In the article, she cited how hard she worked at it, about dealing with hecklers, failure and motherhood. In reading her story I felt the feeling of Envy change. Envy is really just that feeling of respecting something about someone else that you wish you could apply to yourself. When we transform that feeling of Envy into a positive, we are left with Inpsiration. You can use the feeling of wanting what someone else has for good instead of letting it eat away at you. So I decied to get inspried by her success as a comic instead of saying to myself, "Why her?"
Instead, I decided to ask myself, "What can I take away from her experience and use in my own experience?"
Well, me not pursuing stand up comedy was one thing. I really don't want to have to work that hard...at anything! I also really, really enjoy my bedtime. Having to stay up late and be funny in a comedy club (the reality of being a stand-up comic) isn't for me.
However, the part of her interview that inspired me was the fact that her stand up comedy career all began becuase of a list. She had made a list of "30 Things to do before I turn 30". On that list was to try an ameteur night as a comic. Just get up on the stage one time to say you did it. (After that, she liked it so much she did it again, and again...and so on until she is now touring with other comedians.)
So, the Inspriation for me was to make a similar list.
My list is now called "40 Things to do by my 40th year". I included the entire year I turn 40 becuase, well, my birthday is in Februrary and there are lots of things I want to do that year related to turning 40 that won't all fit in the first two months.
Also I started this list when I was 37. So I had a 4 year window in which to accomplish as many of the items on that list as I could (counting the year I turn 40.) I have lots of gal pals from all over that are wanting to plan trips for our 40th year. Some of those are on the list. There are bucket list type items on there as well, things I have personally always wanted to do. Some items are silly, some items are unmentionable. There are also items on the list that I have already checked off, like taking the kids to the Wizarding World of Harry Potter. (Yep, that one was on the list.)
Since many of us are staying inside these days, none of the list is even on my radar. I can't go ride a mechanical bull right now. But what I can do is go through the list and share the applicable parts of it with the readers of Fun Dollars, becuase guess what? As I go through some of these, you are going to hear about it. How else do you think I am going to fund my little list? With Fun Dollars, of course!
So, in an effort to maybe inspire you to create your own post-pandemic bucket list (or whatever you want to name it) here is my list of things I want to do before the end of 2022, the year I turn 40.
1. Take the kids to the Wizarding World of Harry Potter- done
2. Take the kids to Nauvoo to tour the historcal village and eat dinner at the Hotel Nauvoo. (This would have been my son's feild trip this year, minus the dinner, and he missed it. My item was to chaperone his 5th grade field trip, but that was cancelled due to Covid 19.)
3. Take my kids to the Ice Cream Social at the church where I grew up. (It's a small-town event I want to share with my kids.)
4. Take a trip to Savannah, GA. (I went twice when I was much younger, but I want to go back as a grown-ass woman and really enjoy the town! I have plans with a besite of mine to take her for her 40th next year.)
5. Take the kids to Chicago for the weekend to see Museums and the downtown. (Maybe even have the grandparents come along too!)
6. Take the kids to St. Louis for the weekend to see the Science Center and the Zoo.
7. Spend the weekend in a cabin int he woods. -done
8. Go Kayaking- done
9. Canoe Sugar Creek with my family. (My kids, parents and my sister's family)
10. Go to a Cub's Game at Wrigley Field.
11. See Hamilton! (I have tickets for this one, but due to COVID it is rescheduled...but there's not a date yet becuase we don't know when this will be over. The good news is, my tickets are still good!)
12. Tour a Frank Lloyd Wright house.- done (I took the kids to the Dana Thomas House last year in Springfield. That is when I discovered the joy of making my own dreams come true!)
13. Go Camping (in a camper) somewhere other than the park down the road.
14. Get Divorced- done
15. Change my legal name- this one is up for debate. I really want to have my own last name at some point now that I am divorced, but I will do this in my own time. It might not happen before I turn 40, so this one might get axed from the list...)
16. Visit Edinburough, Scotland
17. Eat Brunch at St. Mary of the Woods on a Sunday. (possibly with my parents becuase they live close to there.) This was a Sunday tradition from when I was in kindergarten. The people from church would caravan out there after church every so often in the summer time. I remember the vast dining hall feeling like the Great Hall in Hogwarts. I want to go there again as an adult. It's been about 30 years, but mom says they still do brunch there on Sundays...when there isn't a global pandemic that is.)
18. Visit a Hindu Temple.
19. See The Cursed Child on stage.
20. See the Book of Mormon on stage.
21. something silly I don't want to share- done
22. something inappropriate I don't want to share- done
23. Watch a Shakespeare play.- done
24. Attend a concert that is entirely Mozart music.
25. Start a Massage Business- done
26. Take my kids to see Barb, my sit-down dance partner, dance on stage.- done (Barb and I use the term "Sit-down dancer", meaning she is in a wheelchair, she is a dancer who dances while sitting. I wanted my kids to experience the wonder of seeing someone dance on stage that moves in a different way than what people would expect a dancer to move. Barb and I were fortuanate enough to be in a dance together last December. My kids got to see both of us dance on stage together again.)
27. something else silly I don't want to share- done
28. Something romantic I don't want to share- done
29. Take the kids to Mark Twain Cave- done
30. Read the remainder of the Nancy Drew collection I started when I was in 5th grade.
31. Visit my friend's micro brewery in Quincy.
32. See the Aurora Borealis in person.
33. Live entirely on my own.- done
34. Attend my 20th High school reunion.- It was supposed to be this year...it might still happen, but it also might not,depending on how this covid thing shakes down.)
35. Ride a Mechanical Bull.
36. Visit my Bestie from AZ. Take a girls' weekend somewhere.
37. Take a vacation with my friends from grade school the year we all turn 40.
38.
39.
40.
I left a few spots open becuase, well, there are some things that maybe I don't know that I want to do yet. Also, as I have started this list there are some things I realized I don't really want to do, they were just passing fancies. But everything else on this list are things that I have thought at some point or other, "Wow, I think that would be fun to do and I have never done that before." Notice that none of these include stand up comedy. It's becuase it's not something that was really importnat to me as it turns out. It was one of those passing fanices. Also, there are things that I would like to do that I don't necessarily have to do before I turn 40. (Like see the Pyramids in Egypt or visit Mayan ruins.)
This list gives me a place to go when I feel antsy or bored lately. I have started doing research on the cost of some of these items, timing, details, etc. I look them up just for fun. It's my Vision Board. It gives me hope. It INSPIRES me.
So, what is it that YOU want to do with YOUR Fun Dollars when this is all over? Where do you want to travel? What do you want to experience? What do you want to see happen in your life that you can decide to make happen all on your own? Make your own list and Get Inspired.
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