Sunday, December 28, 2014

Things Women Should Do...MY Version!

Woman's Day online recently put up an article entitled 40 Things Every Woman Should Do Before She Dies

And of course, I went to it and ticked off all of the things that I, a woman in her mid-40s, had done. We all did, in the comments of our friend's Facecrack post.

Then I got a wee bit pissed off - a list of things that I do before I die should be full of things to do, not things that I've already done, or that are irrelevant to me, such as:
#24 Offer to pay for a date and actually do it.
It's remarkably empowering. 
Huh? I've never identified with women who expect the man to pay for the date. Already this tells me that I am not the audience for this list.

Seven of the 40 are about food - eating dessert for breakfast, eating something totally new, learning to make a full meal, eating nothing but junk food all day, ordering and eating a decadent dessert. Oh, and of course there are the ones about your daily workout - don't go to the gym for a week, take a kickboxing class. And two about your hair - cut it short, streak it.

I might add the kickboxing class to my list - but feel empowered by eating dessert? I should be Superwoman!

Some are valid - and when I say 'valid' I mean by my subjective, idiosyncratic perspective:

  • live alone 
  • travel alone
  • go on a road trip with a friend
  • quit a job you hate
  • cut out friends that you don't like/who hold you back
  • throw yourself into a hobby
  • try things (food, activities) that stretch your comfort zone
  • do something once a year that scares you
  • speak in public

BUT, my problem is, I've done these. (Okay, not the 'do something once a year that scares you" one - I just know that I need to do that...) Any attempts to create this list requires a group of like-minded women to add the one (or two) things that they're really proud of - and we grow it from there.

The challenge is set. I will share this post around - get more things for the list from others, and edit to add them.