Kicking the List to the Curb (sorta)

I've been doing a lot of thinking lately. A lot of thinking that is the result of talking to a bunch of new people about my 30x30 list. I love talking about the list, not only because I love talking about myself (ha!) but mostly because I like talking about WHY the list is around and HOW I came up with the things on it.

I have also recently been engaging more in conversation regarding how many of the items on the list are evolving. The knitting goal has turned into this "knit something inspired by a novel you have never read that an author is going to wear on tour" thing. The quilting is becoming much more social and involved, with people I don't know well/at all expressing interest in joining a quilting circle. The running is spilling over into my professional world with a publishing running group. The hair donation is going to be a local fundraiser. Etc. Etc. It is really interesting how this very personal list is slowly expanding outwards and involving more and more people. And I love it.

The funny thing is that I want more of this. More of these goal-expanding experiences. I know that maybe this is crazy, and that with a list of 29 as-of-yet-unaccomplished things, maybe I should focus more on the things that I already have listed, but I can't help but come up with new goals, more goals, goals I never considered at the beginning.

And there is nothing wrong with that. I had brunch (it was really sneaky breakfast, but shh) with a friend last weekend and something he said has been playing on repeat in my head: it doesn't need to be on the list for me to do it.

So true. I could very well do these new things without putting them out there or needing to check them off.

But then I wondered: are some of the things on the list NOW things that don't need to be there and that I should just be doing anyway?

It really made me think why things had been put there to begin with and the motivation behind them. And really, I feel like I have already learned so much from this experience and changed my habits that maybe they don't NEED to be up there anymore. There are some that are just part of my life now. So maybe I should replace them with one of these new goals??

This is a hard one for me - I like making plans and I LOVE sticking to them. I mentioned before about maybe possibly being something of a mild control freak (*ahem*) and so I feel a huge sense of order and therefore calm from having these planned out, with a clear path to follow. I don't like changes to those plans.

But I think in this instance it may be good for me to change the plan. Both as an exercise in learning to be more flexible, but also so that I can really maximize my 30x30 list.

So all that babble up there to say this: I'm changing some of the items on my list.

Which ones? Not the hard ones, but not the trivial ones either. I'm bumping the ones that I'm doing anyways, which out thinking about them. I am still going to keep them on the blog and report on them, etc. but they won't be part of the 30.

So the ones being cut are: 

• Journal for the whole year - either on the blog or on paper
• Take myself on a birthday "date" on or close to the 8th of every month - reflect on how things are going with the list/in life/etc.
• Call each of my sisters for a sit-down conversation once a month (I have a lot of sisters so this will take up most of my Sundays)

I'm doing these things without even thinking about it, and I would rather use these spots to work towards goals that are a little more challenging, that expand my horizons a bit more and that I will feel a good sense of accomplishment in completing. Don't worry sisters, I'm still going to call you all the time.