Wednesday, June 29, 2011

Celebrate life's little accomplishments, too

By Sarah "Alys" Lindholm, My Life List Member

Wow.

As I was writing my 750 words today, I randomly started thinking, "What new things have I done for the first time this year?" So I tried making a list. I'm sure it's incomplete, but it was pretty interesting.

-first ever professional foot massage (that I can really remember; first Chinese one anyway)
-first time ordering my own professionally printed business cards
-first time playing a video game that has tag mode
-first translation of a death certificate
-first whatever the hell that Paradise Lost thing is
-first automatic monthly charitable donations
-first donation to the Sea Turtle Conservancy
-first physical therapy for TMJ (the jury's still out)
-first contract with [name of client redacted]
-first paid yoga classes, which is also my first hot yoga experience
-first fitness membership with Persephone
-first time playing laser tag
-first disc QC @ FUNimation (partial)
-first director's invitation to the booth to listen to a dub of my show just for fun
-first time seeing my name in print as the translator of a novel
-first Groupon purchase
-first Barnes & Noble membership card
-first coconut steamer at Starbucks
-first time seeing any Glee
-first visit to Texas by my sister
-first time playing games at Lumosity
-first experimentation with self-acupressure
-first time eating at Rafain
-first time eating at Mooyah

I'm sure we all do new things all the time (or at least, I hope we do), but I often don't sit back and think "Hey, I am doing a new thing now!" I did with the foot massage, because that was a deliberate "reward myself with a new experience" type of thing. But a lot of these, like the business cards--I've tried making them myself before and it's a waste of time and money--and the new drink I tried at Starbucks? Totally not things I thought about. It's actually pretty cool to look at this and think in a deliberate way about how I really am a person who experiments and grows, even in little ways, and how most of us are growing all the time in little ways, and how we make our lives richer and more interesting.

Here are some more firsts I hope to have under my belt before the end of 2011:

-first stay in a bed & breakfast as an adult paying my own way
-first time attending a wedding in a state park
-first time memorizing the names of all the relatives at a family reunion before I go
-first facial
-first time riding Star Tours
-first pedicure
-first time eating the omakase meal at Ino's (a Japanese restaurant in Richardson, TX)
-first time staying at my brother and sister-in-law's house

I'll have to try noticing more of these more frequently. It's fun! And maybe recording new things will spur me to try even more new things!

Sarah is a Japanese-English translator, musician, compulsive reader and an active member of the My Life List community of achievers. Check out her public profile here to see if you share any major life experiences!

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