2011 in Review
The first draft of this post was extracted from an email to a friend at Christmas 2011.
On New Year’s Day 2011, I decided that this year was going to be a year of change. I even set New Year’s resolutions which I haven’t had for decades. Out of the seven goals, I have accomplished five so far. I cannot see how I would be able to organize a non-profit housing society or produce vegetables from my miniature city farm (a.k.a. the soil patch outside my living room) in less than two weeks.
What are the other five goals then?
To review and re-organize my finances in such a way that I can have a simpler and better lifestyle.
To declutter my home so that I would know where everything is.
To fully utilize my talents and capabilities to make a difference in this world.
To live more healthily.
To better prepare for my departure from this life.
In addition to setting these goals, I also determined the steps to achieve the goals and benchmarks to measure success. For instance, I gave away clothing and shoes to eliminate two suitcases from my closet. I no longer purchase canned or heavily packaged food on a regular basis and read every food label before dropping the food item in my shopping basket. The list goes on…
In May, when pressed for an answer about returning to work, I decided against it. To continue working in a toxic workplace was really asking for continuous trouble. There must be a better way of making a living.
Through a great deal of hard work and innovative problem-solving, I helped bring about the remediation project for the co-op where I live. Being able to carry out much-needed, large-scale repairs within a limited budget—something many so-called experts considered "mission impossible"—was indeed very gratifying. I was made the volunteer project manager of this $750, 000 undertaking.
During the summer, I had bouts of severe abdominal pain. The emergency ward doctor referred me to specialists. After a series of tests and scans, I finally received a diagnosis. I might even take up mountain climbing so that I would be better prepared to visit high altitude places such as Mexico City and La Paz.
After a two-year hiatus, I was travelling once again in September. During a previous trip, fellow travellers told me wonderful stories about their Trans-Siberian adventures. I was so motivated to find out why they raved about it so much. Even though the Trans-Siberian journey was not on my bucket list, I could add that trip to my collection of “Trips of a Lifetime” and put a check mark beside it.
On my way back, I met my 4-year old niece for the first time. The meeting made my Trans-Siberian adventure personal. Together with a revised will in place, I could truly say that I would travel to the next life with no regrets. In the meantime, I strive to achieve the goals in my life.
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