What are some of your "non-standard" life goals?

[Apple]

I have two goals that are a bit "non-standard".  I probably have more, but these are ones I think about most...

I want to die with a fridge so covered in magnets that you can't see the fridge.  Why?  Because every time I travel, I buy a magnet and put it on the fridge.  A fridge full of magnets would mean that I lived a life with a ton of travel, something that I prioritize financially because I enjoy it so much.

I want to eventually replace every blanket in my house with one that is handmade.  There might be one or two that I keep because I really like them, but I enjoy quilting, and have crocheted one large afghan (one simple, very large granny square, because I can't follow a pattern yet).  I just love handmade blankets and quilts, some on the couch, some on the bed, some in the car, some in pretty much every room (except the kitchen and bathroom...)  

Anyone else got some "different" goals?

[kittensaver]

I want to take the pilgrimage hike on the Camino de Santiago. The whole thing, starting in the Pyrenees. It takes about six weeks.

But it has to be in July, for a stop in Pamplona to watch the running of the bulls.

And some century, I'd like to get the last remaining room in my house that needs it - remodeled (the second bathroom).

[tskeeter]

I want to teach the nephews and nieces to value their pioneer immigrant heritage.  To understand that their three times great grandparents left home with 60 pounds of food, a few personal possessions, and embarked on a new life.  Where they would spend the first winter living with six other people in a 12 X 18 foot hole in the ground, survive being stranded on the open prairie by a multi-day blizzard, homestead farm land, and raise families that would become college professors, engineers, attorneys, teachers and the like.

[Tennesseer]

Nov 7, 2017 16:32:33 GMT -5 tskeeter said:

I want to teach the nephews and nieces to value their pioneer immigrant heritage.  To understand that their three times great grandparents left home with 60 pounds of food, a few personal possessions, and embarked on a new life.  Where they would spend the first winter living with six other people in a 12 X 18 foot hole in the ground, survive being stranded on the open prairie by a multi-day blizzard, homestead farm land, and raise families that would become college professors, engineers, attorneys, teachers and the like.

No cable TV? That's toughing it.

[swasat]

I have a goal of owning and reading at least one book from each country on this earth that is "their" masterpiece. Something written by someone that defines that country.

So many countries, so little time.

27 done so far...LOTS more to go.

[saveinla]

Nov 7, 2017 17:14:40 GMT -5 swasat said:

I have a goal of owning and reading at least one book from each country on this earth that is "their" masterpiece. Something written by someone that defines that country.

So many countries, so little time.

27 done so far...LOTS more to go.

That's a great one - can you list a few that you have read?

[Deleted]

To never run in a marathon or other long distance endeavor.

To never golf again.

To visit all 50 states and 50  different countries.

[travelnut11]

I want to take my kids on a lengthy trip (9-12 months) around the world when they're 10/12 ish years old.

[giramomma]

Nov 7, 2017 23:05:20 GMT -5 travelnut11 said:

I want to take my kids on a lengthy trip (9-12 months) around the world when they're 10/12 ish years old.

My hope was Europe for 6-8 weeks. We had to use what we had saved up to pay for DS's braces.

That's my only regret of things that we can't provide the kids... a trip to Europe.

But, on the flip side, DS has been to 13 states and Canada by the time he was 11. That's not too bad, considering I grew up lower middle class and had been to 3 states by the same age.

[giramomma]

I want one of my first retirement trips to be spending a month or so driving the Blue Ridge Mountains.

I'd like to actually use up a good amount of my stash (to that end, I've really stopped buying things..now I just need time.)

I'd like to learn how to tat and between tatting and crocheting, make enough snowflakes to decorate one (large) Christmas tree.

I'd like to make each of my kids a table cloth, probably in hardanger...it sounded better with three kids, though...

[whoisjohngalt]

Nov 7, 2017 17:14:40 GMT -5 swasat said:

I have a goal of owning and reading at least one book from each country on this earth that is "their" masterpiece. Something written by someone that defines that country.

So many countries, so little time.

27 done so far...LOTS more to go.

List, please

[mamasita99]

I want to be fluent in at least three languages. I had years of french but lost the opportunity to speak it after college. I've picked up quite a bit of Spanish from DWs family, plus it's so similar to french. Now that I've passed my professional board exams and I'm done with higher ed for a little bit, I promised myself I would build up the language skills. Any other languages I pick up will depend on where my career takes me...

[Shooby]

  I have never done any gardening other than planting some landscaping, etc.  I just always had other things to do.  So, eventually, i would like to plant and grow a nice garden.  I always wanted to grow those giant sunflowers.  I think those are so pretty.

[milee]

I want to be a nationally ranked racing sailor.  May not happen - most of them are half my age, twice my size and guys, because it's very physically demanding.  And they learned to sail as kids.  But I don't care, I'm doing fine and enjoying the journey.

[Shooby]

However, it would also be nice to not have to have goals.  To just be and live life rather than running from one deadline and To Do to another!

[Deleted]

One goal I have that I'm unlikely to achieve:  be eligible to join the Travelers Century Club by visiting 100 countries.  Based on their loose definition ((England, Scotland and Ireland are separate, Spain's Balearic Islands are separate, etc.) I'm at 34.  I might hit 50 in my lifetime- will add Nepal next year.  I'll have a lot of fun trying!

[giramomma]

Nov 8, 2017 6:58:02 GMT -5 Shooby said:

However, it would also be nice to not have to have goals.  To just be and live life rather than running from one deadline and To Do to another!

I have to say, this is awesome, and why I'm looking forward to an early retirement.

[cktc]

Nov 8, 2017 6:58:02 GMT -5 Shooby said:

However, it would also be nice to not have to have goals.  To just be and live life rather than running from one deadline and To Do to another!

Sounds like a goal to me 

[suesinfl]

Nov 8, 2017 6:51:08 GMT -5 milee said:

I want to be a nationally ranked racing sailor.  May not happen - most of them are half my age, twice my size and guys, because it's very physically demanding.  And they learned to sail as kids.  But I don't care, I'm doing fine and enjoying the journey.

This is a large part of goals because if you're not enjoying the journey, it becomes work.

[billisonboard]

I used to have a goal of leaving this life with all the body parts with which I started. While I haven't lost any, life has been a lot more fun since I stopped avoiding activities that put them at risk.

[swasat]

Nov 7, 2017 17:17:24 GMT -5 saveinla said:

Nov 7, 2017 17:14:40 GMT -5 swasat said:

I have a goal of owning and reading at least one book from each country on this earth that is "their" masterpiece. Something written by someone that defines that country.

So many countries, so little time.

27 done so far...LOTS more to go.

That's a great one - can you list a few that you have read?

I went through my book shelves yesterday and picked up the first 10 I saw. Will update more after I have done an inventory of it all.



1. Germany

Simplicius Simplicissimus – By Hans Jakob Christoffel von Grimmelshausen


2. India

The Discovery of India – By Jawaharlal Nehru


3. Australia

Voss – By Patrick white


4.Pakistan
Mottled Dawn – By Saadat Hasan Manto


5. South Africa

Disgrace – By J.M.Coetzee


6. Kenya

Petals of Blood – By Ngugi wa Thiong’o


7. Taiwan

The Execution of Mayor Yin and Other Stories – By Chen Ruoxi


8. Portugal

The Maias – By Eca de Quieros


9. Peru

The Time of the Hero – By Mario Vargas Llosa


10. Netherland

De Avonden (The Evenings) – By Gerard Reve

[Deleted]

Nov 8, 2017 6:58:02 GMT -5 Shooby said:

However, it would also be nice to not have to have goals.  To just be and live life rather than running from one deadline and To Do to another!

I disagree.  Goals and aspirations are what make you want to get up in the morning- especially if they're built around your own interests and passions.  Many of the ones listed here ARE. 

I retired over 3 years ago and if I had no plans, no commitments, nothing that required any discipline, life would be pretty meaningless.  One quote I saved when I read it (don't remember the author) is that the three essential things for a happy life are something to do, someone to love and something to hope for.

While I don't have the same reading goal as swasat, I try to make sure that my pile form the library regularly includes a book translated form another language because it gives me insight into a different culture.

[swamp]

I don't know.    Right now I'm just at "go to work tomorrow"

Do another mini triathlon.    Get my golf game back to bogey golf.   Swim across the river, and maybe back.  Travel more places.    Train my dog to complete in water jumping contests.  Those sound doable.  

I have no idea what i want to do when i grow up.  Right now I'm so bogged down in the day to day obligations of raising kids and running a law firm that I'm not really looking to the future. 

[kittensaver]

Nov 8, 2017 6:49:09 GMT -5 Shooby said:

  I have never done any gardening other than planting some landscaping, etc.  I just always had other things to do.  So, eventually, i would like to plant and grow a nice garden.  I always wanted to grow those giant sunflowers.  I think those are so pretty.

When you plant your vegetable garden, it's actually pretty useful to plant those giant sunflowers in or next to your veggie beds. The birds will swoop down to the sunflower head to eat the seeds, but will then spy the bugs on your plants and go after them - picking your garden free of pests and helping you grow healthy, bug-free veggies and avoiding pesticides

[thyme4change]

Nov 8, 2017 10:56:31 GMT -5 @athena53 said:

Nov 8, 2017 6:58:02 GMT -5 Shooby said:

However, it would also be nice to not have to have goals.  To just be and live life rather than running from one deadline and To Do to another!

I disagree.  Goals and aspirations are what make you want to get up in the morning- especially if they're built around your own interests and passions.  Many of the ones listed here ARE. 

I retired over 3 years ago and if I had no plans, no commitments, nothing that required any discipline, life would be pretty meaningless.  One quote I saved when I read it (don't remember the author) is that the three essential things for a happy life are something to do, someone to love and something to hope for.

While I don't have the same reading goal as swasat, I try to make sure that my pile form the library regularly includes a book translated form another language because it gives me insight into a different culture.

I agree with athena. Your goals don't necessarily have to involve deadlines and stress. People who don't have things they want to do in retirement - even something like fish, or garden, or read books - tend to die earlier. Everyone needs a purpose, but that doesn't mean it has to be big and hard and involve a lot of sacrifice. Just that you have a reason to keep beathing.

[swamp]

I want to do research on the history of the homes in my city.    Who owned them, when were they built, what are the unique architectural features?  

[billisonboard]

Nov 8, 2017 15:47:10 GMT -5 thyme4change said:

... Your goals don't necessarily have to involve deadlines and stress. ...

Some goals are best not achieved. Our main community theatre director has cancer. She also has a goal of directing a certain show before she dies. We have refused to put that show on the schedule for a couple of years now. We want her to stay around.

[billisonboard]

Non-Standard Wish I need to turn into a Goal (i.e. stop talking about it and start doing it): I have completed two "legs" of a personal "triathlon".  I have bicycled the length of Washington State (having completed both the Seattle to Portland (STP) and the Ride from Seattle to Vancouver (BC) and Party (RSVP).  I have hiked the length of Washington from Oregon to Canada on the Pacific Crest Trail (done over multiple summers).  Although I have cruised the length of Washington along the coast thanks to the US Naval Reserve, I need to do it under my own power.  So the idea is to kayak the Columbia River from Canada to Oregon.

[Opti]

Nov 8, 2017 16:15:04 GMT -5 billisonboard said:

Nov 8, 2017 15:47:10 GMT -5 thyme4change said:

... Your goals don't necessarily have to involve deadlines and stress. ...

Some goals are best not achieved. Our main community theatre director has cancer. She also has a goal of directing a certain show before she dies. We have refused to put that show on the schedule for a couple of years now. We want her to stay around.

Its a noble goal, but I wouldn't keep pushing it off the schedule. Better to have her die early achieving one of her goals than dying later being stymied from achieving that goal. MO. YMMV.

[Opti]

I don't know how non-standard these are but,

Be a paid singer (at least one gig)

Write and publish at least one book

Be a film-maker