Catalog of Potential Acquisitions Both Material and Experiential

Outside Magazine ran a story about John Goddard who wrote a list of 137 things he wanted to accomplish in life.  

On it, he included 127 adventures that at the time seemed worth having. He enumerated a desire to travel the Nile, to marry and have children, to read all the modern classics, to go skydiving, to study native medicines and bring back useful ones. By age 26, as he approached the delta of the Nile having paddled the river's 4,160-mile length, he'd already explored the Okefenokee Swamp; dived the Caribbean, the Red, and the Aegean...

Outside created it's own list of 100 Ideas Toward a Larger Life with this caveat:

we've pondered the very idea of a life list and wondered whether everyone shouldn't have one. Not a nebbish actuary's roster of deeds to be checked off — did that, done that, doing that — or a catalog of potential acquisitions both material and experiential, but a simple bundle of goals and attainable epics. An outline for a life well spent, without footnotes. 

Nebbish is a Yiddish word meaning: a timid, meek, or ineffectual person.  I kept a Field Notes page with notes I took from the list (I don't remember when) which records some items from the list that I wanted to include in my own list.  This list is an interesting document/evidence of me at whatever time this was.  

1. 8. Do a through hike
2. 9. Be prepared to save a life
3. 12. Take a year off
4. 14. Be competent outdoors: Wind River Wilderness Program
5. 19. Get pretty fit - 50 PU, 100 crunches, 10 pull-ups, 6 minute mile, bench your own weight
6. 20 Swim naked
7. 25. Go 300 miles under your own power from your front door
8. 32. Grow a delicious tomato
9. 44. Master the bowline
10. 55. Take an epic ride
11. 60. Witness an animal migration
12. 64. Build a canoe in your basement
13. 97. Learn the trees, flowers, history, geology of your place
14. 98. Find your perfect beach

I like how it's defined NOT as "deeds to be checked off" or "catalog of potential acquisitions both material and experiential."  There actually IS a great deal of deeds and experiential acquisitions on the Outside list.  Still, there's a lot of good stuff; often the items on the list call for a lot of planning and preparation, like "go 300 miles from your doorstep on your own power" or "get pretty fit."  Many items are about learning "Know the geography, history, trees of your place" or "master the bowline."

To me now, these phrases hold my attention an interest: "an outline for a life well spent" and "a simple bundle of goals an attainable epics."  

Over the past year or two, I think that my idea for "living a larger life" list would involve being helpful, being in relationship, making things, caring for things, changing my perspective on seeing the world.  Does a list even get to those things?