What’s the difference between a goal and a quest?
On Episode 544 It’s Not a Goal, it’s a QUEST!, Tiffany and Katy discuss what goes into embarking on a quest, and why you would want to go on one.
Tiffany (who famously loves a challenge) sets down her own definition of a quest, as well as why she believes the fun is not in the completion of it.
We also brainstorm strategies for choosing the perfect quest, and how intentionality plays into that.
You can listen right here, or find the episode on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, Overcast, and elsewhere.
Related Episodes:
Episode 302: Quest (original episode reposted here)
Episode Bullet Points:
Here are 5 key points from the episode:
- Katy and Tiffany define quests as long-term goals with multiple parts to accomplish over time.
- Tiffany’s quest is to see all of Caravaggio’s existing paintings around the world.
- Katy completed a quest to watch all of Tom Cruise’s movies (over 40 films).
- Katy is writing a memoir using Tom Cruise’s movies as a framework and hopes to interview him.
- Tiffany previously attempted a quest to watch all Oscar Best Picture winners but didn’t complete it.
Full Episode Transcript:
Welcome to Rome. This is The Bittersweet Life with Katy Sewall and Tiffany Parks.
Katy
Hello. This is The Bittersweet Life. I’m Katy Sewall.
Tiffany
I’m Tiffany Parks.
Katy
And today we’re going on a quest.
Tiffany
We are.
Katy
I wish we were actually going on a quest. Like, I had my recorder in my backpack, and you and I were heading out on the street.
Tiffany
I know, deep into the woods. We’ll have to do that next time we’re in the same place. We will go on an actual quest, and we will capture it on tape. But in the meantime, today we’re gonna talk about quests, which is almost as good. I had this idea because when we did the 300th episode, we talked about, if you haven’t heard that episode, by the way, go back and listen to it. Cause it’s a lot of fun. But we talked about some of our favorite past episodes, one of which was our goals episode. And we did a three part series on goals, and we talked about past goals, future goals, the meaning of goals. We also do New Year’s resolution episodes every year. But it got me thinking about something that’s a little like a step above goals, at least for me. And that is the idea of quests. And I feel like goals are really a lot of a goal is just the idea of, you want to check it off, you want to get it done, your resolution, your resolutions, particularly something you want to check off and just say, I did that. A quest for me is more of a lifetime undertaking, something that, yes, I want to accomplish this, but really, the fun is in the accomplishing of it because it’s going to take a long time. It’s very daunting, but daunting in a good way. In a fun way. You know, I’ll probably be sad when I finish because then my quest will be over.
Katy
Mm hmm.
Tiffany
Does that make any sense?
Katy
Yeah, it does make sense. Well, maybe you should give us an example, because I was, I was thinking in my head while you were saying that was, would you getting your first book published, Midnight in the Piazza, would that have been considered a quest, or was that a goal?
Tiffany
I think that could be considered either, but to me, it’s a goal. It’s a career goal and a step along the way in my career. But I don’t consider that a quest. That’s not to say it couldn’t be considered a quest for someone else, and that would be totally fine. But for me, I don’t consider that a quest. For me, a quest is something like, I want to see every single Caravaggio painting that is still around in the world that hasn’t been destroyed, and that’s a quest that you and I will share, although I don’t know that you would have termed it a quest. Maybe not until now.
Katy
Yes. It also is one of those things where sometimes when I think about it, I think that’s impossible, either financially or just accessibility. I mean, you got to see one of the Caravaggio’s that’s in somebody’s private home. But what are the odds that both of us would see that?
Tiffany
Oh, I think you’ll be able to see that the next time you’re in Rome. I’ll make that happen. But that’s what’s so great about a quest, a quest that could be something like that, or it could be something totally different, not related to art. I’ll try to think of an example. To me, a quest is something with lots of components, and you get them done when you can. Some things are going to be really easy to get done. If you live in Rome, it’s very easy to see the calling of St. Matthew. You can do it any afternoon you want. But it’s very difficult to see the ceiling of the Villa Aurora, which I saw back in October, or to see some paintings that are, are in kind of strange places that you might not happen to pass, like in France. There’s a couple in small towns in France, believe it or not. There’s one in Kansas City. There’s one in Princeton, New Jersey. But that makes it more fun because you always have something to look forward to. There’s always something you’re like, yes, I’ve gotten almost all of them, but there’s a few more that’s going to take me a long time. I’ve been lucky that Rome had a major Caravaggio exhibit. And I got to see a lot of those paintings that are. I saw the one that’s in Kansas City. I saw the one that’s in, like, Fort Worth, Texas. Because I always thought to myself, okay, well, I’m going to have to make a trip to Fort Worth, Texas, sooner or later. I don’t know when that’s going to happen. It might not be for, like, 2030 years. So now I don’t have to do that. I really think I’m going. I’m going to do it. There’s one exception, which is there is a Caravaggio painting, the nativity. I believe it was stolen back in, I want to say, the 1970s. It was stolen by, I believe, the mafia, from a church in Palermo. And most people think that it’s been destroyed. There are a few people who have some little hope that it might still be around, but there’s almost no chance, even if it still exists, there’s almost no chance that anyone will ever see it. And there’s also, almost surely Caravaggio paintings that have not been discovered yet, because they keep being discovered, you know, like, every couple of years, it’s like, oh, this is a new Caravaggio that was discovered in some random person’s attic. So when I say I want to see every Caravaggio, obviously that’s not 100% possible. Let’s say all of the ones that have been officially categorized as being Caravaggio. But that’s just one quest, Katy.
Katy
So when I think of a quest, I like your kind of ongoing. It could take your whole life to see every Caravaggio thing, and that if it doesn’t take your whole life, it will be kind of sad. I guess it sounds like, though, you’re gonna have to, what, join the mafia to see that one, if it still exists. So get on that. But I guess when I think of quests, I often think of them as sort of mythic in nature. One way of putting it is one of two things are going to happen during your quest. You’re either going to find something that you weren’t looking for along the way, or you’re going to find that within you was what you were looking for all along.
Tiffany
Oh, yes. Classic Dorothy in the wizard of Oz.
Katy
Yeah, exactly like the wizard of Oz. Or, and somewhere along the way, you might meet your helpful guide, your Merlin the magician or whatever, to help you on your way, your yoda.
Tiffany
That actually reminds me of the hero’s journey.
Katy
Mm hmm. Exactly.
Tiffany
But, yes, I love that. I love that. I don’t. I think that that’s the original meaning of what a quest is. I don’t think that one negates the other. So I guess that my quests are not like the official definition of what an actual quest would be. They’re more like a goal that takes many, many, many, many parts.
Katy
Yeah. You know, it’s funny though, when you think about the mythic quest, that the idea that you find something you weren’t looking for, or you find that whatever you were searching for was within you all along. It kind of reminds me of. Of me moving to Rome and discovering this podcast. Yeah. The thing that I wasn’t looking for but found you, that found me along the way. Yeah. That became a major part of my life unexpectedly. I did look up the definitions of quest.
Tiffany
Of course you did.
Katy
Of course it did, because it’s fun. And one I found is now considered obsolete and one is what it’s being defined as right now. Oxford Dictionary says that a quest is a long or arduous search for something which sort of fits your Caravaggio model. And the Merriam Webster Dictionary listed one that was now considered obsolete, which was a person or group of persons who search or make inquiry a quest.
Tiffany
I never heard, I’ve never heard that used that in that way.
Katy
So we know about the Caravaggio because you and I have talked about that as a common goal before. What would you say, a different quest that you want to go on?
Tiffany
Well, this is one that I just came up with and I don’t think it’ll take me nearly as long as the Caravaggio quest, especially since I’ve been on the Caravaggio quest for about ten years now, so far. So this one, I’m hoping I can do this in a couple of years, maybe, maybe five years. With Aurelio. I would like to see 100 churches in Rome because he loves going to churches. He really, really loves it. I have to say that to you because they like, they look at me like I’m so mean because I drank my kid to churches, but like, he really, really likes going into churches and wandering around and looking at the stuff and exploring. So I’ve started making a list of all the churches we’ve been to. I think we’ve probably been to about 15 churches in Rome together. I’ve been to a lot more than that, but I feel like we can do this. I mean, I’d like to say we could do once a week, but the truth is we don’t manage to go out once a week just because of, you know, bad weather or him being sick or just having other stuff to do. But usually when we do go out, we’ll hit up at least one church, sometimes more than one in a day. So maybe a couple of years we could get this done. Yeah, two, three years.
Katy
Does he just feel like the churches feel like a palace? I could imagine that as a kid.
Tiffany
Yeah, a little bit. I mean, he definitely likes to, like, wander around and, like, look at, you know, he always wants to go back into where the little chapels are. Usually the chapels, side chapels are closed off. And he wants to kind of go in there. And he likes to sit on the pew. He likes to look up at the ceilings. If there’s closed doors, he always wants to try to open them. And he loves lighting candles. And we have a couple of, sadly, we have a couple of people in the family that have passed away that we light candles for. And so he likes to do that. And, yeah, he just enjoys it. I think he likes the churches better than the museums, to be honest.
Katy
More freedom, more freedom of movement, less guards.
Tiffany
Yeah, maybe, yeah, maybe fewer people, less. Like, sort of like a way that you have to go instead, you just kind of wander.
Katy
So it sounds like, though, you would do that one very intentionally in a way, because in Rome, you can just sort of stumble in and out of, like, five churches if you wanted to, if you guys were just out on a day.
Tiffany
Yeah, we could. We totally could. We will go just walk into any old church if we happen to be near one. But, you know, sometimes the churches in Rome, like, some of them are amazing. Some of them are just so so. Some of them are really not even worth going in, to be honest. There are certain churches that I want to make sure we include some of the really great churches. And the thing in Rome is like, there are so many churches that are, that are amazing. There’s so, so, so many. I put a call out on my personal instagram recently. I was like, which churches should I make sure to take Aurelio to? And people commented, with just two or three dozen churches altogether, I was like, yeah, these are all really great churches.
Katy
There’s something like 900 churches in Rome, right? If a person is a tourist in Rome, as tour guide Tiffany, would you recommend that people just try to stop into every church that they see, or is that sort of a waste of time?
Tiffany
I mean, it’s hard to say it’s a waste of time, but when you’re a tourist, you have a very limited amount of time. So in a way, it is a waste of time. To just wander. I mean, I love. I love the idea of just wandering in, seeing a church and wandering in. Sometimes you discover a delightful place, and sometimes you see right away. As soon as you walk in, you can kind of tell there’s kind of not really much to it, and you just walk out. So you don’t really waste that much time. But I would say, you know, take the time to do a little bit of research and figure out what the really great churches are. And there’s probably 30 incredibly important churches in Rome, at least 30 or 40. And so you can’t see that many when you’re on a trip. But, you know, there are just so many amazing works of art in Rome’s churches by just the greatest artists in history. Some of the greatest artists in history. I mean, we’re just. I was just talking about Raphael the other day. Of course, Caravaggio, Michelangelo, they all have works in churches that are free to just walk into and look at Bernini, Pinturicchio. The list goes on and on. It is worth it to look to seek those out, those churches that really have rare works of art. I want to hear what some of your quests are.
Katy
Yeah, this was a difficult thing for me when you suggested this idea. One of the quests I’ve already been on, and I’m done with it now, but it took a long time.
Tiffany
Okay, let’s hear. I want to hear.
Katy
That was a quest borne of a. By a friend of mine. A friend of mine a number of years ago now decided that she was going to watch the entire filmography of Arnold Schwarzenegger from beginning to end.
Tiffany
Oh, my God.
Katy
Which for me, sounds like a nightmare, but it was an experience that she really, really loved and really got some great understanding of the evolution of this person. And I loved the concept of it. I love the idea of watching an actor go from beginning to end. And so Derek and I started talking about it, trying to sort out, well, who would we watch from beginning to end if we were gonna jump on board this quest? And we decided to watch all of Tom Cruise’s movies? We picked Tom Cruise because. For. Well, for multiple reasons. But the main one was I didn’t want to get stuck watching the same kind of movie for an entire career. So while I can admit that Daniel Day Lewis is an amazing actor, I knew that if we picked Daniel Day Lewis, we would be watching one epic drama after another after another. And if you watch Tom Cruise, you get a little bit of everything. You get drama, you get romance, you get action, you get comedy. He’s in a few comedies. He had a more filled out catalog of things that you could watch. And so that’s what appealed to me. Plus, of course, I feel like he’s the actor that most represented my growing up life. He was sort of the biggest star, I feel, when we were kids, and still to this day, probably remains one of the most iconic stars in Hollywood. So I thought it’d be interesting to see his evolution as an actor. So that’s 43 films.
Tiffany
Yikes. That’s a lot of movies.
Katy
Starting in 1981 with a film called Endless Love, which was actually a movie starring Brooke Shields. And he’s in that for all of 47 seconds or something as an extra. So it starts all the way back in 1981 and then brings it all the way forward to the latest mission impossible that he came out with just a year ago or so. And, of course, we’re coming up on number 44 because he will soon be in the movie Maverick, which is coming out.
Tiffany
So you’re caught up, basically.
Katy
Basically, yeah, I’m ready. I’m ready for Maverick to come out and see. Maverick is the follow up to the movie top gun. And it’s so funny because when we started, we had really gone around and around and around about who to watch because we knew it would take a lot of time and a lot of watching energy. There’s so many good things to watch, so you really have to choose wisely if you get on this quest yourself. You listening? But Derek, at the end of it all, said to me, you know, I thought many things would come of this experience, but I didn’t think that I would come out a fan. We really did. Both of us are just so interested now in his abilities as an actor because we’ve watched him come about, you know, and he really is quite talented at carrying really ambitious films on his own shoulders, pretty much alone. So from now on, for probably the rest of our lives, we’ll watch everything he comes out with.
Tiffany
Wow.
Katy
From here to eternity until he or us or all of us are dead.
Tiffany
So that’s really a lifelong quest.
Katy
Yeah. In that way, it’s a quest that’s over, but it’s a quest that’s a never really over as long as Tom Cruise is making movies. Yeah.
Tiffany
Oh, imagine if Caravaggio were still alive and painting.
Katy
I mean. Right.
Tiffany
That would be amazing.
Katy
You’d be following him around in the streets.
Tiffany
I can dream.
Katy
Do you think you could have gotten into one of his paintings if. If you had known him?
Tiffany
If I’d been a prostitute, yeah.
Katy
If you were a prostitute, well, it would have been another thing. Just like joining the mafia.
Tiffany
Not joining the mafia.
Katy
How big a fan are you, Tiffany?
Tiffany
Sorry, I’m not, uh. I’m not an ultra. I’m not joining the mafia for Caravaggio. Sorry.
Katy
Well, it’s interesting, too, because I’m so. I don’t want to say much about it because work’s in progress, you know, but I’m working on a book that uses the Tom Cruise movies as a framework.
Tiffany
Yes, I know that, and I think that is such a brilliant idea.
Katy
It’s funny, too, as I’m working on it more and more, I’m having to really think back to some of these movies and some of the movies I’ve now watched, I don’t know, three, four years ago.
Tiffany
Yeah.
Katy
And so I’m finding, like, with anything you watch, I’m forgetting what was that movie about? What was the plot of that film? And Derek was just saying the other day, he said, well, you know, we could watch all the way through them again.
Tiffany
Oh, God, no. Why would you do that, though?
Katy
For me, it actually didn’t sound like the worst idea. It’s like, yeah, maybe that would be.
Tiffany
Interesting, I guess, since it does play into what you’re working on, I guess I’m. It is kind of like any sort.
Katy
Of research, for sure. And I guess the quest to publish something you’re saying is not a quest. So the goal is now to publish this memoir that uses the Tom Cruise movies.
Tiffany
Hey, I said it could be a quest for someone else, okay? It didn’t fall into the category of a quest for me, but that doesn’t mean it couldn’t be a quest for someone else.
Katy
Okay? So I’m gonna make that a quest.
Tiffany
Okay. I like it.
Katy
This thing about Tom Cruise and my life comes about in a published form and that every single person listening right now buys it. Yes. And I think as a part of that quest, and this could be a long shot, but, like you becoming a prostitute, if Caravaggio is still around, I would love to interview Tom Cruise as a part of this book. So I’m gonna throw in another quest to meet Tom Cruise and interview him for this book.
Tiffany
Well, you wanted to meet Jodie Foster and you made that a goal, and that happened, so I don’t see why not.
Katy
Yes, and it has happened before. I have made goals like that before, but never to somebody that could be this hard to get to. So we’ll see. We’ll see.
Tiffany
He might be incredibly flattered that you’re writing in a book about his. I mean, it’s not just about his movies.
Katy
No, but that’s just a fraction of it.
Tiffany
But it’s the backbone of your own story, which is kind of fascinating. And, you know, it could be something that it would very much please his ego.
Katy
Well, that, and I’m really trying to focus on him as the actor, not any of the tabloid stuff.
Tiffany
Right.
Katy
So him as an artist versus him as what we in the public want to think of him, basically.
Tiffany
Right.
Katy
So, yeah, in that way. And he did do this interview. This is what gives me hope, because I’ve done a lot of research about Tom Cruise, Tiffany, in this one interview, I found. But somebody asks him about a book that was written about him. It was a biography that was written about him, and they asked him if he’d read it, and he said, no, I haven’t read it. And they said something along the lines of, why not? And he said, well, this person didn’t even talk to me to write this giant biography about me. And so that gives me hope that maybe he would want to talk to me. All right, so I guess that’s an ongoing quest and also continuing quest.
Tiffany
I like it. I like it.
Katy
Thanks.
Tiffany
It’s very unusual.
Katy
What else do you have?
Tiffany
Well, I. Speaking of films, I had a quest, and I didn’t really categorize it as such at the time because I didn’t really think about using it, this word, to describe it, but it kind of was a quest. But my quest was to see every single film that had won the Oscar for best picture. Hmm. This is years ago. This was. I was still living in Boston at the time, so it was the sort of first few years of the 21st century. It was like 2002, I think. 2002. 2003. And I got really far. I saw, like, the very first film that ever won, which was called wings 1927. And I saw almost every film. There were literally something like three movies that I couldn’t find. This is before Netflix, of course. This is. I mean, not that these movies are all on Netflix, of course, but it was just a time when things were a little bit more difficult to get a hold of. Strangely enough, I got almost all of them at my, like, library. The film Cimarron, I couldn’t find, and the film the life of Emil Zola, I couldn’t find. And maybe one other one, but every other single one I watched up until 2002. In 2004, I moved to Italy. And so, you know, I couldn’t. I couldn’t keep it up with the more modern ones at the time, I mean, I didn’t, you know, I still don’t have a tv, but at that time, I, you know, there was no access to movies via computer. So I don’t like seeing dubbed movies. And so I’m really behind on all the films from 2003 to the present. I think I’ve seen, like, two of the Oscar winners in that time.
Katy
Do any of them stand out?
Tiffany
Well, what really stands out for me is that I saw a lot of movies that I would never have chosen to see. I mean, obviously, there are big film buffs who love to see the epic dramas that you were talking about and these really movies that are maybe difficult to watch, movies that are very artistic or whatever. And sometimes you just, you don’t see those movies because you’re like, I want to relax. I want to see something really easy to watch. You know, I want to watch Jerry Maguire or I, something with, I don’t know, Jane Fonda, just something that’s easy. And so this kind of pushed me to see some movies that were a little bit out of my comfort zone, not just because they’re difficult movies, but just maybe because they’re not really my genre of movie. And so I saw movies like Platoon, which I loved, and I saw Deer Hunter, which I didn’t love. But it was interesting, and I definitely appreciated it as a great film. I think it’s important, just like it’s important to try to see, you know, the great works of art or hear at least recordings of, like, the greatest works of music ever written. Like, you should at least hear them once in your life. You should hear Beethoven’s fifth Symphony once in your life. You should hear Rachmaninoff’s second piano concerto, or Tosca. You know, the same is true for some of these really great films. Like, you really should see them to have a full concept of culture. And so I’m glad that I did. And I want to see the more recent ones. The quest was, like, permanently or almost permanently paused. So I would like to sort of take it up again. And I think, if I’m not mistaken, that on Netflix they have, like, an Academy Award winners section, and they don’t have them all, but they have a lot. And so one that I saw recently was Slumdog Millionaire, which I think won, I’m pretty sure it won. And I hadn’t seen that.
Katy
That’s a great movie.
Tiffany
Yeah, I got to see that. But I’d like to see some of the more recent ones. And the Oscars just happened earlier this month, so it’s kind of timely. It was really great to see those older movies, like the movies from the fifties and the forties. I think there’s a lot of surprises in there as well. A lot of films that you wouldn’t think won actually did win. Like Rocky won best picture.
Katy
Hmm. Speaking of the movies, I I don’t know if you remember, but back in episode 143, it was an episode called Critters, I believe. That’s my guess, anyway.
Tiffany
Yeah, I remember that. Was it about a baby eel? No, but we did do an episode about a baby eel.
Katy
We did? Yeah. That’s. That happens a number of years later.
Tiffany
Okay, sorry, I’m confused.
Katy
No, this episode was the episode where I talked to the actress Jane Alexander, and we were on stage and we were talking about a book she wrote called wild Things, wild Places. And even though she’s known as an actress, and I’m not sure if she’s an Academy Award winning actress, but she might be. We were there to talk about this sort of side path she went on where she did all this traveling with scientists and encountered wildlife in a major way. And ever since then, I haven’t been able to get what her life was like out of my head, that she got to do all of these incredible things. I mean, the book. Listen to the episode. We talk about a lot of things, but she really got to see so many incredible things that most of us don’t get to encounter. And it’s kind of borne in me this idea of a quest. But I have just a murky idea that I want to encounter wildlife in some sort of a major way.
Tiffany
Well, you have done some of that, Katy. I mean, you had a close encounter with a shark, if I’m not mistaken.
Katy
That’s true. But, I mean, I want to say, see things that are more flung and, and even things that should be relatively simple. Like, I want to see whales in the wild. I’ve seen killer whales before, but, you know, they kind of don’t count. They’re kind of like dolphins.
Tiffany
So poor dolphins and killer whales.
Katy
I want to see a pod of humpback whales.
Tiffany
Well, you’re in the right place for that.
Katy
Not really. Not really.
Tiffany
Not anymore.
Katy
No. It would have been better off in California.
Tiffany
I’ll have to go up to Alaska, maybe. Well, Katy, why don’t you make a list? See, for me to make this into a quest, you should make a list of, like, 20 animals that you want to see and really think about it. Like, don’t just like, oh, elephant, lion, tiger. Like bears. Yeah. 20 animals that you want to see in the wild, be intentional about it. And when you travel, be like, okay, I’m going to Indonesia. Why don’t I go to Sumatra and see the orangutans in the wild? Or I’m going to Tibet. I don’t know what animals are in Tibet.
Katy
Tibet, but there’s got to be some.
Tiffany
You know what I’m saying? Yeah. Just like when I travel, if I’m going to be in northern France, I’m going to make sure I go to Nancy and see the Caravaggio that’s there. It’s just like a little intention that you have sort of running in the back of your head, like an app that’s running, that doesn’t close, and you get in the range and it, like, beeps at you. It’s like, oh, there’s a Caravaggio near here. I. Oh, I just had a brilliant idea for an app there. But anyway, you’re near a kind of joe, it starts beeping.
Katy
I love that approach. That’s a good idea because I think oftentimes I sort of have a. I don’t know what to look for. I’m looking for ideas, too. And so it probably would be good to sit down and brainstorm about it. Of course, I went the way that I normally go, where I just solicit advice. And so I just wrote to Jane Alexander directly. There you go. And said, hey, you’ve had the most amazing life. What would you suggest I do? And she wrote back, she sent me this one thing that sounded incredible, but I can’t afford to go, which is to go see the great crane migration in North America in March. But I kind of loved her openness where she’s like, oh, so the girl wants to go on an adventure. What kind of things do you want to know?
Tiffany
Oh, that’s cool.
Katy
So I always kind of do that, too. I’m a big solicitor of advice.
Tiffany
Well, yeah, I think you should just take some time with it and ask people, ask her, ask other people. And, you know, if this is something that you want to do over the next rest of your life, you might be able to afford in a future moment, or start with things that are a little bit less expensive. Start with things that are a little closer to home or whatever, but just keep it in mind. And then when you’re, you know, when you do plan a trip, and then you can be like, oh, remember, I really wanted to see tigers in Africa. Let’s go to that national park where they have them and not where they have them, but where they live where they’re caged. No, no, no. I’m talking about the natural parks. And I know you’ve been on safari. You must be able to put a few things on there.
Katy
Yeah, I think what I love that she did is that she went with people who are actually out there studying stuff. And so the approach is different. You know, it’s smaller. It’s not like I’m on safari and I’m eating a buffet. I’m out in the world seeing what you can see.
Tiffany
Well, I know, but that might not be accessible. I mean, that might not be possible with every single animal. You know, you might get that opportunity once or twice. Unless you want to, like, change your career and, you know, be the next Jane Alexander.
Katy
Right. Well, you know, she’s an actress. Hey, so I could still be a podcaster, right?
Tiffany
True.
Katy
All right, so how about you? Do you have one more that you want to share with us?
Tiffany
I do like the idea of a travel related quest, but I haven’t really come up with anything specific yet. I mean, I know I want to go to every continent, except, I’m sorry, I don’t want to go to Antarctica because it’s just too cold. But I would like to go to every continent, but I don’t know that that’s a quest. You know, there’s only seven of them, or six. Without Antarctica. Every country in the world is too ambitious. Maybe every country in Europe would be kind of a cool thing to do. Hey, if anybody has any ideas for me or Katy, anything at all, send them in. We always love hearing your ideas.
Katy
Absolutely. Tell us what we should be seeing. Yeah. You can send it to us by email, bittersweetlifeail.com, or of course, you can contact us through any of the social medias, Instagram, Facebook, Twitter, to search for The Bittersweet Life podcast. I have one that I don’t know that I should share because it might not happen. Maybe it’s not a quest. Maybe it’s more of a goal. But I’ll end it. After listening to your mini episode about Raphael, I decided that I would like to be in Rome for his 500th birthday.
Tiffany
Oh, my gosh.
Katy
Oh, my God. Which would be April 6 soon.
Tiffany
That is exciting.
Katy
Very soon. Wouldn’t that be cool? If we could take this show around Rome on the 500th birthday of Raphael, that would be.
Tiffany
This is his death day, not his birthday.
Katy
Sorry. Yes, his death day. The 500th anniversary of his death day. So a little more morbid, I suppose, but still.
Tiffany
Yeah, you like the morbid stuff.
Katy
Yeah. Yeah. So I don’t know. Maybe that’s a goal. I don’t know if it will happen. It will have so much to do with money and time. But it’s an idea.
Tiffany
It’s exciting.
Katy
If anything, it’s an advertisement for, if you skip that Raphael episode, you should go back and listen to it because I thought it was pretty inspiring.
Tiffany
Oh, well, thank you.
Katy
In a build a quest around it sort of way.
Tiffany
Yeah. We could take to the streets, record us visiting all these Raphael sites and doing a little pilgrimage. A little Raphael pilgrimage.
Katy
Yeah. I think that would be a super fun episode.
Tiffany
Yeah, it would be.
Katy
All right, so send us your ideas. And can you quest after a big idea, too? Because remember how when I was living in Rome, one of the things I learned was how to live in the moment better? One of the other quests I have in life is that I want to get to a point where I don’t imagine something being over when I’m in the middle of it.
Tiffany
Oh, yes, it’s your reverse nostalgia.
Katy
Really enjoy the moment in that. Yeah. In that total way. Like, where I’m, like, I’m living it. I’m not also thinking, and one day this will be over. It has something to do with living in the moment but not being nostalgic about the moment while it’s actually happening. If I can pull that off, that’s a mental quest I would like to accomplish.
Tiffany
That’s big.
Katy
It’s too big, but I’m gonna try.
Tiffany
It’s not too big. It’s good.
Katy
It’s not gonna happen.
Tiffany
Hey, don’t be down on yourself. You can totally do that. You can totally do that.
Katy
All right. Do you have a final thought you wanna share?
Tiffany
I don’t think I can top that, Katy.
Katy
To discover commonplace wonder, that could be yours. Okay. And so we’ll leave it there. And until next time, this is The Bittersweet Life. I’m Katy Sewall.
Tiffany
I’m Tiffany parks.
Katy
Get out there, get questing, and we’ll talk to you next week.
Tiffany
Bye bye.
Katy
Thanks for all the ways you support us. Give us a good rating on iTunes. Subscribe to the show and pledge your support at www.patreon.com/thebittersweetlifepodcast and for goodness sake, interact with us on social media. Just search for The Bittersweet Life podcast on Instagram, Facebook or Twitter. If you’re interested in sponsoring the show, send us a letter there, too. Our logo is by Jody Rieck at the Lost laboratory. With help from our muse, Caravaggio. Talk to you next week. Bye.
