Living Big

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Last week I listened to a podcast interview with Noelle Pikus-Pace, who is an Olympic silver medalist and skeleton racer. What I immediately liked about Noelle is that she seems like an ordinary person who just happened to have the courage to dream big and work hard for something that she loves to do. 

During the interview, Noelle described how she and her husband once sat down and wrote out a bucket list of all of the things they would love to do someday. They weren't necessarily noble, lofty goals either. Their list was full of things like, "learn how to juggle," and "post a video of them singing on YouTube and get 10,000 hits." I laughed out loud while I listened to Noelle describe her list, and I love her insights. Toward the end of the interview she observed that you have to think of things you want to do, imagine them, and write them down before they can ever happen. Plus, it can be a lot of fun to close your eyes and dream big. 

Over the weekend, while my family was gathered around the table eating dinner, I pulled out a sheet of paper and asked them what their goals are. It was hilarious to listen to them brainstorm their goals and dreams, and the laughter got loud pretty quickly. Here are a few highlights: 

• Learn to drive a stick shift
• Own a horse
• Become a Pro Soccer player
• Skinny dip in Bora Bora (that's my kid!)
• Solve a Rubik's Cube
• Visit the Blue Lagoon
• Become a black belt in Tae Kwon Do
• Learn sign language
• Run a marathon
• Live abroad
• Climb Mount Rainier
• Ride the biggest roller coaster in the world
• Memorize the next twenty digits following 3.14
• Sky Dive

One of the final items added to the list was Madeleine's dream to someday hold a great, great grandchild. That immediately spurred Kate to caution Madeleine against the dangers of teenage pregnancy, and the conversation deteriorated from there. But the activity was worth it. I noticed that Jeremy and I were more cautious, more practical in our goals, while our kids were completely uninhibited by time, financial, or any other constraints. James spent the entire evening talking about his budding soccer career. 

I love that children are capable of imagination without boundaries. For them, anything really is possible. But it feels like we lose a little of that each year. It's not that we're all cynical old man Muppets, but we're overworked, tired, and we are worried about time, money, and changing the batteries in the chirping smoke alarms. I really liked Noelle's reminder to dream big, even as adults. After all, she had two young children and was still dealing with the devastation of a miscarriage when she won the silver medal at the Olympics. Of course we're not all going to the Olympics. But there's a pretty good chance we can learn sign language, drive stick, and possibly even solve a Rubik's cube.