‘Tell me, what is it you plan to do with your one wild and precious life?’

I love your enthusiasm! We need more people like you. So, time to think what kind of thing you'd like to do. Fundraising? Setting up a small business? Getting into adrenaline sports? Learning an art of craft? Singing or performing to an audience? The world is your oyster!

I suggest you think of this in an onion way -
Start close to home and progress outwards:

Firstly, ensure your home is tidy, clean, food is nutritious, there is lots of love and kindness.

Then focus on yourself: exercise and feel good about yourself. No need for marathons, but getting some time to be healthy will make a long term difference for your family.

Progress to your professional life/ career: perhaps retrain or increase qualifications, so you progress in your work/pay.

If any time left then focus on community work / art.

However, of course, if there is actually something you would like to do, then just prioritise it and do it.

I hate to say it OP but I suspect nothing you do will make your son proud, especially when he's a teenager. More likely to embarrass him!

Write a book?
Ultra marathons?
Jumping from planes?
Charity work with sick kittens?

All will be met with distain and embarrassment.

When they hit their 20's they may be a little more impressed ;)

I would like to create more space in my life for putting nutritious foods inside my body.

I feel like that pretty directly also benefits my husband and children.

The best thing you can do for a toddler imo is to be there and be present for them. Don’t take stupid, selfish risks, you have plenty of years for that. All he needs from you is your time, attention and love. Toddlers are so much fun and develop so much each day if you take the time and put in the effort with them, that’s the most precious thing of all.

Do something that will make someone's life better.
Look at your community, find out what the biggest need is, and join a charity or organisation that is working to meet that need.
That the world is better because of you is the most impressive thing of all.

And @JacknDiane made it bingo!

Do you know how to impress your toddler @Sadalot90? Spend time with them. Listen to them. Give them your love and time. They dont care about anything else.

I did give a thoughtful reply. But trying to do something to impress others (especially your own children!) is likely to only end in disappointment that you don't get the reaction you want. OP needs to do something they feel proud of and to hell with anyone else.

I think that does sound epic 😊

I know someone who does 'extreme' challenges and I just think 'oh, get a grip' and feel sorry for his wife for all the time he spends away from his family training and preparing. Yours sound much better.

Apparently endless rounds of fucking laundry.

"Unless you start shitting toys, I doubt your toddler will care at all!"

"Have you read the whole poem that quote comes from? Not to diminish your ambitions, but it's not about doing epic things at all"

"That quote is so irritating. My life is neither wild nor precious. It's just life, like any other form of life."

Why is Mumsnet like this?!

Good thread OP, I've nothing useful to add but am taking inspiration from the thoughtful replies.

In the nicest possible way, your son is unlikely to spend a lot of time thinking about what you were doing when he was a toddler. He won't be awed that you did a sky dive or ran a marathon, most people see their parents as an overview of who they have been and how they have lived their life rather than by individual achievements.

Do something that makes you proud, happy and fulfilled. If one day he is impressed thats a bonus.

That’s an admirable aim ignore the misery guts on here!!

I always think starting something up ticks that box; so being able to then step back but have left a legacy that continues beyond your own physical effort.

Volunteering groups would be where I’d start -
focussed on your passions. Helping at grass roots for kids / sport / hospitals / drama groups / elderly care / mental health etc / local park etc

Think of what would be useful as a long term support and set up the framework, get the initial volunteers, set up socials, launch it etc etc.

2 good examples near me are a litter picking organisation that now operate in many different local spots across the town and also a charity that visits cancer patients and takes small gift parcels.

The 2nd one has grown so much the founder has left her corporate law job, just moved into a huge warehouse to mange all the donations and care packs and won lots of awards.

I was going to say exactly this 😂 Not “epic” at all!

Thank you for posting this. It's not a poem that I had come across before and I really like it.

Well, I agree it’s irritating out of context , and am not a Mary Oliver fan, but that line in the context of the rest of the poem is all about how a perfectly valid use of your ‘wild and precious life’ is lying around in the grass watching insects. I think her whole point is that you don’t have to be doing things conventionally considered laudable or worthwhile.

Out of context I agree it’s as irritating as LIVE LAUGH LOVE signs, or that annoying perfume ad where Natalie Portman jumps off cliffs and cavorts prettily and says ‘And you — what would you do for love?’

I always find asking other people for ideas about this sort of thing odd. People who generally do epic things do them because it's their passion and something they believe strongly in.
What in your life do you have a burning passion for?

I'm an accountant - and realised a few years back that all my outside work things were basically more work:

• school governor
• charity trustee
• scout leader

I have literally never had a time when I haven't had obligations outside work. Previous ones being things like president of regional societies etc.

Your kids will always think you are mind numbingly dull - and that is how it should be :)

What could your mum have done that would make you proud of her? I think it's a bit of a strange way to think about things, really - YOU matter as a person, not just as a mother and I think it's really important to hold that in your mind. Do something that is meaningful to you. You don't even know what kind of person your son is going to be and what will make him proud, so it seems a bit pointless to try and second guess that.

That quote is so irritating. My life is neither wild nor precious. It's just life, like any other form of life.

But my point is that you can’t second-guess what someone else is going to be impressed by, especially your children. My teenager thinks my novels are ‘weird’. My friend’s teenage and twentysomething children think his ultramarathons are a slightly embarrassing eccentricity. Another friend’s mother ran a pioneering family planning clinic at a time and place when this was rare and valuable, and my friend and her siblings grew up calling it ‘Mummy and her condoms on bananas stuff’ and rolling their eyes.

Do what you think is valuable. Don’t try to second-guess what anyone else will be impressed by.

Yeah, the answer to this is, do whatever you want. We’re here for a good time not a long time. Nothing matters so just do it, as long as it’s not harming anyone.