What Are Your Greatest Hits?

Photo by Jon Tyson.

Here's a fun idea: what are your greatest hits? Greatest hits of what, you ask? Whatever you make, whatever you do!

This question is geared towards content creators, but I actually like the idea better when separated from the content I make. Sure, I could go through my blog posts and articles to find the ones that have been the most popular or that I am the proudest of, but what about life in general? What memories, decisions, or moments would constitute the "greatest hits" of my life? What would be on the "Best of Andrea" album? What about your Best Of album?

How do you decide what gets on the list?

You could take the popularity contest approach, which is technically how greatest hits albums work, and pick the most popular bits out of your life. The ones that would have gone platinum, had they been for sale on iTunes. This is basically your Instagram Best 9, but for life instead of a year.

You could take the personally-meaningful approach, which would be more like if Beyoncé released an album of the tracks she has loved the most, without worrying about their popularity. It would be like a 'Faves Of' album instead of a 'Best Of' album. (Which, by the way, I WOULD TOTALLY LISTEN TO. EVERY ARTIST OUT THERE, PLEASE RELEASE A 'FAVES OF' ALBUM!)

You could take the autobiographical-summary approach and give us a series of memories and moments that give the best overview of you as a person. What has shaped you? What moments would give me the best understanding of who you are, as a person?

Or you could just not think about it too much and make a list of whatever comes to mind first when you think of your "greatest hits" in life!

I'm going for the last one, and I'll share a few. Here's what I've got to start:

Ballet.

I took ballet all growing up and it was wonderful and I loved it and had so many magical moments doing it. Top memories would be, as a "senior dancer", going to a dance competition in Whistler and walking around the Village like a bunch of grown-ups as well as being a much younger dancer and thinking it was hilariously fun for me and the other girls I was grouped with to clap all together before we started twirling on stage.

Dancing in a Park.

In university, my pal David played me the song Zero by the Yeah Yeah Yeahs for the first time on his iPod. I was so taken by the song I just started dancing around in the park, and he joined in even though he couldn't hear a thing. A magical moment.

Learning to Like Myself.

I'm not just saying this because I now have a book out about learning to like myself. This is genuinely the best thing I ever did with my life. It should go first. Or last. Somewhere of importance besides the middle where it will end up on this list.

Being a Weirdo at Work.

Not sure what the specific memory is yet, but something to do with hanging out at work with my bestie for the past eleven years and all the weird things we would get up to. Maybe walking like muppets across the office? Or the time we had a meeting in a blanket fort?

Looooooove.

This is another one that has too many specific moments to pick, but something about me and my partner. Probably cuddles or when we go off on a weird, joke tangent that confuses anyone else around us. Maybe the fact that I am now a person who likes to hike, and it's all his fault?

There it is! My first brainstorm at my life's greatest hits.

What about you? What are some of your greatest hits?

OOOOH, and now HERE'S a juicy question: what do you WANT your greatest hits album to look like at the end of your life?

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