creating an adventure

I'm all for resolutions and I love a good to-do list. But once it's on my to-do list it no longer seems fun - it's a just another to-do. So I thought long and hard over the past week on what would be different for me in 2010. I decided it's more about creating an interesting story with a purpose. I want more adventure--and not just outside of work, but since work is the majority of life, at work too.

I do have goals like:

1. Learn Photoshop and InDesign
2. Learn more about photography
3. Learn how to sew
4. Pay off school and car loans
5. Actually finish a devotional or bible study
   

And I have lifestyle changes:

1. Don't let work become mundane - always strive to be more creative
2. Spend more time getting to know God's character
   
3. Keep up with healthy cooking and working out
4. Knit and crochet more
5. Read more books
6. Write more on both my blog and in my journals
7. Take more photos
8. Be more intentional
9. Send more letters and presents in the mail

But for me to give meaning to and actually accomplish any of these (please note that they all say "more." what's more? where's the end?), they need to be a part of a larger story with a purpose. And that's what I'm still contemplating. Yes, it's God's story, but like Donald Miller says, "we are praying and asking God to give us a story while the entire time God is handing us a pen, telling us to write it ourselves. That’s why he gave us a will."

I've read some really interesting blog posts lately about making life more of a story. It started out a couple of weeks ago when I read a post on Scott Kelby's blog. It was a guest post by Chris Orwig about becoming a better photographer, but I think it goes way beyond photography to life:

"A few years back, one student was having his portfolio reviewed by the legendary Jay Maisel. The review was fine, yet after it was over the student pleaded with Jay, “Tell me, how can I take more interesting photos?” Without missing a beat, Jay volleyed back, “Become a more interesting person.” Or said in another way, as Chris Rainier told me last week, “…at some point photography becomes autobiographical. In order to create better photos, sometimes we need to put down the photography books and magazines. Then we need to go out and to develop who we are.”

Please read the entire post. It's wonderful.

And then I started reading Donald Miller's blog and his last couple of posts have been about creating life into a story, because with stories we remember more.

"Living a good story is a lot of fun, but it can also be difficult and boring. But when it’s done, when you’ve renewed your vows or climbed a mountain, you’ll look back on one of the most rich and fulfilling years of your life, filled with scenes of difficulty and conflict, of beauty and sacrifice. The year will feel twice as long, because anything that isn’t a story is quickly forgotten by the brain, and your entire year will have been a story."

I was also reading a blog post by Tim Clem, a software developer. No, I'm not wanting to be a developer and most of the time I don't even understand what he's talking about, but this post really got my attention. He talks about sleep and what we remember each day. I know this is a long quote, but read to the end - it's the best part:

"It seems that the first couple hours of sleep are largely devoted to replaying the events of the day and a process not unlike erosion takes place where the master volume knob is turned down, lowering the noise of all your memories and experiences. What they found, however, is that things like practicing the guitar for hours and hours stick prominently above the rest of the background noise and although these erosive forces literally wash across your brain causing you to remember everything a little less clearly; at the end of the night the really important stuff now stands out clearly above everything else. That mountain of your focused guitar playing memory still got eroded away, but since it was so much higher than the rest of your memories from the day it actually ends up standing out clearer when you wake up. Not only do things that you focus on have this permanence in comparison to everything else, but basically anything that invokes some sort of emotional response. You emotions are like sticky notes to the brain signaling the importance of certain memories."

So, here are the questions I will continually ask myself for 2010:

• What story am I writing? Is it something intriguing or kind of lame and boring?
  
• What have I practiced all day that I will remember tomorrow? Is it stress or random things? Or is it something I am truly passionate about that my brain will mark with a sticky note?
• How can I create a story that makes me a better employee, marketer, wife, friend and every other role I play in life?