Introducing... The List!

When I decided to take on this challenge, I did what any self-respecting 21st citizen of the world would do.  I posed the question to my friends on social media.  The suggestions started rolling in.  I had to smile because my friends are my friends for a reason.  Many of the suggestions were things I had already jotted down.  Some of them were bizarre, daring, even dangerous.  They were all telling. Many of them appear on the list below.

Incidentally, when I mentioned this quest to The Boy and The Girl, we had to have a nice, detailed conversation on the difference between being courageous and downright foolhardy.  (Their suggestion?  Jump off the roof of the house. )

The list I originally generated had way more than 40 Acts on it, because who doesn't need more courageous acts in her life?  Many were combined or culled.  I went for a balance of short-term and long-term acts.  Pricey and inexpensive ones.  Big ones and little ones.  Internal shifts and external activities.  And ultimately I ended up with 40 things I'm going to do to challenge myself.

Here goes...

The List

1. Publicly admit that I am turning 40.
2. Publicly and openly blog about my experiences, challenges, triumphs and failures along the way. 
3. Tackle an intimidating classic work of fiction.
4. Get an astrological/psychic reading done.
5. Learn a new language and then try it out.
6. Expose the kids to some culture.
7. Do a police ride along.
8. Host a multi-course fancy dinner party.
9. Make a lemon meringue pie from scratch, including the crust.
10. Get a tattoo.
11. For one week, track everything I eat, spend, consume.  
12. Get a wax.
13. Go camping.
14. Go to a meetup where I know no one. 
15. Go zip lining or indoor skydiving.
16. Take a Segway tour.
17. Attend a painting class.
18. Try a martial arts class.  (Krav Maga, anyone?)
19. Celebrate a holiday all by myself.
20. Speak up for what I believe in.
21. Watch a horror movie alone.
22. Wear a bikini to the beach.
23. Go salsa dancing.
24. Perform a poem at a slam or tell a story at the Monti.
25. Finish and publish a writing piece.
26. Travel somewhere I have never been before.
27. Take a ballroom dance lesson (or two) on my own.
28. Try square dancing.
29. Do a cleanse or a fast (or both!).
30. Eat vegetarian (maybe vegan) for a week.
31. Get a mammogram.
32. Say no to someone powerful.
33. Install a new toilet in my house.
34. Turn off my iPhone.
35. Cook dinner for families at Ronald McDonald house.
36. Adopt a shelter animal.
37. Become financially independent.
38. For a week, live off the amount of money a family living at the poverty line has.
39. Forgive and seek forgiveness.
40. Stop living my life as if I'm auditioning for a better part.