Life Is Meant To Be Experienced

I have a confession to make. I am 33 years old and for a long time, my life was boring. It revolved around activities my daughter was doing, what my husband had planned, what was on the Internet, what was on the television and new books.
   About three years ago, I read a blurb in a magazine in which a woman said she tries to do at least one new thing every month. I told myself that was an awesome idea! Then, I saw the movie Yes Man with Jim Carrey and I knew that if I wanted to be happier with my life, I had to experience it rather than wait for it to happen to me.
   Don't get me wrong. I was happy with my life. I had a wonderful husband (still do and he's great!) and a beautiful daughter (7 years old!). Now, I also have an 8 month old son. And I work in the MPO Department at American Airlines. A lot has changed from that stay-at-home mom who sat around the house all day, bored out of her skull, who entertained herself with daily video workouts, rented movies and figuring out what she was going to make for supper.
   But, in the back of my mind, I knew there was more to life than what I had. And I wanted to experience it! I just didn't know how.
   In January 2013, my husband and I conceived our son. While I was pregnant, I told a friend that I did not want to spend all of my evenings sitting on the couch, watching movies. I suggested to her the "once a month" idea. She was down with it. So, we made a list - a list of stuff that we had never done before, but would love to do. You could kind of think of it as a bucket list. But, a bucket list usually takes time and planning. And they are things you really want to do before death. This list is of things that do not quite make the cut of the bucket list. These were things that we could readily do - we just had not done them. It ranged from ghost hunting to mechanical bull riding to pottery class and everything in between.
   Then, we started on our quest to check things off of the list. While she unfortunately moved away, another friend has stepped in, excited to experience life. And we have been having fun with it! So much, that I wanted to share it with the world and try to inspire people to get out there and live.
   It is so easy to get mired down in day-to-day life. You go to work, take care of your family, clean your house and make meals. You go to sleep. And it starts all over the next day. Before you know it, you are stuck in a rut and if you're not careful, you could be in that rut for years. Experiencing different things in life is not difficult and it is not necessarily expensive. All you have to do is get out there and do it.