As part of my saying “yes” to life plan, it’s been quite the experience just going for it whenever the chance arises. It brought up something inside me though, and I started to consider what things I really wanted to learn, what skills I wanted to develop if it were up to me and not relying on the suggestions of others for adventure. In the spirit of working on my actual Masters degree, where sometimes I struggle to find the motivation to follow the curriculum and perform the tasks asked of me, I asked the question: If LIFE was school, what courses would I want to take? If it were all up to me to design, what would that look like? So I set off to create my curriculum. My course list ended up looking something like this:

• Mountain biking- develop more skills
• Kayaking- continue to get better so I can ride more difficult water
• Gardening- I want to grow my own food.
• Yoga teaching certification- because why not? I love yoga and there is so much to learn! My first goal is to increase my current practice. I do yoga, but not nearly enough so that’s step one.
• Cross country skiing-which I have now done, but want to get better at because I need a solid winter activity to keep me active year-round
• Snow-shoeing- see above. I’ve never done it, but it looks fun.
• Backpacking/ Camping- I want to know how to build fire in multiple ways, build structures out of what the land provides, and experience being truly and completely in nature. I love camping, but I want to expand the experience, and I have never been backpacking so there are a lot of skills in this area that I would enjoy learning.
• Meditation- I do this daily, but there is always room for growth and improvement.
• Food- because food is amazing, duh. This includes trying foods I’ve never had, buying the weird- looking fruit that I don’t actually know what it is, and making sure I don’t get in a rut with my cooking by trying new recipes and having fun with it. It’s really easy to become complacent with the foods we eat because it’s simple and familiar, but there are so many amazing foods out there and I want to try them (making sure they fit within my chosen lifestyle and are healthy of course J).
• Fun!- this includes getting back in touch with all the creative things I’ve let fall out of my life: painting, dance, singing, reading books for enjoyment, and of course writing (which obviously I’m working on). All of those bring so much joy and fun into my life and it’s important that I connect to that part of myself again and maintain a space in my world for them.

Luckily, since this is a very over-loaded curriculum, most of these items are about developing and growing knowledge I already have rather than learning brand new skills. But what I really love about this is that it is 100% up to me where I focus my energy and what I come away with. No matter where I put my energy on this list I’m following my curriculum. I am getting a Masters in LIFE where no skill or ounce of time is wasted because it’s my choice. There are no deadlines, no homework outside of putting into practice what I learn, and best of all- there is no possible way to fail because I tried. It’s important here that I haven’t asked myself to become an expert at anything as I tend to be a perfectionist (something I’m working on). I am just asking myself to try. The least I can come out with is having learned something, and in learning there is no failure- only growth. If you could create your own curriculum and earn a degree in LIFE- what would you include?