if you could..

[drifter]

If you could do anything for one year what would it be?

The reality is, most of us probably could do many things, but we restrain ourselves, not because we are cowards or boring suburbanites, but because it would mean giving up family, boyfriends, security, time when we should be establishing ourselves etc.

So I guess what I mean by "if you could" is "if you would have to give up nothing in return".

Would you take up an opportunity to work in a dream job (assuming you could take family and friends with you)?
Would you travel to remote and exotic locations (money guaranteed)?
Would you give up your time to work for an NGO in a country with wide-spread poverty (security guaranteed)?
Or would you take the dough and sit on your butt in front of day-time tv for the year, with a supply of donuts and beer (quality of donuts guaranteed)?
(I am sure there are options not listed above - I just named a few!)

Maybe its a stupid question, but I guess its a new thread....

[Zabeth]

No this is great.

If I had a year to do anything I wanted without any limitations. I would go back to some of the spots I travelled to in college London, Bath, Paris, Nice, Brouge and then maybe hit some other spots.

Then I think I would try to visit all 50 states, and hit every cheezy tourist trap along the way. :)

I would also like to do habitat for humanity. Helping to build a house for someone who would otherwise not be able to have one really appeals to me.

I think that's enough to fill up a year.

[HStep]

Habitat for Humanity is SO FUN! I recommend it highly.

[Westie1]

Oh-If I had a year to do anything I wanted.................
I would become a photojournalist for National Geographic and I'd travel the world. (with hubby and the pups of course! ;) )
That has always been my d r e a m!!!

[crazy-girl]

Ok, now I feel like the guy in office space. I've been thinking of this question since it was posted and I can't think of a damn thing I want to do.

So my answer is:

Nothing.

Does this mean my future is in construction?

I will only feel better if there is someone who wants to do "two chics at the same time" with their year.

[drifter]

LOL - believe me, I am sure there are guys out there who would answer "doing two chics at once" to this question.

I guess its a toughey. If I would have to give up nothing in return I would probably take a group of friends and do aid work in the middle east. (Remember, according to this question, I am guaranteed not to get killed or tortured while doing so).

Less altruistically, I would go sit in the hills of Northen Italy and learn an instrument by morning, go for a stroll and read by afternoon, and enjoy fine wine and dining by evening.

[sunbear]

For a year, provided I had the assets to do this: (and only if I had friends with free time)
I would settle in the middle of nowhere, where there's woods- kind of secluded and really pretty- but not too far away from anything else. I would pursue art, poetry, literature, and poetry- play music- throw dinner parties- and other forms of parties and get togethers. I haven't thrown a party in a LONG time-
The one thing I miss is hanging out with good company and staying up to watch the sun rise, and then sleeping all day. Or having conversations on the phone until 3 in the morning. Or maybe go clubbing three nights in a row.
I'd also like to try new things, like yoga, horseback riding, cooking, surfing, playing poker, etc.
I couldn't go without doing anything though, I would volunteer at an orphanage/assist social work for abused children- or the humane society and work with dogs.;)

[Lou]

Excellent - I like this thread, it feels kind of positive even if some of the thoughts I came up with were pie in the sky type things! But god, where do you start with something like this?...

...one of my biggest grumbles is that I haven't seen as much of the planet as I would like to so I guess my "if I could..." would have to revolve around going to different places :rolleyes:

I would love to check out Latin America - probably Mexico first (this might sound weird to all you Yanks but its a long way away from here!) plus as many of the other South American countries as possible with out racing around. I'd like to learn Spanish this way - its got to be the best way possible, right? Certainly better than the BBC textbook and 4 CDs which currently remain unopenend and gathering dust on my bookshelf!! Then of course there's Canada, Australia, Hawaii, Thailand...God, the list is endless! The thing is, I wouldn't want to do the travelling thing in the conventional sense - backpack, hostels etc. If I could, I would do it at a leisurely pace, in luxury, with my boyfriend and a few good friends around me to share the experience. I wouldn't wear a watch, would be unconcerned about the time, and my mobile would only be used in emergencies! To top it all off, I'd have a brand new Imac notebook thingy, the really swanky ones which are completely out of my financial reach at the moment. I'd use it to leisurely carry on with the novel I'm only 7000 words into. Once my year is up the book would be completed and it would be so successful that I could continue with this lifestyle for as long as I wanted!! now wouldn't that be nice...

Thanks for suggesting I dream away for a bit while stuck behind a desk on a Thursday afternoon in London :p

[crazy-girl]

If I imagine this year like Groundhog day---no time in my career lost (as if I actually HAVE a career)---no blank spot on my resume, no worries of money---

I'd learn to play the piano. I'd learn the guitar.

I'd write the great American novel.

I'd learn to knit.

I'd learn to salsa dance

I don't really have a desire to travel right now. I don't know why. I really just have a desire to get into bed and sleep for a year. That doesn't seem too healthy though.

[True-Believer]

oh man I am loving this post... I have a few things in mind but I guess my top two would be...

to backpack in Europe and spend some time in different places - Italy, Ireland (again... just beautiful), France, Germany - and get to know the culture, food, people.

my second choice would be to follow some of my favorite bands/tours around the US and/or Europe. OK like the Warped Tour is my FAVORITE tour!! I would LOVE to follow it to every city on its US tour. There is a college girl who is on the tour now, kind of as a tour journalist, I think its for her major or something. But she gets to hang out, take pictures, experience the tour in full effect, hang out w/ the bands and all that... and she posts in her online journal daily about it. But yeah, or if Lollapolluza were still around, I'd like to follow that tour too.

*sigh* but I'd only do it if my boyfriend and pets could come with me (well, more just my pets LOL they are my babies)

[mychelle3]

wow! what a fantastic thought....

i would volunteer for the humane society

i would get involved in local theatre regardless of how much it (doesn't) pay

i would spend every morning working out and making myself feel better about my body

i would travel to all the places i've never been and will never have time to again

i just might relax.... after all, it's only a year, but you know you're guaranteed at least that long of something consistent.... ahhh!

[LittleLady23]

Wow, If I could do anything for a year, you bet it would be alot of relaxing and taking time to myself. I think we all need some R&R. This is a stressed out world and we all need to stop and smell the roses instead of bypassing everything. :)

[Antonina]

This is going to sound a bit trivial, but oh well, here goes. I remember once reading an interview, probably when I was still a teenager, with Jodie Foster in some teeny magazine, and she (apparently- depends if one should believe in teen magazine journalists!) said that if she could have one year off to do whatever she wanted, she would spend a year just digging a hole and filling it back in. Now, at the time, I thought she was the best and thought it was a fabulous idea. Now, maybe I am older and more jaded, or I have lost sight of the big innocent picture I used to have, but I cannot for the life of me fathom why that would be a great thing to do.

Now, the best thing I can think to do for a year would be to travel to lots of exotic places and really immerse myself with the locals. But everyone's already said that one! Darn ;)

[CAT11]

This is a great post. I am with everyone eles. I would travel. But I would also like time to rejuvenate. Time to reflect.
And somewhere, I would like some serious time alone. Like a month at a time, with no human interaction. Sometimes I think I am too busy running all over and making plans that my alone time is never enough to make up for it.
I would be the band girl too. How did your friend get that job?

[ibanezht]

Create, sit at my little apartment and create. Finish the book of poems I have been writing for about 5 years now, finish recording the album that I am working on tirelessly, become a better guitar player, and do all of the painting that I have been dying to do, then to sum all of it up, make a really great Web site and put all of it on the web. Man, that could take more than a year, can I have two?


heheh greedy as ever.......

[Girrrl]

what an awesome thread! so many of your year-long adventures sound like ones i'd want to tag along for.

and antonina, i can't believe jodie foster said that! LOL! i am a big fan of hers. but i don't see the fun in digging a hole and filling it back in, either. :)

anyway, if i had a year to do absolutely anything with no restrictions, i would...hmm. um...
i think my major problem is that there are TOO MANY things i want to do!!!
and the sad truth is, what i REALLY want to do is go back in time and re-live my senior year of college. that was probably the best year of my life and i really miss it. i've been yearning to return to college ever since i left it. how pathetic is that?? :P

but here is my fantasy year:

i would buy a big house that is actually split in half so it's two houses in one. hard to explain, but just picture being in a house, then opening a door off the kitchen, which opens right into a kitchen just like the first. two houses, under one roof, that are the same! my dad and his best friend had a house like this on the beach for many years, and i would love having the same living situation with MY best friend. she could live in one half (with whoever she wanted), and i could live in the other half. i LOVE living by myself. but i LOVE living with my best friend. this way, i could have the best of both worlds.

i would spend a lot of time hanging out at home, reading wonderful books, watching wonderful movies, doing volunteer work, learning to surf, building webpages, ride horses, take classes for fun at a nearby college, etc...

but i would also spend part of that year in either asia or africa, as a humanitarian worker. i would love to help care for children who have been orphaned by AIDs.

and i would spend part of the year studying, swimming with, and getting to know some dolphins!


or here's another idea for my fantasy year --

i'd be angelina jolie's baby's personal nanny!!! :) that would be heaven to me. i love angie, i love children, i love traveling, i love movies, and i'm also quite interested in helping children and families in third world countries, as angie is!