*Experiences mold our lives and ingrain wonderful (and sometimes not so wonderful) memories deep within our minds. Our lives are changed by the happenings that come our way and sometimes it’s good just to reminisce… sift through that old mental box of bright and shiny pearls… those moments we held dear… and those we chose to tuck away to save for Truth or Dare games. :D
And here is my 101 List of Life-Changing Experiences. These are things that greatly changed the way I lived my life at the time they happened and have shaped me into who I am today. I figured it was best to get my “101 Things that HAVE happened to me” out of the way before I throw together a “101 Things I WANT to happen”. It was a fun exercise!
You might be asking, “But What’s In It For Me, Richard?!“ Well, I’m hoping it gets you to make your 101 List. Do it already and share it, please!
Have fun on your journey through my weird life. Oh and please let me know what you think, eh? :)
101 Life Changing Experiences:
- Survived cancer
- Found a wonderful girlfriend
- Got married to wonderful girlfriend
- Had a kid
- Had another kid
- Bought a car by myself
- Bought a house
- Went to a foreign country
- Walked in a volcano
- Played in the snow
- Started a blog
- Wrote an eBook
- Beat World of Warcraft
- Went 147 mph in a car
- Interviewed by FBI agents
-
They wouldn't let me get on "The Pad". *sniff, sniff*
Visited a US Naval Base
- Saw an atomic clock (US Time Transfer office!)
- Sat inside of a Space Shuttle (Discovery)
- Had my picture taken in front of a Space Shuttle (Atlantis)
- Met an astronaut
- Met an Archbishop
- Met a Cardinal
- Saw (a piece of) the Cross Jesus Christ died on
- Saw a meteor shower
- Built a workbench
- Started and sustained a garden
- Taught a child to read
- Learned to speed-read (is it right for you?)
- Made a video for YouTube
- Drove around Lake Tahoe
- Walked around Central Park
- Went to the top of the Empire State Building
- Went to Disneyland
- Saw Big Bend
- Crossed the US / Mexico border
- Crossed the US / Canada border
- Went to the San Diego Zoo
- Get a Bachelor’s Degree (Electrical Engineering)
- Built a computer (or 800)
- Learned to drive a stick shift
- Rode a horse
- Rode a Jet Ski
- Survived a hurricane (or 5)
- Rescued someone in an accident
- Went on a cruise
- Drove a car in Mexico
- Drove a car in Aruba
- Grocery shopped in Aruba
- Wrote a song about BACON and sang it
- Ate wild edible plants
- Walked inside a sewer system
- Went inside a submarine
- Went inside a battleship
- Visited the NASA Mission Control Room
- Saved taxpayers almost $2,000,000 dollars
- Designed, supported, and maintained hardware used in Space Shuttles
- Put my name in space on a microchip
- Worked on Space Station hardware
- Went to New York during New Year’s Celebrations
- Witnessed a miracle (every Sunday!)
- Witnessed a solar eclipse
- Looked through an observatory telescope
- Walked amongst boiling mud
- Drove through mountains
- Walked a mile through snow, in shorts and tennis shoes
- Made an audiobook
- Made an infographic / data visualization
- Made and drank palm tree date coffee
- Shot a flower off its stem from 30 paces
- Broke 3 arms (lol) and a collar bone
- Ate worms
- Ate a pig blood & jalapeño dish
- Ate 28,000 mg of Vitamin C in a single day
- Read over 120 books in 1 year (and still counting!)
- Jumped a railroad track, Dukes of Hazard style
- Skied on an iced over highway in a 2 ton Ford Crown Vic LTD
- Jumped from hay bale to hay bale in a field
- Ran through a corn field
- Served for a local town government
- Judged in a BBQ competition
- Fell off a tree branch and ripped open me knee on the way down
- Listened to audiobooks at 2x speed
- Got 42 square inches of back skin removed
- Got stuck in quicksand
- Set my front yard on fire
- Demolitioned a house
- Shot out a sliding glass door with a BB gun
- Wrote a computer program for a company
- Made a webpage for a company
- Owned a CD player
- Owned a DVD player
- Owned a digital media player
- Owned an digital book reader
- Made (and drank) hard apple cider (thanks EatTheWeeds!)
- Shook the pursuer in a car chase (not cops, don’t worry)
- Went deep sea fishing
- Made a snowman & snow-angel
- Ate a dinner entirely made from stuff from the garden/yard
- Ate pure capsaicin hot sauce (oh… my… goodness… ouch)
- Made a mix-tape for a Junior High heart-throb (*sigh*)
- Made a 101 list :-)
*hands you a cookie for making it this far*
Share your Life Changing Experiences in the comments!
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Richard, I love stuff like this. Great list. It helps me reflect on my own life and what has changed it the most. Like you, my spouse (my dream man for 25 years and counting…) and our six (yes, I said six) kids have to be the top seven. :)
I’ll be thinking about writing a 101 responses to yours. If I do it, I’ll check back and let you know. Thanks for the motivator. :) And the cookie. :)
Oh God Bless you for giving this world 6 kids… that’s just too awesome! I congratulate you on your patience, too. :) This list sure was a lot of fun and still brings smiles to my face when I glance back through it.
When you do get your list put together and you don’t mind sharing, please grace us with a link here!
We’ll just keep giving motivation (and cookies, lol) to everyone. :)
You Motivate my dreams..
Great list of experiences..
Thanks for sharing..
I think that’s the best comment I’ve every received. :) Thank you!
Your list is inspirational Richard – you’ve packed so much in it really puts my boring life to shame! Keep going
Thank you! I’ve definitely been lucky and blessed… but I have to admit, looking for the life-changing experience in /all things/ does help make the list grow more quickly. :)
So I’ve gotta ask… were you interviewed by FBI agents after you were going 147 mph in a car?! LOL :)
lol nice catch! No, I was actually applying for a job… talk about a rigorous application process! 3 agents, 1 small hotel room in a different state… otherwise all alone… they had guns, training, and body language expertise… I was toast, lol.
You’ve got good list there! It motivated me to list mine as well. Thanks for a great post!
cheers!
Hey thanks Timothy! It’s kind of neat to go through this fun exercise every once in a while… kind of puts life into perspective. Cheers!
Just got a chance to go thru yor list its quite interesting n well thought! Thanks for sharing it, gave me topics for some new stories…………….gr8 work!
Thanks Sarwat!
Fantastic job Richard congrats on all your amazing accomplishments. Life is all about Life Changing Experiences, setting goals and living. It is great to reflect on life and true take a moment to “smell the roses”. Everyone has different ideas of Life Changing Experiences, but at the end of the day what is most important to you is all that counts.
Thanks for sharing and inspiring… I am obsessed with lists and this gives me another great idea to start a new one!
Lastly, and most importantly congrats on beating CANCER!
Thank you for taking the list for what I meant it to be – a pick-me-up! Too often we put the blinders on for the good (or ‘normal’) stuff and whip out the microscope for the ‘bad’ stuff. This list was a great exercise in reminding myself, “hey, you’re going to be alright, man.”
Come back and share your list here when you have it – I’d love to check it out!
Oh and thank you on the cancer – I figured it’d make me stronger whether it beat me or not. Thank God I’m still here – now let’s see if I can make my 2nd chance useful to ya’ll. :)
U are a GREAT person of a GREAT mentality!!!
Oh hey thank you, Gina! Brought a smile to my face. :)
Dear Richard,
Tomorrow morning I’ll be sharing your video with my English students. The topic is “Share a life-changing experience”. I’m gonna show ‘em your video, and then they are gonna have to create theirs.
Thanks for inspiring!!!
Hello Claudia! That sounds like a great assignment – full of fun and reflection. Good call! Thanks for sharing and glad I could be part of it. Have fun!
What a fantastic list of life changing experiences – it’s nice to see someone identifying “smaller things” as having a life changing impact. A new experience, such as making a YouTube video, can change your life massively without even realizing it at the time.
You got it Mark! I’m coming to find that it’s not the size of the experience that matters, it’s the state of mind that matters. Thanks for visiting!