This blog post is not about health and fitness, cycling or triathlons, or even nutrition. Or is it? In a way yes it is, this entry is about a journey through self-awareness and healthy mental clarity; it is about getting the most out of life, making a difference in the lives of others, and encouraging others to experience as many of their bucket list items as possible. I believe life is a gift and I intend to use each and every day to its fullest potential. I have realized that my career in helping people live healthy lives does not end with the physical, I have been missing another part of it for so many years….the mental/emotional/ and spiritual side of life and how I can better it for those I work with.
How do I make myself a better person to be able to help others? Then I realized how can I help others if I don’t understand who am I? This seems like a simple enough question but it has really gotten me thinking. I’m talking deep, introspective, peel off the layers kind of thinking. Why do I do the things I do? Do I have internal markers that are pushing me a certain direction?
It has been through many friendships, relationships, heart ache and bliss that I started to really look at myself and question what kind of person am I. What is important to me and where does that come from, am I holding myself back from my true potential in some way and if so why? If I am holding myself back what kind of example am I to my clients and others in my life. The more life experiences I began to have the more I started to really feel connected to myself. I started to see things differently and as this process happened I realized I saw a lot that I really liked but I also saw stuff that I didn’t like. I can best describe this process as a windless day at sea, then without warning the winds picked up and next thing I knew a storm arose and the sailboat was moving at 50knots and the sea floor rose to the surface. There I was faced with all things bubbling up from below the surface. Some things I was pleased with while others I recognized as unproductive and I definitely did not want to choose that again.
Now that I could see the things that were hiding at the bottom of my internal sea, I was presented with a problem. What do I do about this? While I waged war against my inner self something was growing inside of me. I finally decided to open my eyes and saw it was a need to nurture myself. I had a need to grow and learn and discover.
One day after hearing about the current trend in writing bucket lists, and your top things to do before you are 20, 30, 40 and on, I sat down on a whim and wrote a bucket list of things I would love to do in my lifetime. At first it was really hard to come up with items. I had lost myself over the years and did not even know what I wanted! That realization upset me because I was not learning and growing. So I sat back and thought deep and long and was able to open up to myself, and the ideas started to flow. I had so many ideas my list ended up several pages long. I got excited and yet this too stirred up emotions I did not recognize at first.
My first thoughts when I looked at my list were oh no, why have I waited so long, why didn’t I do this when I was 18 like everyone else did. How did I get to be 35 and not live life! It then hit me that I needed to write everything I would have wanted to do in my life as if I were back in Kindergarten (as that is about as far back as I can remember having life aspirations).
Sitting back in my chair and reading over this new list I let myself reflect on my life choices, I realized I had successfully made many dreams come true and when I focused on what I had already accomplished I felt really good about myself. It dawned on me that I needed to do much more of this to remind me of the good that I am going and to stop glancing over it.
This exercise was good for me and my soul needed this kind of nurturing. This nurturing of myself has allowed me to love life again and in new and better ways. I hope this post inspires you to evaluate your own life and determine if you are going the direction you want.
Without further rambling I share with you my 40 Things I want to Do Before I Turn 40.
ADVENTURE/EXPERIENCE
Complete an Ironman Triathlon in under 12 hours
Run a Marathon in under 4 hours
Skydiving
Become a better dancer (Country Two Step, West/East Coast
Swing)
Experience the Aurora Borealis
Learn how to Hang Glide
Take a Flight in a Glider Plane
Swim with Sea Turtles
Go Zorbing
Learn to drag my knee on my motorcycle
CAREER/EDUCATION
Make video blogs for my business
Complete my patent and start producing it…any investors out
there???
Make fitness videos
(sorry can’t tell what they are yet) and get them out for people to use.
COMMUNITY
Pay it forward (buy someones groceries, pay their bridge
toll, ect.)
Leave encouraging notes in books for others to find
Provide work clothes for economically disadvantaged women
through Dress for Success
Volunteer at a soup kitchen on 2 major family holidays, Thanksgiving
and Christmas Day
Perform random acts of kindness every week
Help Build a house for Habitat for Humanity
FAMILY
Become close with my sister and mother
Call my mother and sister on a weekly/biweekly basis
FINANCIAL
Pay off all debt except school loan, and mortgage
Break the 6 digit salary barrier
PERSONAL
Make deeper meaningful connections with people in my life
Make a child laugh uncontrollably
Never Stop Learning, Dreaming, hoping, and NEVER give up…
Become a better photographer, and sell some stuff
Inspire others through kindness, sharing and
video/quote/book
GO an entire month without eating ANY chocolate
Learn to live more simplistically/minimally
Spend time with people who inspire me, then share that with
people I care about
Take my father to Ireland, spread his ashes both in Ireland
and sailing with his best friends
Dance in the rain every chance I get
SELF IMPROVEMENT
Learn to forgive and make peace with BOTH myself and others
Get Lost, get totally lost then find yourself
Be able to Completely Love myself for WHO I am and WHAT I
stand for
Learn another Language and Speak it fluently
TRAVEL
Travel to Ireland and Iceland
Travel to Scandinavia
Scuba Dive the Great Barrier reefI hope you have enjoyed reading this post and getting a glimpse into my inner workings. Now it is your turn open up to yourself and see what amazing things can truly happen, and the amazing things you have already done with your life.
In Good Health
~Jamii
