50 things to do in your new year

A childhood and now facebook friend of mine posed this question: "What should I do in my 35th year?" My own brother challenged him to live overseas for the 12 months while my first answer was a lot more mundane: "Be kind and truthful in every situation." Then I got inspired. What if we could spend a year doing something a little bit radical or different? What would you choose? Would it be any of these?

Write a book.

Donate all your stuff to others.

Learn to paint.

Cook through a classic cookbook.

Make a short film.

Do an adult education course.

Learn a language.

Or learn sign language! 

Learn about stuff and participate: maybe the share market, or local politics or environmental change.

Do the zero waste model in your home.

Don't wash or cut your hair.

Decide to tell the truth in every single interaction.

Volunteer for the disabled or help out the family of an autistic child.

Write a letter a day - asking, affirming, sharing or politicking.

Say 'yes' to your kids 90 per cent of the time.

Say "why not?" to your wife or husband 100 per cent of the time.

Take a photograph every day - maybe even of the same thing.

Make bread and grow vegetables.

Ringsomeone you love - maybe your parents - every day.

Write a list of forgiveness you need to do and forgiveness you need to seek.

Get a new job.

Walk five kilometres every day.

Get a bike and get out of the car.

Volunteer to teach sunday school.

Become a foster parent or a mentor with a program for disadvantaged children.

Learn to knit.

Buy absolutely nothing new, for 12 whole months.

Go without electricity.

Plant a vegetable garden on the nature strip.

Smile at people on the bus.

Throw a street party for your neighbours.

Give away $100 every week to random people.

Become a goth or a punk - radicalise your look and hang out with different people

Pick up litter

Start a blog

Make a quilt

Visit an aid program overseas

Volunteer to work with immigration detainees or prisoners in jail

Make 20 new friends

Reconnect with 20 old friends

Wear only white and paint your furniture and walls white.

Declutter your house and go minimalist

Buy a caravan and travel the country

Volunteer at the homeless shelters every week

Get rid of the TV

pray or meditate every morning

Get up an hour earlier

Take your wife or husband breakfast in bed every day

Is that 50? I lost count. What would you add?