more domestic, but equally challenging, like getting married and having children.

So my challenge is: take some time to self-evaluate. Have you accomplished any of your goals yet? Have you made this world a better place? Now look to the future and DREAM BIG!! Hopefully, we will accomplish all that we hope to with little regrets. Lets get started!