"but that's 400 things?!" said Alan when I explained my plan for 2020.
Box ticking is one of the things Alan finds a bit irritating and I have to say I can sometimes see his point - ticking something off a list (especially one that someone else has written) to say "I've done that" seems a bit...well arbitrary. Visiting x site when actually a less famous site might be more to your taste than queuing up for "the selfie" that everyone else has.
As I know that this is the year that my age arbitrarily changes into another decade, I'm going to attempt not to have any mid-life type crisis and just think positively about this new decade and concentrate on doing more of the things that either make me happy, improve my wellbeing or are good for the world in general. I quite like that the numbers are all 20 as this makes some of the tasks quite easy to achieve, but they are all important and valuable activities for me and some of them will be more of a stretch.
(You might notice that none of the below specifically include "spending time with Alan....I'd hope that I don't need to arbitrarily task myself to do that, plus he doesn't like ticking off boxes ;-) )
1 - Complete 20 parkruns - an "easy" one as I've averaged more like 40 per year since I discovered parkrun in 2014.
2 - Donate to charity / recycle 20 bags or boxes of stuff - living in a house with no storage is great in some ways as it forces this issue, but recently I've definitely accumulated too much and a sort out would be useful.
3 - Go to 20 yoga or pilates sessions.
4 - Write 20 letters or postcards
5 - Complete at least 20 crafting sessions - either alone or even better with friends
6 - 20 sessions of creative writing / blogging entries
7 - 20 sessions of mindfulness - Ideally I'd do this everyday, but I'm not great at always remembering, so this is a nice achievable target.
8 - Today having a stunning walk around Fairburn Ings RSPB nature reserve I realised this is one thing that makes me really happy and so I want to do at least 20 walks or runs around beautiful nature locations.
9 - Leading or backmarking at least 20 run club sessions
10 - Volunteer at least 20 times
11 - Meet friends for coffee/lunch/catch ups at least 20 times
12 - Read 20 books
13 - Watch 20 new films
14 - Spend 20 hours learning something new
15 - Get at least 8 hours sleep 20 times (this is a challenge as my regular daytime sleep is only 6.5 hours)
16 - Visit 20 new places (not countries, just different places that I've not been before, whether a restaurant, or a nice place to walk)
17 - Visit the gym at least 20 times (pretty sure I didn't manage this in 2019)
18 - Plant 20 "things" whether seed bombs or vegetables.
19 - Watch at least 20 live music acts (should be achievable as we are least going to Blue Dot festival again and hopefully might still get tickets to Glastonbury in the resales - fingers crossed!)
20 - Get to work without driving at least 20 times (I'll cheat if needed and include working from home!)
Wish me luck
Box ticking is one of the things Alan finds a bit irritating and I have to say I can sometimes see his point - ticking something off a list (especially one that someone else has written) to say "I've done that" seems a bit...well arbitrary. Visiting x site when actually a less famous site might be more to your taste than queuing up for "the selfie" that everyone else has.
As I know that this is the year that my age arbitrarily changes into another decade, I'm going to attempt not to have any mid-life type crisis and just think positively about this new decade and concentrate on doing more of the things that either make me happy, improve my wellbeing or are good for the world in general. I quite like that the numbers are all 20 as this makes some of the tasks quite easy to achieve, but they are all important and valuable activities for me and some of them will be more of a stretch.
(You might notice that none of the below specifically include "spending time with Alan....I'd hope that I don't need to arbitrarily task myself to do that, plus he doesn't like ticking off boxes ;-) )
1 - Complete 20 parkruns - an "easy" one as I've averaged more like 40 per year since I discovered parkrun in 2014.
2 - Donate to charity / recycle 20 bags or boxes of stuff - living in a house with no storage is great in some ways as it forces this issue, but recently I've definitely accumulated too much and a sort out would be useful.
3 - Go to 20 yoga or pilates sessions.
4 - Write 20 letters or postcards
5 - Complete at least 20 crafting sessions - either alone or even better with friends
6 - 20 sessions of creative writing / blogging entries
7 - 20 sessions of mindfulness - Ideally I'd do this everyday, but I'm not great at always remembering, so this is a nice achievable target.
8 - Today having a stunning walk around Fairburn Ings RSPB nature reserve I realised this is one thing that makes me really happy and so I want to do at least 20 walks or runs around beautiful nature locations.
9 - Leading or backmarking at least 20 run club sessions
10 - Volunteer at least 20 times
11 - Meet friends for coffee/lunch/catch ups at least 20 times
12 - Read 20 books
13 - Watch 20 new films
14 - Spend 20 hours learning something new
15 - Get at least 8 hours sleep 20 times (this is a challenge as my regular daytime sleep is only 6.5 hours)
16 - Visit 20 new places (not countries, just different places that I've not been before, whether a restaurant, or a nice place to walk)
17 - Visit the gym at least 20 times (pretty sure I didn't manage this in 2019)
18 - Plant 20 "things" whether seed bombs or vegetables.
19 - Watch at least 20 live music acts (should be achievable as we are least going to Blue Dot festival again and hopefully might still get tickets to Glastonbury in the resales - fingers crossed!)
20 - Get to work without driving at least 20 times (I'll cheat if needed and include working from home!)
Wish me luck
