Day One Hundred and Six

I missed Day One Hundred ... oh well, there are nine more hundreds to go, so I'm not going to stress about it.

I was thinking today, as I often do on New Year's Eve, about the last year and all it has held, and hoping that I am ending the year with at least a little more wisdom and a few more accomplishments that I can be proud of.

One small and unexpected benefit from this project is directly connected to the nature of the list itself - many of the things on it are things I have never done before, and therefore are things which I do not already do well. This seems fairly obvious, but one of the most challenging things about making this list in the first place was fighting a long-established tendency to only do things that I do well. The flip side is that I rarely start things if I don't think I will excel at them, and quit them quickly if they don't come easily to me. (Which is why I don't play the violin, ice skate, dance, or any number of things which did NOT make this list.) Convincing myself to include a few items that would stretch me was an exercise in humility and hope.

So far, I've tried a few that "press on the understood boundaries of myself" (in the words of one of the authors I need to write a fan letter to, Item #45). I joked about understanding the International Date Line, but I nearly didn't include it on the list since I was concerned that I wouldn't be able to actually do it. I haven't talked much about this here, but Item #55 (go 30 days without alcohol, even Irish cream in my hot chocolate) took a little more application of willpower than I had anticipated - with the result that I've extended it to what is now 67 days, which probably has contributed to the progress on Item #56 (finish losing the 70 pounds I started losing last summer).

I have also discovered that I am not a very good knitter, but I genuinely enjoy it. I have discovered that I have absolutely no natural tendency for a good French accent. Looking at the rest of my list, I am gradually realizing that excellence at all of these pursuits isn't really an option, unless I also discover the Fountain of Youth and a time machine. I think that if I can learn to truly enjoy doing things for their own sake, even if I do them rather badly for a while, I will have gained something worth having. I'm getting better about not stressing out when things don't turn out perfectly, and I kind of like it.

Maybe for my next list of 101 things, I'll decide to learn to dance ...