Airplanes (Rihanna, Eminem, B.o.B.)

The longer I live and learn, the more I seem to realize that much like the saying "Possession is nine tenths of the law," the truly inspirational individuals are simply those that decide to stop saying "Someday.." and instead begin to say "Why not now?" This year I have devoted myself to DOING rather than living on a strict diet of dreaming. I've begun to assemble a material bucket list (that is, a list of things I want to do). This list grows and grows with everything on it from "learn to dance" to "run a triathlon" and "learn to pilot a plane" or "become scuba certified." On my twenty first birthday I plan to take a trip outside the country. These are things I have always wanted to do but somehow I've always put off. It's scary to face up to the fact that you can actually do these things, to cross the bridge from dreaming to making your thoughts a reality.

 Somewhere I've always been impressed by triathletes, but when I realized a local triathlon is held and children and elderly participate every year I thought to myself, "What's keeping me back?" Am I not fit enough to participate in a triathlon? Well, I have a couple months to prepare. Am I a subpar swimmer? I can just join a class at the local pool. It has also occurred to me that some of the barriers keeping me back are the possibilities for humiliation. Isn't it kind of embarrassing to join a swimming class at 20? Then again, everyone has to learn to become truly good at something sometime, and who will be laughing when I turn out to be an excellent swimmer afterwards? Why do people stop taking certain types of classes at a certain age? Our dreams live on inside, and instead of continuing to reach for them some of us seem to just sigh and regret we never did these things when we were younger. Age doesn't cripple, though. I have seen many people well into old age who have continued to reach for the stars and their capabilities are far beyond that of their younger counterparts. What's the difference? The will to go for something.

To ensure I don't start slipping, I've decided to do at least one great thing every month. Since promising myself this I've joined several new gym classes including my personal favorite, Zumba (which I believe in part satisfies the "learn to dance" point). I've signed up to volunteer at the MudFactor, joined two hiking groups, become a solid member of a youth group, acheived an excellent job, begun to save for my future travels and hobbies, and generally begun the transition into becoming a figure somewhat like Jim Carrey's "Yes Man." For anyone who hasn't seen it, this movie is the hilarious epic of a man who has slipped into a sad degraded routine of a life when he gets recruited by a group of slightly deranged individuals who have a new philosophy for him. "Become a YES man!" They advise, their entire belief system is to say "Yes" to everything. That's right, everything. He ends up giving rides to hobos, joining numerous lessons from a posterboard, approving every loan that enters his office, going to that weird office party, attending that low level concert... And his life is flipped from its axis into a brand new weird, wonderful and crazy thing. In the end, of course, he realizes that this philosophy has to be modified - saying yes to EVERYTHING isn't a good thing, but why not say yes MORE?

Another great thing that has happened to me is that I started working for a family that lives a bit differently than any I've worked for before. Most families I work for spend their money as efficiently as possible to afford the most luxurious life they can. People have nice houses and nice cars stocked with the nicest of the their favorite items. This family has a nice car and house, but they don't buy new things just because. The clothes they have are all well loved and used, the toys they own are played with and extras are not kept. Their books are well read and their hobbies aren't solely materialistic. I have come to not only admire this way of living but decided to emulate it in my own way. Why do I need brand new clothes all the time? I'm not growing, and I have plenty. I have several pairs of shoes that aren't worn out. Have I ever worn out a pair of shoes?  Some deep silly part of my soul is thrilled at the idea of completely wearing out a pair of shoes until it would be mediocre to wear them again. 

And why not? There's no need to cast off our old things as soon as we can afford something new. Reducing my carbon footprint is pretty thrilling, but also when I have that much more money in my pocket I can only imagine now the kinds of things I'll be able to do instead. I have been quietly planning a visit to the old stomping grounds but now I've got this ridiculous idea in my head. What if my budget for that trip was something ridiculously low, demanding that I find more interesting ways to spend my money than paying some company to entertain me? What if I worked, and volunteered my time, hiked, and swam, and crashed on the couches of relatives and wore the same old clothes and spent my money mostly on the gas it takes to go see great things or learn something new? What a truly romanticized, hipster idea. I'm just young and foolish enough to LOVE it. 

I'm becoming the stereotypical 20 year old I suppose, but there is nothing so wrong with that. I've been dancing and hiking and working out and reading and dreaming and working hard but now I'm making plans too. And I'm ready to rock this world. Who's with me?