A Little List of Dreams

from Jacqueline

Yesterday, while getting ready to go out and ride my horse, I put my back out putting on my riding breeches. One leg in, then – I am bent over and cannot stand up. At times like these, there is a quandary. Do I risk further injury by trying to take off the one leg of the riding attire that is on my body, or do I try to stand up? Do I hop to the freezer to pull out an ice pack, or hop to the bedroom and try to get on the bed, one leg in my breeches and all? Frankly, I don’t remember what I did, I just know it hurt. Now, here’s the irony in all of this. Before leaving my desk to get ready to go out to see the horse, I was reading an article in the New York Times (I kid you not, this is what happened) regarding the fact that women in the 45-55 age range were generally faster, stronger athletes than women in their early twenties. Yaaay!! I thought, as I leapt up from the desk in a fit of early morning athletic joyfulness, and ran to the bathroom, where I had thrown my riding breeches when I came back from the barn the day before, and ... there you go. Middle aged athlete with a dodgy back.



However, the continuing adventures of my spinal cord was not going to be the main thrust of this post today. I was going to talk about lists. Of course, top of my list at the moment is an appointment with my chiropractor (non-invasive technique, none of that snapping and cracking).



I’ve had a list for some years, I revise it at the beginning of each year. My list comprises all the things I would like to accomplish, see and do before I quit this mortal coil. Part of it is this sense of trying to fit in as much as I can, though I do not feel as if I have to rush it all, which for some reason I did in my early twenties. And part is a sense of adventure, doing things that, when I was growing up, I never thought I’d be able or have the opportunity to do. I came from a small town where a steady job in a local typing pool or the sausage factory was all that was on the horizon. My parents were so worried that I my horizons might be stunted by this limited range, that they would drive me past the local laundry once a week, saying, “There, that’s where you’ll end up if you don’t work hard at school.” I would sit in the back of the car and say (really – I can’t believe they didn’t stop the car and chuck me out), “If I have anything to do with that laundry, it will be because I own the place.” I was fourteen at the time, with a bit too much “lip” even if I say so myself.



Back to the list. While reading the New York Times (yet again), I came across an article pointing to the fact that list-making is quite the thing at the moment, with researchers putting it down to our stress-laden, got-to-do-it-all lives. Not sure I completely agree with that, but I will add that, when my coaching practice was in full swing, one of the things I asked my clients to do was to list their dreams, their ambitions, and those things that should happen in their lifetime to give them the sense of a life well-lived. I think for most of us it’s quite simple: To have family and friends that we love and care for, to have a sense of worth in our work, our daily round, and to have some things to look forward to and back upon. There are a million quotes out there attesting to some variant of this little list. But beyond that, there are those things we’ve heard about, read about, or that a friend’s done, that we would really like to do. The things that grab our imagination. Here’s a quick run-through of some of mine:

I want to go on a riding safari in Kenya – none of this Land Rover lark, I want to be on horseback, staying at lodges, preferably ones that have already been swept of poisonous snakes. Cannot abide snakes.

I want to visit the baby elephant orphanage run by Dame Daphne Sheldrick in Kenya – I adore elephants.




I want to go hiking in New Zealand – thank heavens I won’t be able to afford such a venture until long after the back is in full working order again.

I want to take my parents on an Atlantic crossing on the QM2



I would like to be a good enough rider to compete at the higher levels of dressage. Back permitting.



I have loads of book ideas I want to explore, fiction and non-fiction. Want to do them all.

I would like to go to Antarctica – the fact that I cannot abide the cold could be a bit of an issue here, but I am assured that modern severe weather garb will take care of that for me.



Bhutan, I want to go to Bhutan.



And Montana, and Peru.

And most important, there is a whole list of personal wishes, to do with those I care for most and how we spend our time in this world with each other, and that list has to do with love, with respect, with having good times, and with the personal album of memories we carry with us from day to day, with even those ordinary things done together that we cherish.



So, go on, inspire us all – what’s on your list? And I bet as soon as I read it, I will want to add it to mine.

(PS Just read through this list of "I wants" and am almost embarrassed by it. Reminds me of when I was a kid, telling my mother I "wanted" something. Usually something we could never afford. Her response would be, "Now you know what it is to want - call it an experience!")

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