Create your own bucket list of items to make this your most fulfilling year yet.
By Emily-Sarah Lineback

When we asked people their “bucket list” items (things to accomplish before “kicking” the bucket and dying, as the crass saying goes), we discovered something intriguing. Sure, we heard dreaminess (kissing a celebrity) and pluckiness (a 71-year-old baring all for a calendar), but most items? Overwhelmingly, they’re so…doable!

So what keeps us from doing it? “Fear,” answers life coach Meg Cline. “Fear of failing, fear it won’t be as good as imagined, even fear that it’ll be better than you thought or fear of success, because then you may want more.”

How do we make 2012 the year we shed habits and comfort zones? Cline says to acknowledge the fear and then get accountability and encouragement: “Share with people. Tell family and friends or post on Facebook. Going public is a great way to increase your likelihood to follow through. Once it’s out of your head and on paper, it also becomes more real.”

What’s on your wanna-do list? If you don’t have one, take a half hour to think about it. Nothing is too big or too small, and your list should be like your fingerprint: uniquely yours. In case you need help getting started, we’ve compiled your top responses into five categories, with varying degrees of adrenaline-rush, effort, time, and money needed. A few details and resources are included to enhance your momentum…and if you need an accountability partner, just give us a call .

1. DEFY GRAVITY. 

*SKYDIVE. First-time jumpers go tandem, which means an instructor jumps with you in a parachute built for two. This way, you can focus on the thrill of falling toward the ground for 30 seconds at 120 miles per hour. After free falling, the parachute is deployed, and you’ll descend for between 5 to 8 minutes. Cost is $225 at Carolina Skydiving in Jonesville (336-526-JUMP; www.carolinaskydiving.com); $230 at Piedmont Skydiving in Salisbury (704-603-7920; www.piedmontskydiving.com). Both are only a short drive away and offer scenic views.

* FLY A PLANE. It’s only $99 for a discovery flight at Piedmont Flight Training (336-776-6070; www.flypft.com), which flies out of Smith Reynolds Airport. You sit in the pilot’s seat, taxi the plane to the runway, takeoff, maneuver, and land it—and a flight instructor sits in the co-pilot’s seat to make sure you stay alive and don’t crash the aircraft. If you love it, then classroom instruction and flight lessons are required (as is acquiring medical clearance), and you can spend about $8,000 to earn your private pilot certificate.

* PARASAIL. Hop in a banana boat, then jump in the parasail boat, where you’re strapped in a seated harness and lifted gently from the platform to a certain height (from several hundred up to 1,200 feet). You’re always attached to the tow line, and you can travel single or with a friend. (I flew solo and enjoyed it!) Note: The season doesn’t open at most places until April 1. (Kitty Hawk Kites, Manteo and Duck, NC, 877-359-8447; www.kittyhawk.com or Bob’s Watersports, North Myrtle Beach, SC, 843-249-9908; www.bobswatersports.com.) Prices start at $60.

*HOT-AIR BALLOONING. It’s the choice for those who adore aerial views and don’t mind a bit of unpredictability. An hourlong weekend excursion from Yadkin Valley Balloon Adventures (336-922-7207; www.balloonadventure.net) takes off from RagApple Lassie Vineyards in Boonville, but depending on the weather could land down the street or in another county. “We go wherever the wind takes us,” says Claire Colburn, who pilots with her husband, Tony. Early morning and late afternoon weekend flights are always weather permitting (and if you go now, dress for winter, including mittens). It’s $225 a person.

2. GAIN KNOWLEDGE.

* LEARN AN INSTRUMENT. Our magazine sports a hardy mix of public and closet musicians, and as my piano teacher said years ago, “Everybody should play at least one instrument.” Whether guitar or violin, drums or voice, learning an instrument keeps minds sharp…and can be therapeutic, too, not to mention fun. Cost varies, as does the amount of time needed to master one. A great one-stop place for many choices is Jackson’s Music (336-760-9635; www.jacksonsmusic.com).

* LEARN A LANGUAGE. Buy some tapes or, if you crave interaction, take advantage of the foreign language classes that local colleges and universities offer. Forsyth Tech (336-723-0371; www.forsythtech.edu) offers the most options: Arabic, Mandarin Chinese, French, German, Italian, and Spanish, depending on the semester; cost is $70.

* TAKE A CLASS. Our area is chock-full of opportunities, from Sawtooth School for Visual Art (336-723-7395; sawtooth.org) and Old Salem Museums & Gardens (336-721-7300; www.oldsalem.org) to college and universities’ community enrichment courses including Salem College (336-721-2600; www.salem.edu). Spend a night learning how to make jewelry or invest a few weeks enhancing your photography, basket-making, or cooking skills.

3. STRIKE A POSE.

*GET FIT. Join a gym (YMCA; www.ymcanwnc.org), sign up for yoga or other fitness classes (Sixth Sense Health and Wellness, 336-723-4400; 6ths.com) or let this be the year you compete in a marathon or learn how to swing a golf club (Wake Forest Golf Academy, 336-758-6037; www.wakeforestgolfacademy.com).

*TAKE DANCING LESSONS. Again, opportunities here are nearly endless, both in dance form (salsa, ballroom, belly dancing) and where you do it—through, for instance, Forsyth Tech’s community enrichment or Fred Astaire Dance Studio in Clemmons (336-766-9233; www.dancewinstonsalem.com), where group or private lessons are available.

*PERFORM IN A PLAY. Contact local theaters for casting calls. And if you need to hone your acting skills first, Carolina Actor’s Group (336-201-6051; www.carolinaactorsgroup.com) is the perfect place. Adult and teen classes are available (adults $185/month; teens $135/month).

*BE IN A MOVIE. UNC School of the Arts’ film students conduct casting calls at various times during the year, but mainly in the fall and winter. Find info online, in the Winston-Salem Journal, or on posters around town. Send headshots and résumés to Stephanie Colopy, head of production, School of Filmmaking, UNC School of the Arts, 1533 S. Main St., W-S, N.C. 27127 or email colopsys@unca.edu.

 4. VISIT NEW PLACES.

*GO ABROAD. Passport needed; map optional. Call the National Passport Information Center at 1-877-487-2778 or visit travel.state.gov/passport; and while you’re there, check the U.S. government’s travel advisory page to see which countries are currently off the recommendation list for safety or other reasons. To absorb the true feel of a place, stay a fortnight, and live like the locals, whether you’re in a tourist spot or off the main path. (And make sure you have correct cash for exit tax if the country won’t make change, like Honduras!)

*VISIT A NEW STATE OR TOWN. Check online for tourism information or request mailed materials from tourism offices. If you’re spontaneous, hit the road for a daytrip. When you reach a destination you like, head to the post office or a hair salon to ask residents where they’d eat and shop, and ask for their town’s claim to fame: every place has something unique to tout.

*CHECK OUT A NEW SHOP OR RESTAURANT. One wanna-do we received was from a resident who has yet to walk Fourth Street and eat downtown. The Downtown Winston-Salem Partnership is one good resource. Call 336-354-1500 or visit www.dwsp.org. The Winston-Salem Chamber (winstonsalem.com) and Visit Winston-Salem (visitwinstonsalem.com or 336-728-4200) are also great outlets to learn about local establishments.

5. MAKE A DIFFERENCE.

*GIVE BLOOD. Call 336-724-0511 or visit www.nwnc-redcross.org to read how, when, and where. (Note: A recent visit to certain countries or weighing less than 110 pounds makes you ineligible.)

*LEARN CPR/FIRST AID. Call 336-724-0511 or visit www.nwnc-redcross.org for details. You could save someone’s life—or apply a bandage with confidence!

*GIVE TIME/MONEY to worthy causes. Our area has many wonderful entities that need your time, money, and talent. If you want to volunteer but aren’t sure where, contact HandsOn Northwest North Carolina (336-724-2866; www.handsonnwnc.org), which works with more than 350 different nonprofits and can connect you.

*SHARE, LOVE & FORGIVE. If we’ll share our blessings and spread love (in our world, city, neighborhoods, workplaces, and homes), and forgive others and ourselves, wow, 2012 truly will be our best year yet!

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Whether single events or processes, adding new experiences expands our minds and our belief—and knowledge—of what is possible. “It was so freeing,” says a co-worker who constructed his will-do list after a cancer scare. “You want to do this thing,” he says. “And once you do it, you realize, if this is possible, what else can I achieve?”

The short answer? Almost anything we put our minds to do. So here’s to 2012 and taking the opportunity to, for us, relearn Spanish (necesito estudiar), record an album of original tunes, and finally experience tropical white sand. (Can you match the item with the Winston-Salem Monthly staff member? Do hold us accountable!)