I took the picture above in 2015 after a family vacation to Europe, featuring trips to Slovenia, Croatia, Germany, Austria, and Italy. Before making this trip, however, I had taken AP Art History in my sophomore year of high school, and spent the year learning about various historical pieces of art and architecture, my favorite of which being The Florence Cathedral, pictured above, and its incredible dome completed by Filippo Brunelleschi.
Though the dome and the cathedral are beautiful on their own, it’s the story behind the dome’s construction that makes this my favorite piece. Though construction on the cathedral began in 1296, the dome covering wasn’t completed until 1436. When the cathedral was first being built, the ambitious architects designed it to compete with other marvelous cathedrals in Milan and Rome. What better way to do this than by creating the largest dome ever built with a diameter of almost 150 feet. No dome of this size had ever been built before, and the Florentines insisted that the dome be freestanding, despite not knowing how this feat could be accomplished. So, for more than 100 years, the dome was unfinished.
Enter Filippo Brunelleschi. He asserted that he could complete the dome using a novel herringbone bricklaying pattern, which can still be seen inside the structure. This pattern allowed the bricks to be arranged without causing the dome to collapse during its construction, which was a problem faced by all others who attempted to close the dome.
I bring this up to introduce the idea that seemingly unattainable tasks, with new ideas and hard work (and 100 years of thinking) can still be achieved. The same can be said of any idea or goal in life.
My Impossible List
One of my favorite life advice/college guidance “influencers” is YouTuber/podcaster Thomas Frank. He talks about a lot of different topics on his many platforms, but one of my favorite videos of his is about his Impossible List, an idea he got from Joel Runyon, who made the first Impossible List. These lists are like the massive Il Duomo: tasks that you want to achieve that seem impossible but are, eventually, attainable.
Starting 2021 and graduating college, I want to be more clear about the goals and aspirations I have for the future. In making this Impossible List, I hope to remind myself to set goals, no matter how outlandish they may seem, and put in the effort needed to achieve them. I also believe that publishing this list will hold me more accountable to these goals, and, depending on the interests of my millions of readers (ha.) could give me some friends to embark on these journeys together. (Even today, my roommate reached out to me about volunteering monthly at the homeless shelter, so get ready for that box to be ticked!)
If you want to read my Impossible List, you can find it here. I plan to update it regularly, but I also want to encourage readers to reflect on their own goals and what they might want achieve this year.
Not to be the person that drops a Disney quote but:
It’s kind of fun to do the impossible.
Walt Disney
